Sociology major Levi Onwuzurike one of Huskies’ academic leaders
Washington defensive line coach Ikaika Malloe spends a lot of talking with junior Levi Onwuzurike.
Whether it’s before or after meetings, the two will often find themselves huddled together for lengthy conversations. What strikes Malloe the most about those chats is Onwuzurike’s ability to understand the mood. If he needs to be serious, he’s serious. If the feeling is lighter, he’ll adjust to that, too.
“If he’s in a joking mood and I’m not,” Malloe said, “he’ll kind of change his tone.”
Ever since Onwuzurike entered the program three years ago — he redshirted in 2016 — he’s had an uncanny ability to read a room. Now that Onwuzurike is one of the most experienced players on the defensive line, Malloe said he’s become both the leader of the group and the comedian. He has a knack for interpreting emotion, which helps him strike just the right balance.
“Understanding the environment, what is the setting of our environment (on) the defensive line,” Malloe said. “Is it a setting where he needs to be serious? Is it a setting where he can kind of joke around? I do think his major kind of fits his personality and how he fits in our group.”
Onwuzurike is majoring in sociology, which is the study of society, social relationships and interaction and culture of everyday life. After starting his academic career at UW as a psychology major, he switched to law before settling on sociology — although he pointed out that the latter two go “hand-in-hand.”
On the field, Onwuzurike has been a contributor since his redshirt freshman season. Before starting all four games this season, he played in every game in 2018 and finished with 34 tackles, 6.4 tackles for loss and three sacks. But his accomplishments don’t end there. After making the 2017 Academic All-Pac-12 second team in 2017, Onwuzurike was a first-team selection last season. He was also named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America All-District 8 team.
While Onwuzurike’s mother pushed him do well in school, Onwuzurike said academics always came naturally to him. Asked if he enjoyed it, he laughed.
“Sometimes I do,” he said.
When it came to choosing a major, Onwuzurike said he was drawn to the criminal justice aspect of sociology. Right now, he’s interested in detective work. That’s a chance, he said, to change things from the inside.
“Just learning how different cultures are treated,” he said of sociology’s appeal. “I think that’s the direction I want to go. I just liked that whole aspect of it.”
Onwuzurike is mostly interested in modern-day issues. He said he recently studied the broken windows theory, which states that visible signs of crime create an environment that encourages further crime and disorder.
“Areas that are not as wealthy as others will be targeted more by police for those reasons,” Onwuzurike said, “things like that.”
Each quarter, the Huskies’ position groups compete for the highest GPA. Malloe said the defensive line usually finds itself in the middle of the pack. But the addition of Onwuzurike, who has one of the highest GPAs on the team, has helped it moved up the board.
“To me, I think those are the guys that we think fit our program,” Malloe said. “The guys that think of academics really as number one. They come here for the education and football is really a platform that makes us an option. … I do appreciate that from him, that he takes his studies just as important as he does football.”
While Onwuzurike has settled in nicely as a leader for the defensive line, Malloe said that wasn’t a position he immediately embraced. Perhaps, Malloe said, that stemmed from his ability to understand dynamics. When he entered the program, there were experienced upperclassmen filling those roles. When they left, Onwuzurike seemed to know it was his time.
“Levi is a guy that’s so humble, he doesn’t want to be in the spotlight,” Malloe said. “Those (older) guys really pushed him. And now that he’s the leader, I think he learned from the others.”
