When Vita Vea joined the Washington Huskies football team in 2014, most Husky fans believed that they were getting a player who could potentially fill Danny Shelton’s enormous shoes. What they couldn’t know was that Vea would eventually develop into an utterly freakish talent who dominated the defensive line in ways that reminded Dawg fans of Steve Emtman.
After earning second-team all-conference honors as a redshirt sophomore in 2016, Vea exploded as a junior in 2017. In addition to registering 44 tackles (31 solo), 5.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks, he:
At Washington, Vea excelled at one thing above all others: Virtually every play, he demanded a double- or triple-team from opposing offensive linemen, giving the Husky defense a frequent numerical advantage.