Washington football: Ulofoshio earns his scholarship

CORVALLIS, OREGON - NOVEMBER 08: Jermar Jefferson #22 of the Oregon State Beavers is tackled by the Washington Huskies in the fourth quarter during their game at Reser Stadium on November 08, 2019 in Corvallis, Oregon. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)
CORVALLIS, OREGON - NOVEMBER 08: Jermar Jefferson #22 of the Oregon State Beavers is tackled by the Washington Huskies in the fourth quarter during their game at Reser Stadium on November 08, 2019 in Corvallis, Oregon. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)

After an outstanding end to his redshirt freshman season, Washington football head coach Jimmy Lake handed former walk-on Edefuan Ulofoshio a scholarship

Washington football needs a big boost at the inside linebacker position going into 2020, and Edefuan Ulofoshio is a name to watch as a potential starter, and impact player for a Husky defense that has a lot of talent at all three levels.

The rising redshirt sophomore came on strong for the Huskies late in the year, namely in the game against Oregon State, where his performance earned him Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week honors. His 47 tackles on the season were also more than starting linebacker Kyler Manu, and Ulofoshio also added three sacks and one forced fumble on the season.

All Ulofoshio has done since arriving on campus at Washington is make plays. He only played in one game as a true freshman, which was the senior day game against Oregon State, but he made two special teams tackles, and forced a fumble on both plays.

Looking Ahead

Ulofoshio started in both the Apple Cup and Las Vegas Bowl for the Huskies, and will be heavily in the mix with whatever group of linebackers Washington decides to go with to open the 2020 season and beyond. They have a lot of talent at the position, and it’s all very young.

The current depth chart includes Ulofoshio’s classmates, redshirt sophomores MJ Tafisi and Jackson Sirmon, redshirt junior Ariel Ngata who will get some run at both inside and outside linebacker, redshirt freshmen Josh Calvert, Daniel Heimuli, and Miki Ah You, and true freshmen Carson Bruener, and Cooper McDonald.

The Huskies are really young at the linebacker position after a few lapses in recruiting, and if Ulofoshio and a few other young guys can take a big step forward in 2020, the Husky defense will be an elite unit nationally.

Congratulations to Eddie on earning his scholarship!