HOUSTON -- As Washington linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio recalls, his only scholarship offers coming out of high school were from FCS programs Robert Morris and NAU, and by the time it actually came to make a decision the Robert Morris staff had been fired so he was down to one option.
But that's not how Ulofoshio chose to see it.
"I just kind of felt like I wanted to take a risk, take a chance," he said. "I kind of talked to my parents and asked them if I could walk-on and if they could pay some tuition a little bit, and they believed in me and I really appreciate that."
On Monday night, Ulofoshio will help lead the Huskies onto the field in the national championship game against Michigan, taking a story that started in 2018 as a walk-on at Washington and culminating it as a team captain, first-team All-Pac-12 and third-team AP All-American selection playing under the spotlight on college football's biggest stage.
"You know, you kind of visualize it, you imagine, but you obviously know a lot of this is out of your control and it's hard to do," Ulofoshio said Saturday, putting this moment in perspective. "But you always work towards it and it's definitely a blessing to be here, but to say that when I walked on campus that I was going to be at the national championship, probably not."
His story actually started from an even more unlikely origin point as Ulofoshio grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, where he stayed through his freshman year of high school.
"There's not much to do in Alaska, so I played little league football and it's just one of those things where you kind of love it," he said.
He moved to Las Vegas from there and played on one of the most high-profile high school football teams in the country at Bishop Gorman, contributing to three state championships and putting up 100 tackles and 15.5 tackles for loss as a senior while still somehow remaining under the radar of college recruiters.
"I had a lot of talented players [on my high school team]. I played with the No. 1 linebacker in the country, I played with the No. 1 tight end in the country, No. 1 QB in the country. It's just kind of how it happens, it's out of my control," he said. "But I knew I was a good player and I knew that I could give a lot to a team. So that's kind of why I wanted to walk-on."
Ulofoshio said he thoroughly researched every Pac-12 program and just felt like the Huskies were a fit. He asked his high school coach to reach out to the staff there and convey his interest, but he wasn't sure where things would go from there.
Until the call came ...
"I really did my research, researching every single Pac-12 school, and Washington was a perfect fit for me, and randomly like a week later their TEs coach Jordan Paopao called me and he said, 'We're going to offer you a preferred walk-on', in the middle of class, and I took it," Ulofoshio recalled. "He's like, 'Are you sure? You don't want to talk to your parents about this?' And I'm like, 'I think it will be fine.'"
Six years later, it's a decision and a story that should be a beacon of inspiration for other high school football players who may lack a clear path into major college football but have the belief in their abilities and, more importantly, the commitment to work needed to prove themselves right.
The Huskies coaches weren't here in 2018 when Ulofoshio arrived. He was already on scholarship by the time this staff took over, and yet they'll be the first to say that he's an example to the rest of the team for reasons beyond his initial circumstances.
"He had some chances to go play at some smaller places, but he said, 'You know what, I want to do this. I can envision this.' That lets you know, when you have someone who is destined to want something and you have your mind set to being able to do that, you can accomplish anything that you put your mind to. And he's a true testament to that," Huskies co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach William Inge said this week.
"Because when it comes to his work there is probably maybe only one other person that you may see in the facility working, trying to prepare as much as him. He's one of those guys, he'll send you a text message at 5 in the morning, 'Hey coach, on play 6 we're looking at this, should I do this?' That's exactly what you want. When you have someone who has the perspective of another coach on the field."
Said fellow Huskies co-DC Chuck Morrell: "I just know how much time and effort and energy he puts into the sport on a daily basis and I'm so happy for him to be getting paid off like he is. The recognition and everything he gets he deserves, and you think about the mental toughness it creates to have that level of belief in yourself that I'm going to make it. ... You've got to bet on yourself, and that's something that he did and I'm just so happy that it's paid off at the level it has for him.
"Just his level of professional preparation every day, I think it drives not only our linebacker room but others around him -- this is the way you need to have it done on a day in, day out basis. And he does that as well as anybody on our team. That kind of makes the culture contagious."
Ulofoshio got on the field for three games as a true freshman in 2018, forcing a fumble on a kickoff on his very first play of his college career. He'd play in 12 games the next season, making three starts and finding some validation in betting on himself.
"The Oregon State game my sophomore year where I was still a walk-on and the starting Mike [linebacker] got hurt, and I was literally the only linebacker left and had a great game, won like conference player of the week. I was like, 'OK, I might actually be as good as I think I am.' That was a special moment," he recalled.
And in January of 2020, former head coach Jimmy Lake put the linebacker on scholarship. Ulofoshio wasn't expecting it in that moment ...
"No, I did not. I did not. I just remember sitting in the middle row, of the front row in the team meeting room, and like everybody jumping on me and breaking the chair. I literally sit in that chair every single day. It was a special moment just being able to call my parents and tell them that they don't got to pay tuition no more, because they paid out of state and that's really expensive," he said, reflecting back. "But just a special moment, and it just made me very grateful and more inspired to keep going and not just be a guy that got on scholarship and kind of like plateaued the rest of his career. I'd like to think I got better from that point."
Indeed, he did.
He started all four games during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, racking up double-digit tackles in three of those games (including 18 vs. Stanford) to earn second-team All-Pac-12 honors.
Ulofoshio was limited by injury each of the last two seasons, but he finished with his best year yet, ranking second on the team this season with 90 tackles along with 8 tackles for loss, 3 sacks, an interception and a forced fumble. He had 2 of those TFLs and a team-high 7 tackles in the CFP semifinals/Sugar Bowl win over Texas last week.
Not surprisingly, he received the Huskies' Guy Flaherty Most Inspirational Award -- the program's oldest and most prestigious honor -- this season.
All the while, he's also been pursuing a pre-med track, graduating with a degree in public and global health and hoping in the future to work in pediatrics and make an impact internationally in needed areas.
First, though, he wants to keep playing football "as long as possible," and unlike six years ago coming out of high school, he should be very much on the radar of talent evaluators at the next level now.
So how does he look back on everything that's transpired to get him to this point -- preparing to play for the national championship as one of the stars of this undefeated Huskies team?
"As a freshman, I had all these big goals. I want to play football and do all this, and then I want go to med school and do all those other things. And towards that process, there was a lot of times I was thinking, man, this is hard, I don't know how people do this, this makes sense why people can't do both. Just to be able to get to this point and say that I'm in a very comfortable position to be able to accomplish both those things, it's a whirlwind," he said.
"It's just a testament to the man upstairs for taking care of me and always keeping me in my good spirits and just not giving up -- not letting anybody tell you what you can and can't do because the world will tell you what you can't do, but at the end of the day it's all God and it's all his world."
