UW Defense Needs Big Boost and Letuligasenoa Would Be Welcome Option

Tuli Letuligasenoa was in uniform for the Stanford game, yet he walked onto the field on Saturday afternoon with his white University of Washington jersey untucked and hanging well below his waist.

You can wear it casual or sloppy like that when you're not going to play, which was the case for the 6-foot-1, 292-pound senior from Concord, California, nursing an unspecified injury and suited up only in case of emergency.

With his hometown 57 miles north of Palo Alto, Letuligasenoa missed out on a final chance to mix it up in the old neighborhood in front of family members and friends, which had to be a mild disappointment for him.

More disconcerting to the Huskies is they've had to go without their most disruptive interior defensive lineman for most of three games now — and it's probably no coincidence that in that time Oregon and Stanford each scored 33 points against a Letuligasenoa-light UW defense with opposing quarterbacks standing fairly upright and unbothered in the pocket, and rushing yards coming in bunches.

As Kalen DeBoer's unbeaten and fifth-ranked team (8-0 overall, 5-0 Pac-12) prepares to meet the No. 24 USC Trojans (7-2, 5-1) in Los Angeles and close out a testy final third of the regular season, the Huskies' chances of playing in a league championship game and even making it to the College Football Playoff most likely will depend on increasing their defensive prowess.

"I think there'll be a few guys who get back and will be fresh, Tuli being one of them," DeBoer said. "I think that would be a really important guy for us, especially in stopping the run, and especially in getting more pressure and finishing plays in the backfield."

Sure, the Huskies can try and outscore every team they meet by turning to their Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback Michael Penix Jr. and their free-wheeling offense. Yet championship teams need some semblance of a bothersome defense and Letuligasenoa is key to that.

The difference between these Huskies and the 1991 UW national championship team is the older guys were all pressure, all the time, led by consensus All-America selection and  No. 1 overall NFL draft pick Steve Emtman who was a menace at all times.

The '91 players finished with a stunning 129 tackles for loss over 12 games, while DeBoer's defenders have compiled 34 in eight outings so far.

Led by Emtman's 19.5 TFLs, five different Huskies back then piled up with 12.5 or more stops behind the line of scrimmage. Cornerback Jabbar Muhammad currently is the UW leader with 5 tackles for loss.

Intense pressure, of course, leads to interceptions and the '91 team finished with 22. DeBoer's team has 8 and counting.

While Letuligasenoa is no Emtman, he's the best the Huskies have — until they didn't have him, which has been the case for going on nearly a month now.

A year ago, a sometimes generous UW defense with Letuligasenoa manning the middle seemed to come together and clamp down on opponents during its stretch run, notably beating Texas up front in a 27-20 victory in the Alamo Bowl. 

Developing the next stalwarts for DeBoer's defense has been a little difficult this season because the Huskies have these high goals with their unbeaten team and are beholden to a veteran crew to pursue them, limiting the opportunities for young guys.

For instance, while true freshmen defensive backs Vincent Holmes and Leroy Bryant pulled special-teams duty at Stanford to receive another game-day taste, redshirt freshman defensive tackle Armon Parker and freshman DT Elinneus Davis still haven't played yet this season.

Chances are, the Huskies will turn to the new guys when a natural order of progression permits and maybe even look for a veteran defensive tackle in the transfer portal in 2024 to immediately replace a departed Letuligasenoa. Yet first they want to get this incumbent sixth-year defensive tackle back on the field.

The USC game would be an ideal spot for him to return and make some plays, especially when considering Letuligasenoa was committed to the Trojans coming out of high school before he was a late flip to the UW. 

The well-worn tackle, who previously has played against USC as a Husky only in 2019 because of schedule misses and COVID interruptions, seemed to indicate over the weekend this was an important game for him.

"He was smiling because he knows he'll feel pretty good about being back and rock and rolling throughout the course of the week," DeBoer said.

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