The concept of “unfinished business” is a constantly regurgitated sports cliché.
And for the 2023 Huskies, it’s a rallying cry.
Since reclaiming the Apple Cup on Nov. 26, eight Huskies with additional eligibility have announced their intentions to return in 2023 — quarterback Michael Penix Jr., wide receiver Jalen McMillan, edges Bralen Trice and Zion Tupuola-Fetui, left tackle Troy Fautanu, defensive tackle Tuli Letuligasenoa, running back Richard Newton and tight end Devin Culp. (Standout sophomore wide receiver Rome Odunze, meanwhile, has yet to publicly announce his decision.)
Some traded certain NFL draft picks for a fourth, or fifth, or sixth season in Seattle. Others postponed post-football careers to pursue a Pac-12 championship and a possible spot in the College Football Playoff.
All explained their choice with a two-word warning to prospective opponents.
But what is “unfinished business,” anyway?
“We got a lot of places we wanted to be that we didn’t get a chance to go to this season. I think next season we’ll be there,” said Trice, a first-team All-Pac-12 performer in 2022. “That’s our unfinished business. Because we’ve still got a lot to prove. We’ve shown what we’ve got this season, but there’s so much more that Husky Nation needs to see. That’s what that means.”
And for Trice, it’s literal. The 6-foot-4, 269-pound edge’s pressures (67), pass rush grade (91.4) and pass rush win rate (31%) each ranked first among all Pac-12 players in the regular season, according to Pro Football Focus.
Bralen Trice among Power Five Edge Rushers this season:
67 Pressures (1st)
— PFF College (@PFF_College) December 2, 2022
And yet, Trice’s 10 sacks in his fourth season in Seattle sit third in the Pac-12 and 10th in the nation.
Which means … there’s meat left on the bone.
“I’m getting there. I just need to finish and get those sacks,” Trice said last month, before amassing two sacks in UW’s 27-20 Alamo Bowl win over Texas. “I could be up there leading the country in sacks right now. I just need to work on that this offseason, and y’all will see it next season.”
Tupuola-Fetui might say the same. The 6-4, 249-pound senior exploded for seven sacks and three forced fumbles in just four games in 2020 … only to tear his Achilles tendon the following spring and surrender his starting spot to Trice and Jeremiah Martin last fall. He still contributed 28 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks and a forced fumble while appearing in all 13 games in 2022.
But he did so in a more publicly minimized role.
“It was difficult at first,” Tupuola-Fetui said last month. “I knew [edge coach Eric] Schmidt saw me as a starting caliber player. But when you come off the bench, you’re not really capable of controlling your playing time or understanding how much you’re going to get prior to the game. So the first couple weeks, I felt like I didn’t get enough [playing time].
“Then I just started to throw myself into the defensive schemes I was a part of, especially the pass rush and everything like that — understanding what I was bringing to the table, being used that way. I remember the first couple games, coming off the bench, I’m thinking I’m not that good at the time. And as soon as I come in I see the quarterback, tackle and center check protections to me. I’m like, ‘OK, there’s still benefits to this.’
“I just had to take a step back and not necessarily look at the game from a numbers perspective, like, ‘Ah, Bralen’s got this, and I’ve got nothing. Jeremiah’s got this, and I’ve got half of that.’ I had to understand the impact I was making coming off the bench.”
Still, “ZTF” is hoping to make a more tangible impact in 2023. The Pearl City, Hawaii, product conceded that “I thought I had good tape, but there’s a standard I expect myself to exceed, and I don’t feel like I did that [this season]. Not to say I had a bad year … I thought I had a pretty decent year. But I just didn’t have the tape I wanted to say, ‘This is the type of player I am.’”
Penix wouldn’t say the same. In his debut season in Seattle, the Indiana transfer threw for a program-record 4,641 yards and led the nation with 357 passing yards per game, while totaling 35 touchdowns and just eight interceptions. Penix could have entered the NFL with a full season of tantalizing tape.
But there was more left on the table.
“There’s a lot of stuff that happened this season that was great,” he said. “But at the same time, I feel like there was a lot left out on the table. The two losses … I feel like those are games that we wish we had back. Coming back and being a part of this program, being a part of this offense for another year, I feel like it’ll definitely help elevate my game and I’ll be able to help elevate everybody on the offensive side of the ball as well. I definitely feel like this team is going to be in the national championship, Pac-12 [title discussion], all that. That’s the reason I came back.”
Likewise, UW coach Kalen DeBoer said a common refrain from the growing list of Husky returners is “they don’t want to miss out on what’s ahead here in this program.”
Regardless of the individual definition, there’s unfinished business for all involved.
“I just feel like everybody’s got so much confidence in this staff, but ultimately in each other,” said Fautanu, who will return for a fifth season next fall. “At the end of the day, we’re all trying to make it to the NFL. But it says a lot about this team and how close we are that we’re able to come back one more time, two more times, however many years it takes. We’re trying to get what we didn’t accomplish this year.”