Zaydrius Rainey-Sale Does Best Clark Kent Impersonation

Originally posted on Washington Huskies on SI
By Dan Raley | Last updated May 5, 2025 11:53 AM ET

At the University of Washington spring football game, one had to look long and hard to identify Zaydrius Rainey-Sale.

He was the one guy among the 94 who gathered for last Friday's closing proceedings, whether in uniform or street clothes, who hasn't played a snap of college ball yet.

Game or practice.

Rainey-Sale was there, yet he was somewhat unrecognizable.

The freshman linebacker was that person in the short hair and thick glasses, which was sort of an conservative if not studious look for him.

The 6-foot-3 225-pound Rainey Sale from Bethel High School in suburban Tacoma -- recovering from a schoolboy knee injury and surgery that forced him to miss all of spring ball -- by all accounts is hardly a boring guy.

“He walks into the room, and the room lights up because he’s in it,” UW linebackers coach Brian Odom said. “His smile, his personality is contagious. He’s intelligent, he’s engaging, he’s been in every meeting. He’s thirsting for knowledge of the scheme.

"If he plays half as good as he prepares right now, when he’s not available, he’s going to be a really good player.”

Still, his spring game appearance was more than a little surprising because during his intense recruitment Rainey-Sale gave off sort of a hipster vibe. His hair was a little longer, his 4-star recruit sneer unmistakable in photos shoots from Florida State to Montlake.

While he's bigger than all of the other UW scholarship linebackers and has a reputation for physicality, the newcomer in his bookish appearance at Husky Stadium looked like he could out-study you to death.

Or he was doing his best Clark Kent impersonation, hiding his super powers behind the lenses?

Rainey-Sale was one of about a dozen players who didn't play in the two-hour spring finale. However, coach Jedd Fsich said he expected each and every one of them, including his promising young linebacker, to be ready to go in three months for fall camp.

That'll give Rainey-Sale plenty of time to ditch the glasses and resume a somewhat scary personna to match his football reputation.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

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Interceptions and Young Players Highlight Spring Game

LB Deven Bryant Rates As Spring Football Surprise

This article first appeared on Washington Huskies on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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