Senior defensive lineman Tuli Letuligasenoa joined the Washington Huskies as part of the heralded 2018 recruiting class, one of the last by Chris Petersen. While the class churned out some very productive Huskies, most of those contributors came from lower-ranked recruits of the class.

The 6-1, 292 pound senior is one of the blue-chip recruits who panned out the way Husky fans dreamed the class would be, turning Tuli into one of the most consistently dominant interior players in the Pac-12 Conference.

In that recruiting class, one-time three-star recruits Devin Culp, Dominique Hampton, Zion Tupuola-Fetui, and Ulumoo Ale blossomed into productive players for Washington, with all four being starters or critical rotational pieces during their careers.

Out of Tuli’s blue-chip counterparts, Kyler Gordon is the most recognizable to Husky fans. He earned 1st Team All-Conference accolades during his time at UW and is now with the Chicago Bears. Jackson Sirmon was also a productive player before transferring to Cal.

However, the headlines around that class were centered around Tuli and fellow interior D-Lineman Taki Taimani. Both were four-star recruits at a position of need for any west-coast football team. “Tuli and Taki”, as they were referred to, were seemingly set to anchor the Huskies’ defensive front for years to come.

That’s half true. Taki became a scapegoat for the struggles of the 2021 season, and promptly transferred to Oregon, where there has been no love lost between Husky fans and the former Husky. Tuli, meanwhile, has been a transformative piece to the Husky defense, raising the ceiling of the unit with his space-eating abilities against the rush.

Where might this defense be if Tuli had never flipped to the UW? Letuligasenoa played his high school ball at USC feeder school De Le Salle in Concord, Calilfornia had been committed to the USC Trojans for almost a year until an official visit to Washington changed everything. Three days after that official visit, he announced his de-commitment from USC and committed to UW.

Now he has the chance to accomplish something with UW that USC will have to watch from the sidelines this season: seriously contend for a national championship. In both stature and impact, Tuli can prove to the college media landscape at large that he made the right decision five years ago, anchoring the defensive front of perhaps the best team in college football.

The past two years he’s helped to anchor a defense that has been steadily improving, especially in the 4th quarter, helping the Huskies win 18 straight games, including an 11-0 start to the 2023 season.