We're officially less than 100 days away from the start of the 2026 Football season! Washington will host Washington State on September 5, and to count down the days to kickoff we've decided to take a look at the players that have worn the jerseys of each day in question.
There have been several notable players to wear the number 88 over the years.
One of the most recognizable was five-star Gig Harbor tight end prospect**Austin Seferian-Jenkins**. He was widely considered one of the top overall players available in the 2011 recruiting class and chose Washington over offers from Texas, Alabama, Ohio State, USC and Oklahoma among others.
While a lot of schools thought he should play somewhere along the offensive line, Washington told him he was strictly being looked at as a tight end and that is where he played during his three seasons on Montlake.
He finished his career with 146 receptions for 1,840 yards and 21 touchdowns and went on to be named the Mackey Award winner following his junior season with Washington, finishing his career as the most prolific receiving tight end in the history of the program. He opted to enter the 2014 NFL Draft and was selected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with sixth selection (38th overall) in the second round. He went on to play for three teams in six seasons.
As a linebacker,Marquis Cooper didn't fit the profile of a top player at the position, at least physically. He was long and skinny, but his phyiscality and nose for the ball made him almost an instant contributor once he set foot on campus. As a freshman, he was mainly a special teamer on the 2000 Rose Bowl team, but he made his way into a backup role as a sophomore in 2001 and then became a full-time starter as a junior and senior, finishing his career with 230 tackles, 21.5 tackles-for-loss, seven sacks, two forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, nine pass breakups and three fumble recoveries.
He famously ended the 2003 season with a 38-yard pick six against Washington State in the Apple Cup and then was named All-Pac 12 following the season.
He was drafted by Tampa Bay in the third round of the 2004 NFL Draft and went on to play five seasons in the league with six different teams.
Tragically his life was cut short when he and four friends, including former Buccaneer teammateCorey Smith, went fishing in early March and had their boat capsized in rough waters in the Gulf of Mexico. Only one of the boat's occupants, Nick Schuyler, survived with the other three pronounced missing and presumed dead.
Cooper passed away just nine days before his 27th birthday.
Tony Wroten played during a time when the tight end was essentially an afterthought in the passing game, but he still managed to win four letters from 1981 through 1984. He finished his Husky career with 38 receptions for 326 yards and two scores and was a part of the 1984 team that beat Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl and finished second in the nation. His son, Tony Wroten Jr., was a big-time basketball player, just like his father who also was a standout on the court as a prep, who went on to play for the Huskies before playing the NBA for a few years and now plays internationally.
Former tight end**Drew Sample** was a player who signed with**Chris Petersen**'s first class at Washington in early 2014. He was a standout athlete on both the football field and the basketball court at Bellevue's Newport High School and had offers from several schools in the region, but he opted to sign with Washington and went on to have a solid four-year career with the Dawgs, finishing with 46 passes for 487 yards and five touchdowns before he left.
He eventually went on to be drafted in the second round by the Cincinnati Bengals and has become a reliable target in their offense when called upon, posting 100 receptions for 730 yards and four touchdowns in six seasons.
Quentin Moore was a local high school standout who began his college career at a JUCO program in Kansas (Independence Community College). During the pandemic, he didn't play, but he did work out with the team. He eventually signed with Washington and enrolled in 2021. During his four seasons on campus, he played in 41 games with his biggest highlight coming in the 2023 Pac 12 Title Game where he caught the game-winning touchdown with less than three minutes remaining on the clock. He would finish his career with just 15 receptions for 168 yards and two touchdowns, but that wasn't the full measure of his value as he was credited with being "the best blocking tight end that I've ever been around" by Jedd Fisch. Moore wasn't drafted back in February, but was picked up as an undrafted free agent, getting one of the largest bonuses of any undrafted free agent available, when he signed with the Washington Commanders.
Mike Ewaliko was a two-year letter winner with the Huskies in 1994 and 1995 and the big nose tackle finished his career with 34 tackles, 6.5 tackles-for-loss and four sacks.
NOTABLE 88s: Marquis Cooper, Mike Ewaliko,Quentin Moore,Drew Sample,Austin Seferian-Jenkins, Tony Wroten