At the ready, Isaiah Inge knows that his job is over in just a few seconds.  That goes for either job–as a defensive lineman or as a dragster.

Yes, as a dragster.

Born in the midwest town of Cedar Rapids, Iowa one of the drag racing hot spots Isaiah Inge and his dad, Washington linebacker William Inge are heavily into drag racing.  Isaiah was born at Mercy Medical Center–just 5 miles from the drag strip Hawkeye Downs Speedway.  For the past several years Isaiah has frequently swapped one helmet for the other.

“Drag racing is something me and my family do,” he said.  “His family did it too growing up.”

There was no shortage of drag strips in the midwestern stops for his well-traveled dad’s coaching career.  Cincinnati, Ohio (where William coached for 2 years); Cedar Rapids and Cedar Falls, Iowa (where William played or coached for all but one year between 1993 and 2004); and an hour southeast of Bloomington, Indiana the home of the Indiana Hoosiers, is Wabash Valley Dragway in Terra Haute, where Isaiah first punched the accelerator in a dragster.

“When we were in Indiana we got really big into drag racing.  I’ve been racing junior dragsters which is a smaller version of top fuel dragsters,” Isaiah recalled of his summers before moving to California.  “I’m still into it, but right now I’m focusing on football.”

He and his dad “share” the family’s 1967 extended-nose Chevy Camaro nicknamed “Black Ice”.

On the football field, Isaiah has been given the nickname “Swaggy” because he’s often decked out in purple Husky “swag”.

“I always have on something colored.  I have a purple mouthpiece and purple and white gloves,” he said.  “I save the Washington gloves for games,” he said.

The younger Inge sees many similarities between being a dragster and a defensive lineman.  His job in both instances is to get to the line, and time his movements so that when it’s “go time” he’s off the mark quickly.

“When it comes to racing and football, you gotta have that concentration to know what you’re doing.  Really focused,” he said.  “On the D-line you gotta make really good reads and make them fast.”

When he’s wearing a racing helmet he has the same “get off the line quickly” mental focus as each of the lights changes to when he punches the accelerator.

“With racing, at the starting line you have to have a quick reaction which gives you an advantage against the person you’re racing–just like getting off the ball fast,” he intimated of how both sports complement each other as far as timing his jump.  “I think that racing has helped me get my reads quicker.”

Shortly before his freshman year in high school, when the Inges moved when  the Pandemic shut down the Golden Bear state he said that he missed the opportunity to pick the brain of his dad.

Bill Ennius-Inge was who his dad went by in his playing days, played and now coaches big-time college football.

Bill was born in Kirkwood, Missouri, and began his college football career playing for College Football Hall of Fame coach Hayden Fry at Iowa.

In the Sun Bowl for the 1995 season, Bill was part of a the Hawkeye defense that dismantled the Husky offense, 38-18.  In the first half, the Iowa defense forced 3 turnovers and held the Huskies to just seven rushing yards.  The Hawkeyes finished 8-4 and 25th in the country that year.

After a brief stint in the NFL, William returned to the University of Iowa as a Graduate Assistant and Recruiting Coordinator.  Later, at Northern Iowa, William’s teams finished 4th and 5th in the country in the old NCAA Division 1-AA playoffs.

Isaiah did his school studies from home during the shutdown for the better part of 18 months.  But with his own dad around Isaiah said that he missed the opportunity to pick his dad’s brain.  As a coach, the senior Inge coached the defensive line at Colorado, Northern Iowa, and the Buffalo Bills—the position Isaiah now plays.

“Right now, I think I could take my dad one-on-one, but he always has those secrets in his pocket to where he could beat me every once in a while,” he said with a brief pause.  “But I’ve also seen some of the things that he could do.  Maybe I still have some ground to cover.”

Those secrets are what Isaiah wishes he’d asked his dad during the shutdown in the lead-up to his freshman season.

“I really didn’t use my dad as an advantage when covid happened,” Isaiah said.  “He wanted to see if I was willing to ask him about certain things to work on and how to get better,” he acknowledged.  “I could have asked him for what to do for a defensive line pass rush, how to make better reads, and what should I do to make my footwork better.”

After seeing his son languish William issued Isaiah a challenge.

“‘It’s on you.  You have to put in the work to get better’,” Isaiah recalled.  “He has all of that knowledge and I had to take advantage of it.

Those words were the kick in the pants that Isaiah needed to awaken the dawg that his dad saw in him.

“Going into my sophomore year I went to some workouts with him, and I asked him some questions and I saw how much better he was getting me, that’s when it really clicked,” he recalled.

Being the son of a big-time college football coach doesn’t feel like there’s a burden of expectations.  And if there is one, he embraces it.

“It’s in my blood.  I know that I have the ability to perform at a high level,” he said.  “I have, as my dad would say, ‘I have that dawg in me'”.

He last raced 8 months ago making it to the semi-final round–just like he and his Buchanan High teammates did in football.  In the Bears’ final regular season game, Isaiah sustained what was originally thought to be a broken tibia but it turned out to be a high ankle sprain and possibly dislocated his ankle.  The injury paired with the pandemic-related shutdown and not playing varsity his sophomore year, his recruiting has been a bit slower than he would like.

At 6-2 and 255 pounds, according to his mom, Rae Ann, Isaiah has some growing to do.

“His growth plates are still open,” she said.  “Bill grew quite a bit when he got to college.”

The Hawkeyes signed Ennis-Inge, as he was known then, as a high school All-American from Kirkwood, Missouri grew to a 6-5, 245-pound sack master.  Isaiah seems to be on the same growth schedule.

Now healthy, Isaiah’s recruiting is starting to pick up speed as he’s drawing interest from UCLA, Sacramento State, Iowa, and Washington.

This weekend Isaiah will be on the sideline for an unofficial visit to the University of Washington–a spot where he was for 3 of the Huskies’ victories last season, including the Michigan State.  After spending years in Big 10 country, Isaiah has been in some amazing college football atmospheres including games at Michigan State and Ohio State.  Even so, he wasn’t prepared for the roar of Husky Stadium for the Michigan State game last season.

“The only time I’ve heard it like that was at Michigan State or Ohio State,” he recalled.  “I think Husky Stadium might have been louder.  Way louder.  That’s just how that fan base is.”

Isaiah is certainly revved up for this return to the Greatest Setting in College Football Saturday afternoon.