Potoa’e Carries Team-First Mentality

By Rich Myhre

By Washington Huskies

September 6^th, 2018

For every University of Washington football player, the chance to run onto the field before a game at Husky Stadium is always a proud moment.

But for Benning Potoa’e, the pregame entrance before last season’s Nov. 18 home game against Utah was particularly special. It was Washington’s annual “Salute to Service” game, in recognition of Veteran’s Day the previous week, and as Potoa’e took the field with his teammates he held aloft an American flag.

For Potoa’e, it was no half-hearted gesture.

The 6-foot-3, 277-pound Potoa’e, a fourth-year junior outside linebacker, is the son of Master Sgt. Aleki Potoa’e, who has served in the United States Army for more than two decades. At the family home in Lakewood, not far from Joint Base Lewis-McChord where the elder Potoa’e is stationed, love of country and genuine respect for the military were important concepts.

And if words alone were not enough to impart those values, others in the family could see it displayed in the committed life of Aleki Potoa’e, who has made five deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan over the years.

“Growing up, and just seeing everything my dad went through in the military, (including) his deployments to Iraq or Afghanistan, it all definitely (made an impression) on me,” Potoa’e said. “It showed me a whole lot about him, and about all the sacrifices and hard work he did for us.”

Though he has no military aspirations of his own, carrying the American flag onto the field at Husky Stadium was a special chance for Potoa’e to honor his father, along with other U.S. service members and veterans.

“Just how selfless my dad was also showed me a lot about being there for others,” Potoa’e said. “And it helped me grow in the team-mentality area.”

But for Potoa’e, the 2017 season was significant in other ways, too. After playing regularly but sometimes sporadically as a redshirt freshman the year before, he blossomed last season into a player who made 10 starts and played in every game, with a season-high six tackles in the Fiesta Bowl against Penn State.

The younger brother of Sione Potoa’e, a UW defensive tackle from 2010-13, Benning Potoa’e said his brother’s years at Washington were not a primary factor in his decision to make a similar commitment. For one thing, Sione Potoa’e played under previous coach Steve Sarkisian, while Benning Potoa’e was recruited by current coach Chris Petersen.

“During the recruiting process,” Benning Potoa’e said, “(my brother) would tell me more about the broad college experience, and not so much about UW specifically. He told me about the intensity being different, and that football was more mental than physical. And he told me that I definitely had to be coachable because a lot of things were going to be thrown at me.

“Him being here definitely made me think of (enrolling at Washington), but I took it upon myself to make my own decision. I wanted to stay close to home. And the new coaches here like Coach Pete and Coach K (co-defensive coordinator and outside linebacker coach Pete Kwiatkowski), that was a huge part of my decision. They’re great coaches and great people to be around.”

In particular, Potoa’e has appreciated one of Petersen’s messages that is a central aspect of Washington football’s “Built for Life” program.

“(Petersen) is all about us growing as men more than football players,” Potoa’e said. “He’s all about us growing through hardships, and he’s all about seeing how we react in times of struggles, whether it’s with each other as a team and or with us as individuals.”

Potoa’e is slated to be a fulltime starter at outside linebacker this season, and he has the size and strength to be strong against the run, the speed to help control the perimeter, and the quickness and athleticism to put occasional pressure on the quarterback.

“(Potoa’e) is passionate, he’s physical and he has a big-time motor,” Kwiatkowski said. “He made a lot of strides last year. And with the way he’s been practicing and the way he’s been going about his business, I think he’s going to make a lot more plays for us (this season).”

Potoa’e is part of a defense that has the potential, he predicts, “to be really good” this season.

With depth, experience and oodles of talent, the Huskies are hoping the 2018 squad will end up comparing favorably with some of the top defenses in program history, particularly the 1984 and 1991 teams.

Washington was very good defensively the last two seasons, but Potoa’e says this year’s defense “definitely” wants to set the bar higher.

As a unit, he explained, “we work hand in hand. The secondary is going to give us time to bring pressure, and the more pressure we bring the faster the quarterback has to get rid of the ball.”

Potoa’e finished last season with 27 tackles, or about two per game, which was well behind the team leaders. But he made a bigger impact behind the line of scrimmage with five tackles for loss totaling 34 yards, and his 6.8 average of yards-per-TFL led the team (among players with two or more TFL). Three of those tackles for loss were quarterback sacks totaling 30 yards, a 10.0 average that also led the team for players with two or more sacks.

Potoa’e would certainly like to improve those numbers this season, but he insists that “goals-wise, it’s all (about) team goals for me. It’s (winning the) Pac-12, the playoffs, a championship and all that kind of stuff. I’m all about the team and I’m all about (being there for) the guy next to me.

“I don’t really have many individual goals, though obviously I feel like that will fall into place the more you focus on what matters,” he added. “My biggest thing is just about contributing to the team, whether it’s making plays, whether it’s pushing others (to be better), or whether it’s just trying to be an example for the young guys.”