Dan Raley has covered University of Washington football since 1987.
He answered five questions regarding Levi Onwuzurike, the Detroit Lions second-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
1.) What are the Lions getting in DL Levi Onwuzurike?
Dan Raley: I’ve encountered all the great defensive linemen who have come through Husky Stadium among them Steve Emtman, a No. 1 overall draft pick and the catalyst for the national champs, plus Super Bowl champion Vita Vea, a pair of eventual Detroit Lions players in Danny Shelton and the late Reggie Rogers and now Levi Onwuzurike.
Unlike those other guys, Onwuzurike sort of snuck up on us. Oh, we knew Levi was good. After all, he came all the way from Texas to the Great Northwest to play his college football. Yet, he was sort of laid back and fun to talk to, whereas those other guys often had steam coming out of their ears.
Spring Position Preview: Special Teams
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Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images
For the latter part of the 2010s, the Washington Huskies were the envy of most of West Coast football. The team had a quiet, no nonsense leader who kept the focus off himself and allowed the stars to showcase their talent. Of course, I’m talking about the career of long snapper A.J. Carty.
In his years with the program, Carty was almost completely anonymous. That happens to be the best compliment you can pay to a position that only gets noticed when something goes horribly wrong. Carty’s graduation made way for Jaden Green, who was surprisingly highly-touted as a long-snapping prospect. Green immediately did what Carty avoided for his entire career- get noticed. His errant snap on a punt in the opener against Oregon State led to a Yakety Sax blooper reel that got on Sportscenter for all the wrong reasons. Fortunately, Green righted the ship over the remaining games with some minimally
Washington Huskies Spring Football Position Preview: Defensive Backs uwdawgpound.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from uwdawgpound.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
#Woof: Huskies Land A DB Transfer From Oklahoma
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Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
The Huskies got some great news from the transfer portal when former top-50 defensive back recruit Brendan “Bookie” Radley-Hiles committed to UW after opting to transfer from Oklahoma. Listed at 5’10” and around 185, Radley-Hiles has played safety and nickel back for the Sooners and it sounds like he will be vying for the nickel back spot at UW.
Over the last 3 seasons at Oklahoma Radley-Hiles has totaled 115 tackles, 9 tackles for a loss, and 3 interceptions. When you watch him play you can see how aggressive he is, and last year per PFF he improved quite a bit going from a 63 coverage grade to over 74 (which is above average nationally). He can however improve his tackling, which I am sure the Husky staff will work on with him.
Jennifer Buchanan-USA TODAY Sports
Get your weekly roundtable thoughts here. All of us in this week’s discussion, you can follow on Twitter here, here, here, here, or wait for it here. No, I will not be telling you which “here” is which of us.
Anyhoo, let’s end your week with some titillating discussion on UW football stuff. Also I promise to never use the word “titillating” again. Sorry.
To the roundtable!
Gabey Lucas: Okay roundtable time! This is kinda the classic the question last year where I predicted ZTF being awesome at some point in the future (albeit not as awesome as last year, and certainly not so soon) but who do you think is overlooked going into spring/next season?