Who Are These Guys: Sione Potoa’e

“Who Are These Guys?” is a series the Good Guys are doing on the Husky football freshman class.  We’ll be telling you a little more about the guys who we think will play this year in this series.

Sione Potoa’e was one of the biggest names in last years recruiting class.  He was also one of the biggest bodies.  Usually rated as the second best prospect in Washington (Jake Heaps was first), Potoa’e is big, explosive defensive tackle.  This big guy was rated as a four-star by both recruiting services.

If you’ve followed the Huskies over the last couple years, you probably know about the defensive line’s problems.  Opponents ran over our team at will most of the time and there wasn’t much of a pass rush to speak of.  We did have Teo-Neshiem, but one guy can’t save an entire unit.  Willingham didn’t recruit lineman very well.  I would argue he didn’t recruit anything very well but that’s for another time.  Sione is one of the guys who we hope can turn around the defensive line.

Potoa’e (6-2, 285) does have a few bodies in front of him on the depth chart.  Alameda Ta’amu is the best player at this position and has a firm hold on the job.  According to Sark, he looks like a new man is apparently playing like one.  I sure hope so.  Cameron Elisara will most likely be the starter at the other spot.  He’s played quite a bit the last two years and should be pretty strong at the other tackle position.  Semisi Tokolahi is also in front of Potoa’e.  Tokolahi is a true sophomore who played sparingly last year.  He lost a ton of weight and has been playing pretty well in camp so far.  He’s played some with the first unit.

So where does that leave Sione?  At the moment it leaves him on the second unit and the 4th overall tackle (two tackles are on the field at once generally), obviously.  But, he could move up pretty quickly.  He had one of the best first weeks of camp for any freshman, getting great reports from Sark a couple of times.  Why should we be excited about him?  Sark said he has the most explosive hands of any defensive lineman he’s seen here.  He’s already up to size and doesn’t look much like a freshman right now.

Should he red-shirt?  Maybe, but I think he could help this team right away and therefore should not red-shirt.  Defensive tackle is a good place to have depth and he adds that to this team.  Those big guys get tired, you know?

That’s all for now.  Here’s today’s scrimmage report from Condotta.  I wish I could have been there but I suppose surfing at the beach is a nice consolation prize.

Andrew