State's Top Player Tevita Nonu Commits to Huskies

State's Top Player Tevita Nonu Commits to Huskies

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State's Top Player Tevita Nonu Commits to Huskies
Tevita Nonu committed to the UW shortly after cutting his choices to five schools.
Tevita Nonu committed to the UW shortly after cutting his choices to five schools. | Nonu

At the University of Washington, Nonu is good news.

On Tuesday afternoon, the state's No. 1 defensive if not top overall player — O'Dea High School defensive tackle Tevita Nonu — committed to the Huskies.

Six days ago, the 6-foot-4, 270-pound defender revealed his final choices to be Arizona, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oregon and Washington.

That was all the time he needed to make up his mind on where he was headed.

The Huskies offered him before anyone else on December 17, 2024, not long after O'Dea won the first of two 3A state championships, and that stuck in his memory

"Washington had been recruiting me when I got my looks and they were my first offer," Nonu told Rivals' Brandon Huffman.

Nonu becomes the UW's 15th commitment for this Class of 2027 and second defensive lineman, joining 6-foot-3, 275-pound Jon Ioane from Tustin, California.

He is the seventh 4-star recruit for the Huskies, who have landed players of that stature in five of their past six commits.

He is the ninth defensive player of the 15 pledges to the UW, which is doing everything to make sure defensive coordinator Ryan Walters has the right personnel to build future defenses that make a difference.

Nonu also is the Huskies' fourth player from the state as Jedd Fisch and his staff have re-emphasized signing kids within the borders, something that the program got away from during the Kalen DeBoer tenure.

Similarly, he'll rejoin former O'Dea edge rusher David Schwerzel in a defensive setting. Those two played together the past two seasons for the back-to-back title teams. Schwerzel is part of the UW's incoming 2026 class and will join the team in August.

This past season, Nonu was named first-team All-State and first-team All-Metro as both a defensive tackle and an offensive guard, not to mention he was the Metro Offensive Lineman of the Year.

He received all of those accolades in spite of playing in only five games because of a shoulder injury, but it apparently was enough for those doling out the honors.

The Fighting Irish finished 13-1 after losing their season opener to Graham-Kapowsin 40-38 — without their standout lineman — and beating Mount Tahoma 21-14 in the 3A championship game, the latter held at Husky Stadium

Besides Nonu, locals committed to the Huskies and Fisch include Sumner wide receiver Braylon Pope, considered the state's top offensive player; Graham-Kapowsin cornerback Maurice Williams, whose team beat O'Dea; and Glacier Peak tight end Zach Albright.

This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/washington as State's Top Player Tevita Nonu Commits to Huskies.

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