ZTF's Husky Return Was Filled with Blood, Sweat and Even Tears
Zion Tupuola-Fetui is equal parts inspiring, entertaining and terrifying, all wrapped into one luminous college football package.
Meeting with media members for the first time since he tore his Achilles tendon in April, the affable University of Washington outside linebacker on Wednesday recounted how his medical advisors initially informed him that he wouldn't play again until a possible bowl game.
Always so self-motivated, ZTF circled the Oregon game at Husky Stadium on November 6 as his personal target date for a football return.
The 6-foot-4, 260-pound sophomore then beat his own expectations by a month, taking 10 snaps at home against UCLA on October 16 and doubling that amount against Arizona last weekend in Tucson.
Did we forget to mention that this guy is emotional?
"I cried the day of the UCLA game during the Dawg Walk," he said. "It was the culmination of everything."
ZTF is one of the few upbeat storylines for a disappointing UW football team (3-4 overall, 2-2 Pac-12) that has underperformed all season. Of course, one of the reasons for the slide was his glaring absence through the first five games. There was almost no pass rush.
Everything changed for the worse for these Huskies midway through spring practice when the first-team All-Pac-12 edge rusher planted his left foot and felt a strange sensation.
"I thought someone had stepped on me, like mid-play, and I was getting back up and it felt fine," he said. "I went to walk on it and couldn't. That's really all there was to it. Even as they were taking me off the field, I was [going], 'They're going to tape it up, I'll be fine.' "
Zion Tupuola-Fetui shortly after surgery.
Dan Raley
It wasn't fine.
He went from one of college football's new sensations in 2020, with 7 sacks and 3 forced fumbles in just four games, to hopping off the field, crashing into a training table and being driven off the field on a motorized cart.
Once everything had been surgically repaired, he attacked his rehabilitation with the same all-out fervor he does an opposing backfield. The day he ran for the first time was a big milestone for him. He also made a point to be visible and supportive among his teammates at all times at practice.
"It would be kind of selfish for me to go into a shell because things weren't working out for me," he said.
Zion Tupuola-Fetui levels Arizona QB Will Plummer for a sack.
Joe Camporeale/USA TODAY Sports
With the Husky season going in the tank without him in uniform, others wondered why Tupuola-Fetui didn't just wait until next season to return, to be extra careful about his recovery. It wasn't like the NFL people overnight were going to forget who he was.
In mid-August, Sports Illustrated even ranked the injured ZTF in recovery as the sixth player taken in the first round of its mock draft, his highest listing yet.
"I feel like I'm protecting my future by not sitting out," he said. "I'm trying to be a sports broadcaster and I feel like I know the ins and the outs of the draft process. So I feel like I know I can improve wherever I'm stationed on the boards and you do that by playing. Do I have NFL aspirations? Yes. But how you get into the NFL can dictate the rest of your career."
He came back extra fit, shedding some 15-20 pounds. Against UCLA, he shoved veteran offensive linemen backward with surprising ease for a rusty player. In the Arizona game, he dropped Wildcats quarterback Will Plummer for his first sack of the season and wasn't quite sure what to do about it.
Without a planned celebratory response, ZTF sprinted to the Husky sideline, where he leaped over a bench. Rather than be treated like Superman, he was chastised by several coaches and trainers alike for taking an unnecessary chance with his healing hinge.
Above all, he's back and playing once more. Improving his NFL prospects and supporting his teammates were not the only reasons he chose to pull snaps for the UW this season. He couldn't stand the idea of merely watching.
"It was just a drive to get back on the field," ZTF said. "I love these guys. I don't think I have the strength to stand on the side a whole season."
If that was the case, it would have been the only place he was lacking in football fortitude.
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