Gordon: Gorman grad rides resolve to scholarship, stardom

Dozens of seats fill Washington’s football team meeting room, but there’s one in particular Bishop Gorman graduate Edefuan Ulofoshio fancies: the one smack dab in the middle — in which he was seated when he was awarded a scholarship more than three years ago.

“We literally broke that chair” in celebration, he said Friday, fondly recalling the end of his redshirt freshman season when the announcement was made.

“I sit in that chair every single day.”

As one of the best linebackers in the country.

Ulofoshio returned to Las Vegas for Pac-12 football media day at Resorts World Las Vegas, where he represented Washington’s defense as a sixth-year senior opposite offensive steward and quarterback Michael Penix Jr.

The former Gaels standout says he’s stronger and faster than ever before, his additional speed and strength perhaps a byproduct of a healthy offseason. He missed half the 2021 season with a bicep injury and tore an ACL the ensuing offseason, missing eight more games last year before returning in November.

“I’ve given it everything I’ve got,” said Ulofoshio, who has 157 career tackles and four sacks in 31 games. “I just want to give my heart, my life, my soul — everything I have to Husky football. That’s what I plan to do.”

Focused on football

It’s what he’s always done since he starting playing football at the age of 6 in his native Anchorage, Alaska. A proud Nigerian, he says his culture helped cultivate the steely work ethic that drives him today — arriving regularly to Washington’s football facility as early as 5 a.m.

His father, Steve, was a taxi driver turned entrepreneur who founded Consumer Care Network, which provides in-home care for those who require it. His mother, Joyce, has a doctorate in psychology, studying whenever she wasn’t raising their five children.

“It definitely shows me that when put your mind to something, you can really accomplish it,” said Ulofoshio, their second oldest. “It kind of helped me in the football realm.”

And so did relocation to Las Vegas, where his family’s had a vacation house since 2008 — and where his mother would move to finish her degree, bringing Ulofoshio with her midway through his sophomore season.

He learned about the Gaels and their rich tradition by watching “Snoop & Son” on ESPN, a docuseries about Snoop Dogg’s son Cordell Broadus, formerly a four-star wide receiver recruit.

South Anchorage’s loss would be Gorman’s gain.

Ulofoshio played two years for the Gaels, starring for their defense and winning two state championships but never getting a single Football Bowl Subdivision scholarship offer. His prospect ranking, per 247 Sports, was 2,629th in his class and 21st in Nevada.

“Honestly, it was heartbreaking,” Ulofoshio said. “It was kind of embarrassing to me to have to ask (my parents) for money for school and stuff like that. … That’s why I kind of took college a lot more serious” when Washington recruited him as a preferred walk-on.

Still he rises

But a scholarship wouldn’t soften Ulofoshio’s resolve. It only served to strengthen it.

He’s a public health graduate on a pre-med track with plans of practicing pediatrics. He said he wants to shrink health care disparities in Las Vegas and Nigeria.

He also wants to lead Washington to the Pac-12 championship and play in the NFL. (The Huskies finished 11-2 last season, ranked No. 8 in the final Associated Press poll.)

Amid his injuries and other trying times at Washington, Ulofoshio has leaned on the prose of famed poet and activist Maya Angelou — namely “Still I Rise,” a powerful poem about resilience.

“You can throw me in the mud, you can take me all over the place, but I’ll still overcome anything you’ve given to me,” said Ulofoshio, whose first name translates to “the sun has risen.”

“To be able to come back … has been just another (example of that). … I know it’s going to be a special season.”

And still Ulofoshio rises … when he’s not seated in Washington’s football meeting room.

Smack dab in the middle.

Contact Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on Twitter