One of the Huskies' More 'Colorful' Players, ZTF Turns Bobblehead
Zion Tupuola-Fetui wears orange hair these days.
Last fall, it was blond.
A starting outside linebacker for the University of Washington, he's a returning first-team All-Pac-12 selection and a third-team AP All-American pick.
If not a human rainbow.
Twelve months ago, Tupuola-Fetui was no better than a reserve player for the Huskies, buried on the depth chart.
Such is the never boring world of an animated and opportunistic player naturally dubbed ZTF.
On Saturday morning during spring ball, we caught this certified UW character doing an impromptu bobblehead imitation on the accompanying video, with us unaware it was coming.
Everything about Tupuola-Fetui, a 6-foot-4, 280-pound junior, is kind of storybook.
He grew up in the Hawaiian islands, in Pearl City, which looks down on Pearl Harbor, one of the most recognized battlefields in the world.
Last November, Tupuola-Fetui was still playing behind fellow sophomore Laiatu Latu when the football fortunes for both of them changed in a heartbeat.
Pegged for his own greatness and more advanced at the time than ZTF, Latu suffered a neck injury that required surgery and ended his career. Although he sought the advice of nearly a half-dozen medical specialists, football was over him just like that.
Rushed into a starting role, Tupuola-Fetui proved to be a standout from the beginning for the Huskies in their virus-curtailed season.
In four games, he rang up 7 sacks and 3 forced fumbles, which made him the nation's leader in sacks per game with 1.75 and tied him for the lead in those caused bobbles at .75 an outing.
He has more football moves than he does hair colors.
ZTF is the Husky poster child for being fully prepared for greatness when called on.
"Zion was Laiatu's back-up and Zion became a star by opportunity," said Ikaika Malloe, the Huskies' outside linebackers coach and once a UW safety and outside linebacker from Hawaii himself. "If we continue to push that way, where Zion can envision himself as a star, it's not a wow factor when he gets his chance. It didn't surprise him when it became his time. He was ready for it."
No one is happier than ZTF to be involved these days in spring football practice, which was canceled a year ago because of the pandemic.
He had no chance to move up without those 15 April practices until the unsympathetic side of college football intervened and fate cost him a valued teammate.
The hard-hitting Hawaiian starts opposite senior starter Ryan Bowman, and plays ahead of a host of promising outside linebacker candidates in former 5-star recruit Sav'ell Smalls, Texas A&M transfer Jeremiah Martin, and Bralen Trice, Cooper McDonald, Jordan Lolohea and Carson Bruener.
The Huskies are counting on ZTF to pass along his knowledge and experience to all the others, in particular his portal transfer teammate who came in from the SEC, so they can be as ready as he was.
"Zion needs to teach Jeremiah everything he knows," Malloe explained, "so Jeremiah is getting better and Zion can go on the field and prove why he's better than Jeremiah."
We'll be sure to monitor Martin's hair color, too.
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