#21

Wayne Taulapapa

Senior running back for Washington. 2022: 882 rushing yards, 11 rushing TD, 24 catches.

RB · Washington · Sr. · #21

5′11″ · 206 lb · Laie, HI

CFB Index 78 · #22 of 317 RBsHigh confidenceWashington 2022 alumnus

Recruiting

3★

RB recruit

No. 1831 nationally · Signed with Virginia

No college snaps yet.

His career numbers, season by season

The story

4 running back for Washington. 2022: 882 rushing yards, 11 rushing TD, 24 catches.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to Virginia in 2016.
Transferred from Virginia to Washington in 2022.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Five seasons at Washington, 2,074 rushing yards — his college career is complete.

His career

He barely played early on. Then he did not come off the field.

2016

Signed with Virginia3-star out of Punahou

202213 games

Entered the portal

Career arc

Recruit

★★★

#1831 national

CFB

College

2 teams

2018–2022

NFL

NFL Draft

—

Not drafted

Coaching lineage · 2018–2022

3 coaches

2018–2019

Chris Petersen

Washington

2020–2021

Jimmy Lake

Washington

era →

2022

Kalen DeBoer

Washington

era →

Played under 3 different head coaches: Chris Petersen, Jimmy Lake, and Kalen DeBoer. Multi-era developmental context.

2022 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2018Virginia8-5HC: Bronco Mendenhall · Run-leaning

2019Virginia9-5HC: Bronco Mendenhall · Balanced

2020Virginia5-5HC: Bronco Mendenhall · Balanced

2021Virginia6-6HC: Bronco Mendenhall · Pass-heavy

2022Washington11-2HC: Kalen DeBoer · Pass-leaning

Where this profile ranks vs the RB cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

78All-Conference level #22 of 317?

High confidence13 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: epa / carry (87th percentile). Strength: success rate (87th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

EPA / carry#53 / 398 · 87th pct

0.40

Success rate#54 / 398 · 87th pct

55.8%

TD rate#56 / 398 · 86th pct

8.0%

Yards / carry#62 / 398 · 85th pct

6.5

Explosive rate#100 / 398 · 75th pct

9.4%

Box-score rates (8)

Rush TDs#27 / 346 · 91st pct

Rec yards#39 / 338 · 89th pct

225

Yards / carry#37 / 346 · 89th pct

6.3

Fumbles lost#1 / 244 · 88th pct

Receptions#45 / 338 · 86th pct

Rush yards#62 / 346 · 82nd pct

882

Carries#99 / 346 · 71st pct

140

Long run#102 / 346 · 70th pct

Season trend

Last seasonThis season

EPA / carry

79th → 87th percentile

Success rate

88th → 87th percentile

Explosive rate

61st → 75th percentile

Yards / carry

55th → 85th percentile

TD rate

34th → 86th percentile

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2022 season · 13 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	YDS/g	YPC	TD/g
Home8g	70.2	5.9	1.0
Road5g	64.0	6.4	0.6

First half vs Second half

	YDS/g	YPC	TD/g
Weeks 1-78g	65.9	5.4	0.6
Weeks 8+5g	71.0	7.2	1.2

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Jedd Fisch

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2022

Starter

A locked-in starting job.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

78 · #22 of 317 RBs

Three-star recruit. Now #22 at the position.

Career stats

Season	Team
2022	Washington	140	882	6.3	11	--
2021	Virginia	62	324	5.2	2	--
2020	Virginia	88	395	4.5	5	--
2019	Virginia	116	473	4.1	12	--
2018	Virginia	--	--	--	--	--
Career		406	2,074	5.1	30	--

Season	Team
2022	Washington	24	225	9.4	1	--
2021	Virginia	11	62	5.6	1	--
2020	Virginia	12	65	5.4	0	--
2019	Virginia	5	23	4.6	0	--
2018	Virginia	--	--	--	--	--
Career		52	375	7.2	2	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 18 · 2022

W 27–20

vs Texas

103 rush yds (14 car) · 1 TD

A wire-to-wire battle — won by 7 at home.

With M. Penix Jr. — 287 yds · 2 TD · 1 INT · 6 rush yds (3 car) · J. McCallister — 39 AVG · 2 IN 20 · 52 LONG

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 12 · Colorado · 4&1 · Q3 · EPA -4.21Wayne Taulapapa run for no gain to the Colo 1
Week 12 · Colorado · 3&3 · Q3 · EPA +4.12Wayne Taulapapa run for 57 yds to the Colo 6 for a 1ST down
Week 1 · Kent State · 4&1 · Q1 · EPA +3.87Wayne Taulapapa run for 28 yds for a TD, (Peyton Henry KICK)
Week 1 · Texas · 2&6 · Q1 · EPA +3.66Wayne Taulapapa run for 42 yds for a TD (Peyton Henry KICK)
Week 13 · Washington State · 1&10 · Q4 · EPA +3.19Wayne Taulapapa run for 40 yds for a TD, (Peyton Henry KICK)
Week 3 · Michigan State · 3&6 · Q2 · EPA +3.14Michael Penix Jr. pass complete to Wayne Taulapapa for 19 yds for a TD, (TEAM PAT MISSED)
Week 11 · Oregon · 2&10 · Q1 · EPA +2.84Wayne Taulapapa run for 13 yds for a TD, (Peyton Henry KICK)
Week 12 · Colorado · 2&8 · Q1 · EPA +2.68Wayne Taulapapa run for 8 yds for a TD, (Peyton Henry KICK)
Week 10 · Oregon State · 3&2 · Q2 · EPA +2.54Wayne Taulapapa run for 2 yds for a TD, (Peyton Henry KICK)
Week 4 · Stanford · 2&1 · Q2 · EPA +2.45Wayne Taulapapa run for 34 yds for a TD, (Peyton Henry KICK)

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2022 season · 13 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	W 45-20vs Kent State	11	57	5.2	1	28
Wk 2	W 52-6vs Portland State	12	94	7.8	1	24
Wk 3	W 39-28vs Michigan State	12	36	3.0	0	8
Wk 4	W 40-22vs Stanford	13	120	9.2	1	34
Wk 5	L 32-40@ UCLA	10	48	4.8	0	15
Wk 6	L 38-45@ Arizona State	12	51	4.3	1	18
Wk 7	W 49-39vs Arizona	10	18	1.8	0	9
Wk 8	W 28-21@ California	4	25	6.3	0	10
Wk 10	W 24-21vs Oregon State	8	27	3.4	2	12
Wk 11	W 37-34@ Oregon	10	70	7.0	1	16
Wk 12	W 54-7vs Colorado	11	107	9.7	2	57
Wk 13	W 51-33@ Washington State	13	126	9.7	1	40	Season-high 126 yds
Bowl	W 27-20vs Texas	14	103	7.4	1	42
Total		140	882	6.1	11	57