Most “College Football Freak Lists” are about players who are athletic marvels on the gridiron.  RealDawg.com’s list of 5 guys who are athletic freaks but who also have incredible journeys.

Troy Petz—Walk-on punter from Lynden, Washington.  He is one of the fastest Huskies, running 4.42 seconds in the 40-yard dash.  Yes, that’s freakish speed for a punter, but he’s also a state champion in the triple jump.

However, he also was a high school basketball official in the off-season.  RealDawg.com will have a full profile of Petz in the coming weeks.

Jake Mason—Walk-on Edge Defender from Ferndale, Washington. Credit his Golden Eagles’ coaches for not telling him that he’s 6-2 and 245 pounds.  Otherwise, he might not have legged-out 4 triples, stolen 8 bases, and hit 2 home runs.  In fact, 28 of his 76 hits went for extra bases.

But there’s another reason he’s known as the “Shohei Otani of Whatcom County”:  He is credited with pitching a no-hitter this past season (6-2/3 innings, reliever pitched final out) and striking out 10 against Bellingham while hitting an RBI triple to plate the game’s only run.  He batted .483 on the season.

“I could have pitched all 7 innings but I ran up against the pitch count,” he recalled.  When he wasn’t abusing pitchers or batters he was mistreating QBs on his way to a Whatcom County sack record of 33.

However, what puts Mason on this list is that he, along with fellow Golden Eagle teammate and current Washington teammate, Landen Hatchett, helped special needs students during the basketball season.

RealDawg.com will have a full profile of Mason this week.

Voi Tunuufi— Playing for East High School in Salt Lake City, Tunuufi was beaten to the QB by one of his defensive back teammates who jarred the ball free.

Then 6-1, 275-pounds, the Washington commit scooped up the ball and raced 70 yards for his first-ever defensive touchdown.

Now, remember that it was a  DB who knocked the ball out of the QB’s hands, but Tunuufi was so fast that it took a while for his teammates to catch up with him in the end zone and he had no idea what to do in the end zone by himself.

On offense, he played on the line, but he’d also be called upon to punch the ball in from the one, as a fullback.  He’d always be mobbed by teammates when he scored in short-yardage situations.

But he scored so freakishly fast that he had no idea of what to do with himself until his team arrived.

These days he’s an edge rusher at Washington but not as big as others in his position group like Bralen Trice, Zion Tupuola-Fetui, or Maurice Heims who are all 6-4 and 250 and up, but Tunuufi can not only get after QBs but can use his speed to cover up a running back coming out of the backfield.

He has 8 career sacks going into his 3rd season in the Purple and Gold.  As fellow edge rusher Zion Tupuola-Fetui said earlier in camp in August, Voi isn’t perfect with his technique but still manages to get sacks.

These days ZTF said that Voi does know what to do when he gets to the QB:

“He’s going to stand right next to Mike (Penix) and howl to the moon.”

Aidan Anderson— With the number of walk-ons on this list we might want to call it the “Walk-On Chronicles” but last and certainly not least is this lineman from North Thurston, Washington.  In his senior campaign, he was voted the top offensive lineman in the league.  There he faced and beat many bigger named defenders but he usually came out on top–just line in wrestling.

He won a state championship in the 285-pound weight class–all pins.

But that’s not even the coolest part of his story.  Now, remember:  Aidan is 6-4 and 313 pounds.  He played violin in the North Thurston High School Orchestra.

RealDawg.com will have a full profile of Anderson in the coming weeks.

Jackson Girouard— The grandson of long-time Don James assistant, Dick Baird, is a sophomore walk-on receiver.  He saw his first action against Portland State last season before an ACL tear.

Several years ago, I was looking for someone to make somebody to make some Husky Hype videos.  I looked over Washington content on YouTube and found the best of the lot to be somebody who went by “Seattle Native”—clearly heads above any other producers.  I messaged him and agreed to collaborate on videos.  Then he dropped the bombshell, “Oh, by the way, I’m 13 years old.”

With his parent’s permission, Jackson and I worked together on dozens of videos.

He was freaky good for someone so young.  His ability to select the right song for the moment was undeniable and his content was unbeatable.

In high school, he played receiver and defensive back at Sacred Heart Prep in Redwood City, California.  For his senior project he tackled Washington All-American Ben Burr-Kervin.

In 2019 he produced the original sizzle reel for The Don James Documentary that I presented to Rocket Soul Studios when I successfully pitched them the project.  By that point in time I only had to tell him my ideas and he’d have it conceptualized before our call was finished.

All along the way he told me that he’d would play receiver for the Washington Huskies.  He proudly wears number the number 84 jersey and received Pac-12 academic honors last season.

An integral part of the deepest receiving room in the country, one day he will again fuse his passion for filmmaking and Husky Football.

Each of these players’ journeys is unique and is valued by their teammates at Washington.