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Articles
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By Richard Linde, 19 April 2004
So where did all the wide bodies go? You can’t hide them in a closet. Most of these bruisers are bigger than a PT Cruiser, and some are the size of a Sherman tank. One thing is for sure, last Saturday’s scrimmage at the UW illustrated how badly the Huskies’ corps of offensive linemen has been depleted. A few days preceding the scrimmage, two quality linemen, Brad Vanneman and Juan Garcia, were injured in practice. During the scrimmage, players on the offensive line were rotated to unfamiliar positions, and as a result, the offense came a cropper. For example, Clay Walker, penciled in to be a starting guard this fall, played center for much of the scrimmage, with walk-on Brandon Leyritz handling the rest of the snaps. [Condotta]. UW coach Keith Gilbertson may have said it best, calling the day "maybe the worst offensive scrimmage I've seen in all the years I've been here. It's the poorest I've seen it. No one distinguished themselves." During the scrimmage (70 offensive plays), the running backs gained sixty yards on 46 carries for a paltry 1.3 yards per carry. Collectively, the three quarterbacks threw for 190 yards, completing 15 of 34, with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. The two best running quarterbacks, Isaiah Stanback and Carl Bonnell, put together 10 runs for minus one yard, some of them being sacks. The least mobile quarterback, Casey Paus, figuratively ran for his life most of the afternoon. [Condotta]. Currently, eight scholarship linemen are available for duty and, of the ten offensive linemen who are available for the two-deep rotation, only two of them weigh over 300 pounds (see Table 1 below). Neither Jenny Craig, nor anorexia, is responsible for what may be an undernourished set of linemen. Blame that on positional moves and youth. So, where did the big guys go? List 1 below details the offensive linemen recruited during the last five years and their current status. As shown by that list, mainly injuries and defections have depleted the wide-body corps. To fill the gap, four defensive linemen have been moved to the offensive line. Count NT Tusi Sa'au, DT Tui Alailefaleula, DT Stanley Daniels and DE Graham Lasee in that category. Not counting those four, the Huskies have recruited 26 offensive linemen (including four walkons) over the past five years, which is somewhat on track with what they should have recruited. Of that bunch, six have left the team, one has retired, three have used up their eligibility, one never joined the team, four are currently injured and five are waiting to join the team in the fall. That leaves six offensive linemen available for the Spring game plus the four rotated players from above, which makes for a total of ten healthy offensive linemen, two of which are walkons. If there was a mistake made in the recruiting process, it may have been with the 2003 class, at a time when it first became apparent there would be a shortage of offensive linemen. Only 3 offensive linemen (Chad Macklin, Erik Berglund and Juan Garcia) are members of that class. Gilbertson, who was an offensive coordinator at the UW for three years (2000-2002) before assuming the responsibilities of head coach, has to be as much to blame as Rick Neuheisel for this oversight in recruiting — if one dare call it that. I can’t believe that Gilby didn’t give Neuheisel a heads up on the potential shortage of offensive linemen and that Neuheisel wouldn’t have taken some sort of remedying action for the 2003 class had it been possible. I know that former recruiting coordinator Dick Baird warned Neuheisel and his staff of a potential shortage of offensive linemen. However, there may have been a mitigating factor with respect to the 2003 class. At Washington, Neuheisel carried more disclaimers in his pocket than a harried claims adjuster, who must process claims for damages incurred from a 6.8 earthquake. Neuheisel, a skilled recruiter — but perennially in hot water with the NCAA, so it seemed — was figuratively chained to his Medina mansion in 2003, being prohibited by the NCAA from making in-home recruiting visits. Unless he's a Houdini, it’s hard for a head coach to recruit kids while wearing handcuffs and drowning in hot water. It’s even harder for assistant coaches to explain away a missing honcho to an 18-year old and his Mom and Pop. The UW coaches blamed a dearth of local talent for not going after more offensive linemen in 2003 and said they were going to recruit more offensive linemen for the 2004 class — which they did, bringing in 5 of them. However, the UW failed to add two of the best offensive linemen in the state to that class, losing them to Oregon and WSU. Those two linemen, Aaron Klovas (UO) and Andy Roof (WSU), might have been freshmen impact players for the 2004 season, especially Klovas. To this fan, losing Bethel's Klovas to the Ducks was like being sucker punched by Mike Tyson. To buttress its 2003 class with offensive linemen, bringing in one or two out of the JC ranks certainly wouldn’t have bent anyone out of shape during 2004's spring practices — unless he was a defensive lineman. In other words, the apparent mistake made in recruiting the 2003 class is as much to blame for the lack of offensive linemen as are injuries, defections and retirements. Add a pinch of bad luck: for instance, the loss of highly-regarded Nathan Rhodes (congenital back problem), whose name is now deleted from the 2002 class. Stanley Daniels and Clayton Walker are the only OL left from that class. Also, add the stigma resulting from the NCAA investigation, the firing of Neuheisel, his pending lawsuit, the gambling fiasco, the infamous memo, and the "Dr. Feelgood" investigation to the rap sheet involving the recruiting of questionable players. Call them sleepers. Over the last two years, the UW is next to last in the conference in recruiting quality offensive linemen [Linde]. With all this hubbub at the Udub, who can blame a potential recruit for having second thoughts about the wearing of the Purple and Gold? So, what's the prognosis for fall? About as ugly as a wide body in drag. Returning from injury, Tusi Sa'au, Robin Meadow, Jaun Garcia, and Brad Vanneman need to resuscitate an ailing lineup. Also, one or two of the five incoming freshmen most likely will need to step to the fore — a move that is unparalleled in Husky history. In terms of offensive wide bodies, the Dawgs have long prided themselves on fielding gargantuan veterans — guys with five o'clock shadows, guys that made the other team's "wide bodies" look like baby-faced Lilliputians. At Husky Stadium, on a cold, wet day in November, those overgrown Dawgs of yore could warm up fans faster than you can say “pancake block.” Unfortunately, this season, only nostalgia and long-lingering memories, perhaps, will keep us heated in that erstwhile raucous stadium. There's been a lot of Monday morning quarterbacking going on, but, alas, that’s a fan’s prerogative. ——————— Showing off his best side, Tui Alailefaleula (55), one of the healthy ones, is pictured above. If I've counted my behemoths correctly, the following linemen are available for duty on Saturday. Table 1. Offensive linemen available for duty on Saturday
* Used redshirt year List 1. Where did they all go? (Offensive linemen recruited by Washington over the last five years. Several players in this list, recruited for other positions, have been moved to the offensive line). 2000
Class 2003 Class pq =
partial qualifier; if he's on track to graduate after four years, he can
petition for an extra year of athletic eligibility. . [Linde] Linde, Richard,
"Meyers needs to awaken sleepers," 4malamute.com, 18 January 2004. Richard Linde (a.k.a., Malamute) can be reached at malamute@4malamute.com |
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What
happened to Andre Reeves, Mike Savicky, Aaron Butler and Dan Dicks, all of whom
should be playing on the offensive line today? Many more offensive linemen from
past recruiting classes are missing, so much so that the UW has a razor thin
corps of offensive linemen available for Saturday’s spring football game.