Inside The Huskies

Four Days to the Draft, Onwuzurike Looks to Be First Husky Taken

Most of the analysts have him near the end of the opening round, many as the very last guy on day one.
Dan Raley|
Four Days to the Draft, Onwuzurike Looks to Be First Husky Taken
Four Days to the Draft, Onwuzurike Looks to Be First Husky Taken

Four days from the NFL draft, you can find Levi Onwuzurike, Joe Tryon and Elijah Molden each turn up near the end of the first round in someone's mock draft somewhere.

The difference for Onwuzurike is the former University of Washington defensive tackle from the Dallas suburbs shows up more times as a No. 1 pick than his fellow NFL-bound Huskies.

Looking at nearly a dozen mocks, the 6-foot-3, 293-pounder is going anywhere from the 26th pick overall to the Cleveland Browns by NFL.com to as late as the second round and 36th for the New England Patriots on Yardbarker.

Curiously, Onwuzurike turns up no fewer than four times as the final selection of the first round, going to Tampa Bay Bay. The Sporting News, the Ringer, Sportsgamblingpodcast and CBSsports each have him pegged as the final guy on the first day who have his name called out.

What that would mean is a Husky reunion amid employment with the defending Super Bowl champions. 

"Vita Vea worked out well for the Bucs, so why not grab Onwuzurike?" asked a writer for Sportsgamblingpodcast.

Tampa Bay actually has a pair of ex-Husky DLs on the roster in Vea, a three-year NFL veteran now who played two seasons with Levi at the UW, and Benning Potoa'e, coming off his rookie year as a pro, plus ex-UW player Jaydon Mickens, a wide receiver and kick returner.

"Reuniting with them on the Bucs would be dope," Onwuzurike said. "Obviously I'd have two mentors up there and I'd easily be able to learn the defense."

The attraction to this Husky by way of the Lone Star stare is his quickness coming out of a stance. You can't teach that. Complementing this, he uses his hands extremely well, understanding where to place them on his opponent and strong enough to shed these guys. He's also highly adept at getting leverage and the upper hand on the other guy.

"Levi might be one of the most explosive players we've had," said the UW's Ikaika Malloe, formerly the DL coach and now working with the outside linebackers. "That's what the NFL coaches and scouts are looking at."

Onwuzurike redshirted and played three seasons for the Huskies, starting in two of them. In 2019, he was a 12-game regular who was a first-team All-Pac-12 selection, accelerating his pro football prospects. 

He opted out of the UW's past pandemic season to prepare for the draft. He hasn't played in a regular football game for 16 months, though he participated in Senior Bowl workouts. This hasn't affected his confidence any.

Asked how important it was for him to be a first-rounder, Onwuzurike offered a point-blank response. 

"I'm the best D-tackle in the draft," he said, "and the best D-tackle should go in the first round."

Follow Dan Raley of Husky Maven on Twitter: @DanRaley1 and @HuskyMaven

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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