Portaled! Noa Ngalu to Leave UW

Washington announced this afternoon that DT Nola Ngalu has entered the transfer portal. The 6’2”, 299 lb. defensive tackle played in a total of five games over his three years in Seattle, including two last year. He has two years of eligibility remaining, taking into consideration the Covid year of 2020.

Ngalu came to UW as a three-star prospect out of Northern California. He had offers from Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, and several other west coast programs. Ngalu’s freshman season was under Chris Petersen, so counting this year’s spring practice, eh has played under each of UW’s last three coaches. Given that Ngalu was originally recruited by Ikaika Malloe, it would not be surprising to see Malloe’s new program, UCLA, go after Ngalu.

With the new coaching staff’s changes along the defensive front, the slightly undersized Ngalu may have received the message that his playing style was not the top priority. UW continues to recruit other defensive linemen through the transfer portal and even moved M.J. Ale from offense to defense. Nonetheless, best of luck to Ngalu wherever he winds up, as long as it’s not Oregon.