UW Huskies star linebacker Zion Tupuola-Fetui ruptures Achilles tendon, out 6-10 months
Washington outside linebacker Zion Tupuola-Fetui ruptured his Achilles tendon in a non-contact injury during practice last week, head coach Jimmy Lake announced on Wednesday.
Tupuola-Fetui will undergo surgery this week and the expected recovery time is 6-10 months. Lake didn’t rule out a return during the 2021 season.
“He’s got a smile on his face and he told me he’s going to be back and ready to go at some point during the 2021 season,” Lake said. “I believe he will, with the way he’s going to attack rehab.”
A 2020 third-team AP All-American and first-team All-Pac-12 selection, Tupuola-Fetui finished the four-game season — his first as a starter — with 13 tackles, seven sacks, three forced fumbles and one fumble recovery. He led the country with 1.75 sacks per game.
Tupuola-Fetui replaced junior Laiatu Latu as a starter in 2020. Lake announced earlier in spring practice that Latu was forced to medically retire due to a neck injury.
“I’m still excited about the (outside linebackers) room,” Lake said. “If you guys remember a year ago, nobody was talking about ZTF. Nobody even knew those initials. Now, we have really quality players at that position and now it’s their turn to take over an opportunity and run with it. We’ll see who those names are going to be. ... Some players are going to have to emerge.”
The Huskies still have one returning starter in sixth-year senior Ryan Bowman, who was able to come back due to the NCAA’s eligibility pause. Sav’ell Smalls, a five-star signee in the Class of 2020, could potentially replace Tupuola-Fetui in the starting line-up.
The Huskies also added senior Jeremiah Martin, a transfer from Texas A&M. A four-star recruit coming out of Cajon High School (Calif.), Martin had 47 tackles for loss and 30.5 sacks in 16 games, according to MaxPreps. But he recorded just 11 tackles and three tackles for loss in 32 games at Texas A&M.
“He does a really good job,” Lake said of Martin. “You guys see our tempos that we go in and out of. That’s how you got to practice in order for us to practice at a high level and Jeremiah does that really, really well.
“He knows when to turn it on, break down by the quarterback, stay off the quarterback. He gets his pass-rush moves. He’s had some really good ones against our offensive line. ... Maybe you guys haven’t seen it, but it’s sacks on our film.”
Redshirt freshman Cooper McDonald and sophomore Bralen Trice will likely see the field, too. McDonald received high praise from Lake on Wednesday.
“You can just see the confidence in (McDonald) every single day he comes out,” Lake said. “You go back to day one (of spring practice), I said, ‘Hey, Cooper is going to have the first interception of the outside linebacker group. I was just calling it because I could just see the confidence in the way he was going through drills and the way he knew his calls. ... I’m really excited about Cooper.”
This story was originally published April 21, 2021 at 11:43 AM.
