2020 Washington Huskies Football Preview – Defense
Washington Huskies defense.
Defensive Tackle
Tuli Letuligasenoa, a redshirt sophomore, played in all the games last season except one against Boise State in the Las Vegas Bowl. Letuligasenoa starts at the position vacated by Onwuzurike. Senior Josiah Bronson, a senior, holds down the other defensive tackle spot. Bronson comes into this year with some history of success after making 23 tackles with two sacks in 2019.
Redshirt freshman Jacob Bandes is the backup to Bronson. It wouldn’t be surprising for him to see him also sub in for Letuligasenoa. Faatui Tuitele and Noa Ngalu, both redshirt freshmen and sophomore Taki Taimani will also be part of the rotation.
Outside Linebacker
Aside from Ryan Bowman Jr., the Huskies are very young at outside linebacker. In his three seasons, Bowman played in every game for the Huskies, so he is one of U-Dub’s most experienced defensive players. Last year he earned All Pac-12 second-team honors. This season he is also asked to provide leadership. Playing behind the senior is redshirt soph Zion Tupuola-Fetui.
Sophomore Laiatu Latu has big shoes to fill. He inherited Tryon’s vacated OLB position. However, Latu showed promise last year in a reserve role. As a freshman in 2019, he played in eight games for the Huskies, making 15 stops.
Freshman Sav’ell Smalls, a standout at Seattle’s Kennedy Catholic, is expected to backup Latu. He was named all-state by the Seattle Times and the Tacoma News Tribune as a high school senior. We could see a lot of Smalls in his freshman season.