Huskies' Daniel Te'o-Nesheim never stops

By Bob Condotta

Seattle Times staff reporter

Randy Hart, coach of Washington's defensive line the past 21 years, has rarely had a player he didn't think could play just a little bit harder, give just a little bit more.

But he may have met his match in junior defensive end Daniel Te'o-Nesheim.

"He's lit my fire more than I've lit his fire," Hart said, saying he has "never, never, never, never" had to worry about Te'o-Nesheim's effort.

Teammates back that up.

"We call Daniel 'the O-line terrorist,' " said UW guard Jordan White-Frisbee. "It's Te'o-ism instead of terrorism. He never quits. That's the thing that separates him from any other defensive linemen. His motor is always going. You think you've got him, and you let up and he'll come back and get you."

Those traits are especially important now, with Te'o-Nesheim the only experienced player on a defensive line that looms as one of the Huskies' biggest question marks heading into this season, which begins Saturday night at Oregon.

Te'o-Nesheim has started all 25 games he has played for the Huskies and was the team's defensive MVP last season — the only player on the line who has started a game there. Sophomore defensive tackle Cameron Elisara has made the most tackles of any returnee on the line other than Te'o-Nesheim, with a grand total of two.

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Getting to know ...

Daniel Te'o-Nesheim, defensive end

Year: Junior

Hometown: Waikoloa, Hawaii (Hawaii Prep)

Major: Interdisciplinary visual arts. "I just wanted to do something that I enjoyed rather than something that was boring."

Create anything interesting? "I made a sculpture out of trash bags and actual trash. Jake [Locker's] dad saw me picking up trash after the Arizona game last year [for his project]. I was in the tailgate part and I was grabbing all the trash. That was pretty weird. They thought I was grabbing cans for recycling."

Everybody remembers you for the stop on Cal's Justin Forsett at the goal line last year. What do you recall of that play? "I was just lucky. If you just do your fundamentals and just go hard, plays will come to you. Then you have great teammates to help, too. At Oregon State, Greyson [Gunheim] flushed the QB out and I got a forced fumble. It was Greyson who made the play, but you don't hear that part of it."