Who will be the most famous husky soccer player in 2021?

If this were the 40 yard shot, the starter pistol would go off and Jaxson Kirkland would take the lead, trampling just ahead of Trent McDuffie, with Cade Otton and Eddie Ulofoshio pushing hard to get a close target and Luke Wattenberg just happy, to get out of the blocks.

Instead, it’s a race to see who will become the University of Washington’s most decorated, respected, and well-known soccer player for 2021.

So many options, all on one roster.

If it’s not clear by now, the Huskies have gathered a considerable amount of soccer talent for the upcoming season. Enough body to count as a top 20 team and serious conference participant again.

While it still doesn’t match the mother group of players that Don James put together for his national championship run 30 years ago, this group features a lot of people who are very NFL scouts, the people who are All-America and All-America decide. Conference lists and college football analysts in general.

Imagine if Zion Tupuola-Fetui hadn’t popped a tire in the middle of spring practice and had to undergo surgery to rob him of the 2021 college football glory. Or when someone like Richard Newton, Rom Odunze, Kyler Gordon, Sav’ell Smalls or Bookie Radley-Hiles emerges from this barking husky dog ​​pack and also has a monster year.

It’s only the second week of May, about three months before everyone pulls the pads again, but with personal awards piling up for these select husky gladiators, it’s probably a good time to take stock of who is what and where has.

It’s an impressive collection of college football balls, something that is never taken for granted. After all, it wasn’t that long ago that the UW did not provide a single NFL draft pick for consecutive seasons (2008-09), an all-conference first-team player for three seasons (2007-09) or an All-American for seven years (2003-09).

Those were the dark times. This is a golden husky era indeed.

Jaxson Kirkland

Just last week, Kirkland was selected as number 12 in the NFL selection by the respected Pro Football Focus. It did so a few days after the Vancouver, Washington offensive tackle was selected by Yahoo as the number 29 on its mock draft.

Even earlier, the 6-foot-7,310-pound Kirkland, who soon became a four-year-old Husky starter after beginning his career with Right Guard, was ranked the nation’s eighth best offensive lineman and the Pac-12’s top overall offensive lineman from stayaliveinpower5.com

Trent McDuffie

Finally the word came: McDuffie is an exquisitely skilled and quite accomplished cornerback. Hard too. A two-year rookie since he was a true freshman, he is the last in a long line of husky defenders to associate his name with the nation’s elite. It took a while.

The 5-foot-11, 195-pound junior from Westminster, California recently joined Kirkland to play PFF’s NFL draft, finishing four places behind his teammates as the 16th player. He is also the fourth-best player in the 247Sports ranking of the best Pac-12 players. Enjoy it while you can. This will no doubt be his final husky season.

Cade Otton

Outside Seattle, the tight end of these huskies was underestimated during his five-year college football career. His position is difficult to assess for general voters and so-called analysts, but not for NFL scouts. The earlier groups tend to rank these types according to their size and number of receptions.

They leave out the one dimension that the pros in a pro football tight end covet most: blocking. The 6-foot-5,250-pound Otton worked extraordinarily hard to make himself an unprecedented blocker as well as a proven pass catcher. A senior from Tumwater, Washington, he is the nation’s sixth best tight end, selected by stayaliveinpower5.com, and the second best TE in the Pac-12. The professionals know who he is.

Edefuan Ulofoshio

This guy remains the Huskies’ Area 51, their big secret. OK, make this area 48 which corresponds to his jersey number. And yes, he’s from Nevada too. He has developed from a walk-on to a special teamer to a redshirt novice to a scholarship holder to the heart and soul of UW defense.

247Sports ranks Ulofoshio, whose Nigerian name naturally means “no fear of war”, as the sixth best overall player in the Pac-12, and stayaliveinpower5.com rates him as the nation’s 13th linebacker. If you need references, ask Stanford about him. In the last game he played last December, the 6-foot-1,240-pound Ulofoshio stacked 18 tackles against the Cardinal, the second most common in school history.

Luke Wattenberg

This guy has always worked in the long shadow, playing alongside better-known UW offensive linemen in Kaleb McGary, Trey Adams, Nick Harris and Kirkland. But as he begins his fifth season as a college starter – you read that right – people begin to understand his versatility, which includes starting stints on the left tackle and left guard.

The 6-foot-5,295-pound center of Trabuco Canyon, California this off-season caught the attention of stayaliveinpower5.com, which ranked him the 17th best offensive lineman in the country in every position. This ranking alone makes him the No. 1 snapper of the Pac-12.

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