SEATTLE — Last season, Trenton Tuiasosopo wanted to prove he was all the way back from a life-threatening accident, this season is about going out with a bang.
“It’s my last year,” said Tuiasosopo, a 2004 graduate of Mariner High School. “I’m trying to make some noise.”
Aside from the scar that zigzags across his head from one ear to the other, Tuiasosopo has few other holdovers from the bike accident in March 2005 that put him in the hospital and cost him a season of football. He returned from that accident to play in 2006, but later said he wasn’t all the way back from the injury that season.
Last year, Tuiasosopo had by far his best season as a Husky, starting eight games at linebacker and playing in all 13. He finished the season with 39 tackles, including nine against Oregon State. He also had his first career interception in that game.
The challenge now for Tuiasosopo is finding the playing time that will allow him to “make some noise.”
Tuiasosopo gained some of his playing time last season because of a lingering knee injury to then sophomore Donald Butler. Butler is now at full speed by all accounts, and seems to have a firm grip on the starting middle linebacker job, which is where Tuiasosopo also plays.
Still, the Huskies like what they see in Tuiasosopo, and plan to find ways to use him.
“The thing that we recognize is that we’ve got a good football player in Trenton Tuiasosopo,” Washington coach Tyrone Willingham said. “There are some things he does very well, and what we want to do is make sure we find a spot for him at the places where he has the skill sets to be successful. What we’re doing is trying to keep our minds open and make sure we find the right spots, in addition to him being a linebacker, for what we can do with him.”
That could mean spending plays lined up as an end in rush situations, something the Huskies did with linebacker Dan Howell last year. Or it could mean occasionally playing Tuiasosopo at other linebacker positions.
“He’s doing a couple of different things for us right now,” linebackers coach Chris Tormey said. “He’s playing a lot better. He’s really starting to understand blocking schemes better and fit the run a lot better and his coverage skills have gotten better. Even though he’s been here four years, he’s made a lot of improvement in these two weeks of fall camp. … He’s mostly playing the Mike (middle linebacker), but he can bounce around and play some other positions as well.”
Whatever it takes for him to get on the field and make an impact, Tuiasosopo says he’s happy to do it.
“They have me at the Mike position, or they may have me playing nickel,” he said. “Wherever they want me. I just told them, I’ll play wherever they want. I just want to be on the field. If they want me to stop the middle, I’ll stop the middle, if they want me on the end, I’ll play the end. I know I can get the job done if they want me to.”
Huskies land a big recruit: Washington got its fifth, and by far biggest — both literally and figuratively — commitment for its 2009 recruiting class Thursday night from Garfield High School defensive tackle Deandre Coleman. Coleman, who is listed at 6-4, 285 pounds, is considered the state’s top recruit in his class, and also had offers from LSU, Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Colorado and Oregon.
“I like coach Willingham, and I felt like I had a good connection with the coaches, and I felt like I can play early,” Coleman said. “I think they’re up-and-coming.”
A lot has been made this summer about Tyrone Willingham’s job status and its effect on recruiting. Coleman said that gave him brief pause, but in the end he thinks Willingham will be around to coach him.
“Yeah, I thought about that for a minute,” he said. “But I feel like he’s going to be there.”
Another one goes down: Add safety Victor Aiyewa, the projected starter at strong safety, to the Huskies growing injury list. He apparently has a groin injury and was not in pads at either of Friday’s practices.
Jake Locker continues to be listed as day-to-day. Early in the afternoon practice, he put a helmet on a threw passes during an early drill, then ran the stadium stairs. Offensive coordinator Tim Lappano seems happy with what he’s seeing so far from Locker.
“I’m not sure when he’s going to be back full speed, but he’s doing a lot of things,” said Lappano. “He’s just a warrior out there. I was watching him [Thursday] with the stadium stairs and the hash foot drills to strengthen that thing. The guy is just a machine on all of that stuff. Who knows when he’s going to heal up, but nobody is working any harder than he is at it right now, so that’s the positive thing. Nobody wants to be out there more than he does.”
Lappano was asked when Locker needs to be back in order to be ready for the Oregon game.
“I think game week,” he said. “I’d hope Monday of game week he’s ready to go. Just for the timing purposes with the new receivers and that kind of stuff. He’s throwing the ball right now, but game week he needs to be able to get in there with first receiving group, whoever that’s going to be, and make sure the timing and stuff is there. I don’t worry about the running part of it at all. I’m just concerned about the timing aspect of our passing game.”
Contact Herald Writer John Boyle at jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more on University of Washington sports, check out the Huskies blog at heraldnet.com /huskiesblog
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
