Psack machine: Wooching named national defensive player of the week

The accolades are piling up for Washington linebacker and Kealakehe graduate Psalm Wooching after he turned in a career-performance in the Huskies’ 44-6 blowout of No. 7 Stanford last Friday.

Wooching notched a career-best three sacks against Stanford and was named the Walter Camp Foundation national defensive player of the week. He also added a Pac-12 defensive player of the week honor to his resume.

“It’s Stanford, that team that hits you in the mouth and keeps rolling,” Wooching told the Huskies team website. “You put your hand in the dirt and keep on punching. We had to make plays.”

In his first season as a full-time defensive starter, Wooching has a team-high 4.5 sacks, with 19 total tackles, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery. Wooching, who was a dynamic running back in high school, lined up at full back for a play against Stanford and nearly added a touchdown to his stat line. However, the ball from quarterback Jake Browning was just out of reach.

“It’s really good to see Psalm kind of come out of, I don’t want to say nowhere, but he’s been here a long time; he’s a fifth year guy, plays with a high motor and gives great effort,” Washington head coach Chris Petersen said in a press conference on Monday. “He’s made plays, but certainly to have it all come together in a game like that was really good for him.”

The Huskies (5-0, 2-0 Pac-12) moved up to No. 5 in the Associated Press poll this week, behind only Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson and Michigan. It’s the highest Washington has been ranked since it finished the 2000 season (No. 3).

Wooching is just the third Washington player to earn Walter Camp National Player of the Week honors since 2004, joining former Husky linebackers Donald Butler and Shaq Thompson.