By Hannah Gordon
Daily Bruin Reporter
Homecoming is next weekend for most Huskies, but not Larry
Tripplett. The L.A. native returns home this weekend against UCLA
in his last opportunity to play before family and friends.
“Playing a team like UCLA is special because you know all
about them and ‘SC growing up in L.A.,” Tripplett
said.
But make no mistake. Tripplett is a full-blooded Husky now. The
senior nose tackle admits that he used to feel the need to prove
himself against UCLA because it did not recruit him. But in his
four years in the Northwest, he has matured and no longer harbors
any bitterness.
It is easy not to feel bitter though, when you are an All Pac-10
player playing for the Pac-10 co-champions. Tripplett could have
entered the 2000 NFL Draft but chose to remain in school and stay
with a program he loves, where the players are always excited to
play.
Tripplett, with 96 career tackles, may not have tried to show
UCLA what it missed, but nonetheless put up 1.5 sacks and three
tackles for a loss on UCLA last year as a little reminder.
Tripplett’s impact is even greater than his numbers suggest,
however, because he changes a game by drawing double teams and thus
allowing other players to be free to go after the quarterback or
ball carrier.
“(Tripplett is) a force to be reckoned with,” said
UCLA head coach Bob Toledo, who plans to double team Tripplett on
every play. “You’ve got to control him if you want to
have a chance to be successful moving the ball against their
defense.”
 Washington University Sports Information Containing star
defensive end Larry Tripplett will be key to
defeating the 8th-ranked Huskies. Tripplett will match up against
UCLA’s senior center Troy Danoff. They faced each other last
year in UCLA’s 28-35 loss last year.
“It’s a good matchup,” Toledo said.
“They’ve both elevated their game and they’ll
both win some battles and lose some battles in the game.”
Washington’s biggest concern, perhaps, is
Tripplett’s consistency, after minor injuries hampered him
from fully realizing his potential last year.
“We hope that he can maintain some level of consistency
because when he’s hot he’s as good as anybody,”
Washington head coach Rick Neuheisel said. “We just hopefully
will have him be hot for a good portion of the game this
weekend.”
The only other slam on this possible All-American is his height,
and many think that his 6-foot-1 stature is not a disadvantage
anyway.
“He does a great job staying low. Half of that has to do
with the fact that he’s real squatty,” junior offensive
tackle Mike Saffer said. “It’s not easy to get
underneath his pads.”
He may be only 6-foot-1, but Tripplett weighs as much as most
offensive linemen at 300 pounds. It doesn’t hurt that he made
five trips to the buffet table at Pac-10 media day.
“Running your mouth all day makes you hungry,”
Tripplett said. “With all those reporters talking to me, I
was hungry.”
He’ll get home cooking this weekend. But first on the
menu: bear meat.