Why the Philadelphia Eagles will love Washington Huskies Defensive Tackle Elijah Qualls
By Bret Stuter
The NFL just invited Washington Huskies Elijah Qualls to their ranks. Here’s why the Philadelphia Eagles will love him
The University of Washington Huskies are an NFL player assembly line under head coach Chris Petersen. The team simply does not look to the stars: either in recruits or in production on the field. What Coach Petersen insists upon is contribution. When you look at a scouting report of Washington Huskies defensive tackle Elijah Qualls, not much jumps off that page.
And in the end, that’s why you cannot rely solely upon scouting reports.
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Who Dat Dish
On one hand, Elijah Qualls is not just a rock in a trench. On the other hand, he’s not even just a defensive lineman. In the Washington Huskies scheme, we was called into duty in any number of ways. You see, the Washington Huskies loved his football acumen. They loved it so much that he was slotted into any number of roles for the team in the year of their NCAA playoff run.
Muscle Upon Muscle
A big man, solid muscle, standing as an edge rusher. Nothing about that showed up in the scouting reports.
The other missing component is the scheme. Scouts rummage through tons of paperwork and hundreds of names. But there are few who even consider the scheme of the team. For the Washington Huskies, the three down linemen had the unique responsibility of caging the quarterback, keeping him in the pocket.
Ultimately, the Huskies decided they wanted the opposing quarterbacks to throw at Sidney Jones IV, Budda Baker, and Kevin King. I truly cannot say I blame them.