Washington football will have arguably the country’s fiercest defensive line in 2020, and it runs deeper than ever
Jimmy Lake is going to have a lot to deal with during his first year as Washington football’s head coach, but one thing he won’t have to worry about is his defensive line. The Huskies are returning arguably the best interior defensive lineman in the country in Levi Onwzurike, and are adding to the stockpile of weapons after redshirting their 2019 recruits.
Off the top, let’s say that it’s impossible to talk about splitting up snaps, because everyone that’s going to be mentioned in this article has the potential to make a big impact this year. The defensive tackles alone are going to run at least seven deep, and depending on the progression of Noa Ngalu it could be eight. Washington runs a base 2-2-2-5 defense, which makes it even harder for some of these interior guys to get playing time. Defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski has the ability to play one set of defensive tackles per series to keep everyone fresh, or rotate them out like hockey lines.
No matter which option he chooses, the Huskies are talented enough up front to free up a lot of one on one opportunities for their outside linebackers, while still generating consistent pressure from the interior. Now let’s have some fun and look at some of the best possible combinations of defensive tackles for the upcoming season. These will not be based on the depth chart, but rather on complementary skill sets that will work best together in 2020.
Tuli Letuligasenoa and Levi Onwuzurike
The power and speed of this combo should have the rest of the Pac-12 shaking in their cleats. Letuligasenoa is going to be one of the fastest risers in the country this year, with his ability to bull rush, eat up double teams, and stop the run will impress on a national level during the 2020 season. Combine that with Onwuzurike’s elite first step and arsenal of pass rush moves, that’s going to command a lot of attention along the interior.
Unless teams are going to consistently keep in a tight end or running back for pass protection, this combo, along with whoever’s playing the edge (let’s say Laiatu Latu and Joe Tryon for example), there are going to be a lot of one on one opportunities for those guys to hit home without blitzing.
Taki Taimani and Faatui Tuitele
The pass rush that this duo can provide would be an amazing thing to watch for Husky fans, especially with the way that Taimani’s size commands a double team. Combining that with his quick feet and natural power, he’s going to free up a lot of opportunities for the guys around him.
That’s where Tutitele comes in. The redshirt freshman from Hawaii was Washington’s biggest recruiting win in the class of 2019, where he was rated as highly as the #21 player in the country per 247 Sports. The coaching staff clearly loves where he’s at progression wise, as he played in the four-game limit in order to preserve his redshirt during the 2019 season.
Putting these two together gives the Huskies an impressive complement of skill sets that will work wonders off each other. Tuitele brings a refined swim move to the table and will continue to add to his arsenal as he matures, while Taimani brings the power to collapse the pocket and plug up two gaps in the run game as well.
Jacob Bandes and Sama Paama
This potential pairing is an exciting thought because of the pure power it can generate up the middle. The two redshirt freshmen would be excellent at just pinning their ears back and collapsing the pocket with a bull rush on passing downs, and are both big enough to eliminate any rushing lanes up the middle. Both could use a little bit of work on their technique, but that’s something that defensive line coach Ikaika Malloe has time to work on with both guys.
Pairing these two with an experienced edge rusher like Ryan Bowman and someone like Zion Tupuola-Fetui, who has the attention of the coaching staff and has progressed in a huge way over his first few years on campus, this could be a deadly group.
Josiah Bronson and Noa Ngalu
This pairing is fun from the standpoint of we can take a player like Bronson, a sixth-year senior who’s fully developed, and pair him with Ngalu, a redshirt freshman who’s still in the early phases of his development. Ngalu has put on 10 pounds since he arrived on campus, and is on track to become an elite run stuffer a la Greg Gaines if he can continue to add weight in a healthy way. This wouldn’t be the most impactful duo in terms of wreaking havoc while rushing the passer, but they would work wonders on early downs against a power run scheme by simply holding their ground.
It doesn’t matter if all of these pairings come to fruition, or none of them do. The moral of the story here is that the Huskies have the deepest, and arguably the most talented set of defensive tackles in the country, and they’re going to put that on display in 2020.
Note from the editor: The outside linebackers are an equally exciting group, and while I originally wanted to pair the two together, both groups just ooze potential and have so many fun pairings to talk about, I decided to split the two into separate articles. Keep on the lookout for the OLB group, dropping later this week!