The choice-making surrounding Zion Tupuola-Fetui has by no means stopped.
Orange hair or yellow?
UW or switch portal?
Advertisement
Huskies or the NFL?
2 hundred seventy-eight kilos or 241?
One factor that everybody can agree on with this College of Washington defensive presence is he is constructed a reasonably widespread status, regardless of how lengthy he is been out of the limelight, for what he can do on the soccer area.
This a lot was made abundantly clear as soon as extra when Huge Sport Boomer — a prolific school soccer list-maker with an enormous following from, the place else, Oklahoma — ranked ZTF because the fourth-best exterior linebacker in America.
In Boomer’s estimation, the Huskies’ junior from Pearl Metropolis, Hawaii, trails solely Alabama’s Will Anderson, Georgia’s Nolan Smith and Arkansas’ yes-his-name-is-really Bumper Pool in coming off the sting and elevating havoc.
Advertisement
Nonetheless, this Sooners fanatic does not fairly know what Edefuan Ulofoshio is all about. He put him tenth on the listing. Ulofoshio is an inside linebacker. However hey, quick Eddie is perhaps fairly good coming off the sting when he is wholesome.
Tupuola-Fetui’s notoriety once more stems largely from a three-game pattern measurement he turned in throughout the pandemic-shortened season of 2020.
Previous to that, he had performed in relative obscurity for 2 seasons, making transient however common appearances in 14 video games and logging 10 tackles, although none for misplaced yardage in that point.
“No one had heard of ZTF,” former UW coach Jimmy Lake identified.
Advertisement
As soon as the Pac-12 pulled the wraps off a delayed and compact 2020 schedule, ZTF proved unimaginable to dam over the primary three video games, amassing 7 sacks, together with 3 strip sacks, in opposition to Oregon State, Arizona and Utah.
Scroll to Proceed
Stanford was capable of shut him down, however by then he had accomplished greater than sufficient to be named first-team All-Pac-12 and third-team Related Press All-America.
He was the perfect factor that occurred throughout the ill-fated Lake period.
A star was born.
Advertisement
At the least for six months.
ZTF following spring surgical procedure a yr in the past.
Dan Raley
A yr in the past in spring apply, ZTF ruptured an Achilles tendon and needed to battle again to seem in 5 video games after lacking the primary 5. He registered a lone sack earlier than struggling.a concussion and sitting out the ultimate two outings.
By all of this, Tupuola-Fetui seems able to play at a excessive stage once more, although he continues to strive totally different taking part in weights, searching for the quickest him.
Advertisement
From a excessive of 278 kilos in 2020 to a low of 241 this previous April, ZTF is aiming for one thing in between.
He is searching for no matter will assist him get to peak situation as a way to terrorize quarterbacks with as a lot frequency, if no more, over a full season. His NFL future is relying on it.
Rating fourth within the nation at his place is an efficient place to begin as he prepares for an upcoming season that will probably be essential to his draft ambitions. At the least they already know him in Oklahoma.
Go to si.com/school/washington to learn the newest Husky FanNation tales as quickly as they’re revealed.
Not all tales are posted on the fan websites.
Advertisement
Discover Husky FanNation on Fb by looking: Husky Maven/Sports activities Illustrated
Comply with Dan Raley of Husky FanNation on Twitter: @DanRaley1 and @HuskyMaven
The Gophers football program addressed a need in the middle of its defense for the 2025 season with Oklahoma State linebacker Jeff Roberson on Thursday night.
The 6-foot-2, 225-pound graduate transfer from Choctaw, Okla., totaled 58 tackles, including 8.5 for lost yards, three sacks and one interception in 12 games in 2024. He had a middling 57.7 grade from Pro Football Focus, along with 19 pressures, but also 11 missed tackles last season.
Roberson played 670 snaps last season, but only 107 across 2021 and 2023. He played special teams as a freshman in 2020 and missed the 2022 season with injury.
Roberson will help fill the void left by leading tackler Cody Lindenberg; the Anoka native declared for the NFL draft after the regular season and skipped the Duke’s Mayo Bowl. Maverick Baranowski and Devon Williams top the U’s depth chart at linebacker going into next season.
Advertisement
The Gophers have added 15 total players via the NCAA transfer portal since early December and are still looking for help at cornerback and possibly defensive line.
The Cowboys went to the SEC to pick another linebacker out of the portal.
Ole Miss transfer Trip White, who was listed at 6-foot-3, 220 pounds last season, pledged to Oklahoma State, according to CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz. White played in all 13 of the Rebels’ games this past season, his redshirt sophomore year. He made one tackle, primarily playing special teams.
White played in three games while maintaining a redshirt as a true freshman in 2022. He appeared in five games in 2023, and to this point has totaled nine career tackles.
Advertisement
Out of Parkview Magnet in Little Rock, Arkansas, White was a three-star prospect in the 2022 recruiting class and chose Ole Miss over offers from Arkansas, Kansas State, Baylor, Louisville, Oklahoma State, Indiana and others. The 247Sports Composite system tabbed White as the No. 1,103 player in the class, the No. 109 linebacker in the class and the No. 12 player from Arkansas in 2022. He also started as his team’s quarterback as a high school senior, throwing for 2,035 yards and 19 touchdowns to go with 445 rushing yards and seven more scores.
White becomes the third linebacker the Pokes have grabbed out of the portal, joining Bryan McCoy (Akron) and Brandon Rawls (Saginaw Valley State). White’s addition comes a few days after Jeff Roberson hopped in the portal. With Roberson, Nick Martin, Collin Oliver and Kendal Daniels all gone from last season’s squad, OSU’s linebacker room — like most position rooms — will look quite a bit different heading into 2025. Kap Dede is set to coach that group, with new OSU defensive coordinator Todd Grantham bringing him in from Western Kentucky.
The Oklahoma Sooners will open the 2025 softball season on Feb. 6 against the CSUN Matadors in San Diego. After a historic season, Oklahoma faces a lot of turnover after losing a number of fixtures in the lineup to graduation.
The Sooners certainly aren’t lacking for talent, however, as a trio of players were named to Softball America’s preseason All-American teams on Tuesday.
Sophomore outfielder Kasidi Pickering and Utility/DP Ella Parker were named to Softball America’s first team. Newcomer Abby Dayton was named to the second team.
Parker led the Oklahoma Sooners with a .415 batting average from the utility role. She also had 13 home runs and 62 RBIs as a true freshman. Parker hit .500 over Oklahoma’s final four games to clinch their fourth-straight national title.
Advertisement
Pickering hit .389 with 12 home runs and 51 RBIs as a true freshman for the Sooners. In the Women’s College World Series final against Texas, she had home runs in both games against the Texas Longhorns to win the championship.
Abby Dayton is one of a number of impact transfers for the Oklahoma Sooners this season. She led the Pac-12 in batting average, hitting .431 and also had an on-base percentage of .510 for the Utah Utes.
The Oklahoma Sooners will have a new look, but led by this trio of stars, the defending national champions will be ready to compete in the SEC.
More: 5 Oklahoma Sooners included in Softball America’s top 100
Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions.You can also follow John on X @john9williams.
