The Washington Huskies celebrated achieving bowl eligibility during their final home game of the season against UCLA, but on Senior Night, there were plenty of other things to celebrate. There are six sixth-year seniors that Washington fans have come to know and love who played their final game at Husky Stadium in the 31-19 victory over the Bruins.
It’s a rarity in the modern age of college football to see a player remain with a team for six seasons, nonetheless six of them. For Washington’s seniors, their time on Montlake was truly unique, and full of highs and lows.
They had four head coaches, starting with Chris Petersen and ending with Jedd Fisch; 28 of their teammates were taken in the NFL draft. They won the final Pac-12 championship game and the Sugar Bowl, propelling their beloved Huskies to the national championship game. And they haven’t lost a game at home in three years, leaving Husky Stadium after a 20-game win streak.
They showed grit, love, and perseverance as the team that went 14-1 was dismantled in a few short weeks after the departure of Kalen DeBoer and many of their teammates choosing to enter the transfer portal. But, they stayed true to Washington.
Huskies Wire is taking a look back at each of these impressive players and celebrating them for staying true to Washington It will be a major adjustment to watch the Huskies take the field in 2025 without these staples of the team.
First on the list is linebacker Drew Fowler, who took a huge chance to play on Montlake. Not only was he a star just across the 520 bridge at Bellevue High School, but he also had a 3.9 GPA and offers from over 20 schools. Some of those offers were from the nation’s most prestigious schools, such as Harvard, Yale, and Brown, along with Pac-12 schools Utah and UCLA. But, a lifelong Husky fan who grew up with season tickets, he chose to take a risk and walk on to Petersen’s squad.
It worked out pretty well for him. As a freshman in 2019, he redshirted and took home the Brian Stapp Special Teams Scout Squad MVP at the team banquet that year.
In the COVID-shortened 2020 season, he saw action in four games and solidified himself as a key piece on special teams.
2021 brought more playing time on special teams for Fowler, as he saw the field in eight games during a tumultuous season. Washington kicked off the year with arguably the worst loss in the school history, falling to FCS Montana. Then, coach Jimmy Lake was fired midseason, and the Huskies ended the year with a record of 4-8.
Things were very different in 2022. New coach, new staff, and new quarterback. Fowler was still buried on the depth chart at linebacker room but played in all 13 games for the Huskies and was one of the key pieces of the special teams unit while taking snaps alongside his best friend, Carson Bruener, on the second-team defense.
During Washington’s magical 2023 season, Fowler resumed his role as a special teams gunner and stayed in the rotation on the defense. He recorded 12 tackles, 1 for loss. He graduated with honors with a BBA from the Foster School of Business. Yet, he still wasn’t on scholarship, even after five seasons.
The 2024 season has brought even more changes for the sixth-year player. His playing time has increased and he’s been asked to step into a bigger role, getting plenty of run next to fellow sixth-year Alphonzo Tuputala while Bruener has nursed a shoulder injury, and Fowler has had some big moments in his final year.
He will graduate with his master’s at the end of the 2024 fall quarter, and he’s finally on scholarship. During Fisch’s second day on the job, he invited Fowler to his office for a chat and not only gave him a scholarship on the spot, but he made it retroactive back to the 2023 season.
“Probably the best part of all of it was I never wanted to be the guy who had the big Twitter or team celebration,” Fowler said of the moment. “He was just doing, at least how it was framed to me, check-ins with the returning players, where we had a one-on-one, and he told me his story, and I got to tell him mine, and as I’m telling him my journey through UW he stopped me and goes ‘Are you on scholarship?’ And I replied, ‘No, I’m not,’ to which he said, ‘Now you are.’ And I was like, ‘Did that really happen? Was that a thing?’ So I continued with my story, and he stopped me again and said, ‘No, we’re going to stand up and go to compliance right now, you’re on scholarship.’ The way he did it was just awesome; he was genuine, respectful, and it was incredible. I got to walk out of there and call my parents; it was a great day.”
To the player who has worn No. 54 for the past six years, to the player that when he announced he was committed to Washington by quoting Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken,” Washington fans say thank you and are grateful to you for taking a chance on your hometown team.
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