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ZTF Draws Preseason Plaudits As He Eyes UW Return to Glory

The edge rusher is seeking his first full season as a Husky starter.
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Two days before fall football camp begins, Zion Tupuola-Fetui should have no lingering effects from an Achilles tendon injury that delayed his 2021 season and a concussion that ended it early.

The edge rusher from Pearl City, Hawaii, will have found the perfect playing weight after carrying as many as 278 pounds and as few as 241.

It's time for everything to come altogether for this University of Washington player who has shown in the past he can disrupt a game like no one else on the roster and few anywhere else.

College football has been waiting on the return of the player known as ZTF to terrorize the opposition such as he did in 2020 when he piled up 7 sacks, including 3 strip sacks, in just four games. 

Great anticipation awaits the return of a fully healthy Tupuola-Fetui, with Pro Football Focus ranking him fifth nationally among all edge rushers and Farrell Sports pegging him ninth, making him the highest-ranked Pac-12 player in either listing.

Of all the players' injuries that ruined last season, none had more of a debilitating effect on the Huskies than ZTF's sudden departure with an Achilles tear before it began, robbing the UW of its most dominant player and turning the defense vulnerable.

Following 15 recent spring practices with him the edge rusher fully engaged, UW edge-rusher coach Eric Schmidt and the rest of Kalen DeBoer's new staff quickly came to appreciate ZTF's talents.

"He's done it before," Schmidt said. "I mean he's not a guy you're going to treat like an 18-year-old kid when he walks in here. [It's] hey, what do you want, No. 1? What are you looking for? And, hey, this is what we have to offer going forward. I. think you build it from there."

ZTF is due for his full and maybe only season as a collegian to show what he can do as a mature talent and a player the NFL will gladly welcome.

He got a taste of game time as a true freshman in 2018, appearing in two games, including the Rose Bowl against Ohio State.

The next season, the Huskies used ZTF in a dozen games as a reserve, pulling snaps here and there.

The 2020 season was his coming-out party, but it didn't last long enough, with COVID bringing it to a halt after just four games.

Last fall, ZTF played in just five games, starting three, and he registered a lone sack as he was clearly a player still in recovery.

The big Hawaiian now has two seasons of college eligibility remaining, but he'll be looking to make a big splash over a full Husky campaign for the first time this fall and make the NFL call out for him. 

"He's a mature guy and he know what he's looking for," Schmidt said. "Like he's on the road to obviously get back to where he was in 2020 — and we're here to help him do that."

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