Washington’s defensive line depth just got slightly thinner as one of the members of the Huskies’ impressive 2012 has been given the boot.
In a statement on Tuesday, UW coach Steve Sarkisian said sophomore defensive lineman Pio Vatuvei has been dismissed from the team. Only the usual “violation of team rules” explanation was given.
“We hold our student-athletes to a high standard on and off the field, and our players are made aware of that from the moment we begin recruiting them,” Sarkisian said. “The University of Washington is about the team, and is bigger than one individual player. Pio had numerous opportunities to display behavior consistent with the values of our program, and unfortunately he fell short of our standards. We wish him the best of luck moving forward.”
Vatuvel appeared in nine games as a true freshman in 2012, recording seven tackles. He was expected to be a member of the team’s two-deep this fall.