Cougs have youth, depth on O-line

PULLMAN — What to call Andy Roof, Dan Rowlands and Eddie Vickers — other than just plain old big — is up for debate. The three redshirt freshmen offensive linemen, full of promise and already carrying the weight of expectations, do have a tag from head coach Bill Doba.

“Coach Doba always calls the three of us the future,” Vickers said.

One of his fellow freshmen has another name.

“The Three Stooges right there,” Rowlands said. “We’re good buddies. It’s kind of good to have two guys that I consider my good friends.

“It was fun during redshirt year. We could look at the scout card and work off of that. We had a good time, me, Andy and Eddie playing next to each other.”

But now the three linemen – who came in last season touted as one of the best recruiting hauls Washington State has had on the offensive front – can’t just rely upon a card telling them the other team’s plays while getting the starters ready to go.

None of the three is slated to start this year, but they’re all pushing for time and all are still expected — as Doba’s nickname suggests — to be a cornerstone of the WSU offense down the road. Just in case, they’ll all have to be ready to play now if something should happen to the older players in front of them on the depth chart.

“Rowlands is maybe a little bit ahead, but Eddie Vickers is going to be a great player for us some day,” Doba said. “And Roof is the strongest of all of those kids.

“There’s a lot to learn and there’s a lot going on all at once. Roger and Louie could be a call, and Roger is right and Louie is left. They’ll say, ‘Yeah, Roger,’ and they’ll block left. We’ve got to paint one shoe red and one shoe blue. But I mean there are so many things that they’ve got to look at with the line movement and linebackers stepping up. It just takes some time.”

As the head coach said, it’s not an easy transition for a high school offensive lineman moving to the collegiate game. Defenses get a lot more complicated, and suddenly the size advantage vanishes. Vickers, a guard from Vancouver, Wash., is the biggest at 6-foot-3, 330 pounds with calves that could rival most people’s thighs. Roof, a weightlifter from East Valley High School, is a 6-3, 315-pound tackle. Rowlands, a California native, is working at center as the 6-4, 285-pound little guy.

The freshmen said their learning curve has been steep, but an off-season of training and a chance to come back this spring with some experience has helped.

“I remember in high school, I didn’t really have to try all that hard to block people,” Vickers said. “I did, but it wasn’t like I was getting my butt kicked very play. Here, the first couple of weeks I don’t think I made a correct block at all.

“We need to know a ton of different calls. Each and every call changes the play. In the fall I really didn’t know all the calls. Now I’m more aware of them and I know what they are. It makes it a lot easier.”

While at first the newcomers may have been intimidated by those around them in the same uniform, this is the group that Doba will likely depend upon to take care of his quarterbacks of 2006, 2007 and 2008. That’s more than enough to keep everyone interested.

“Even if we’re not going to play, we’re going to be pushing the guys on top of us a little harder,” Rowlands said. “I read that Andy was a 650-pound squatter and Eddie weighs 350 pounds, so I felt I was a munchkin coming in. But I think we play well together, so it’s going to be really fun to see in the coming years.”

Notes

The Cougars got their biggest injury scare of the spring Wednesday. Star wideout Jason Hill pulled up lame with what appears to be a grade two right hamstring pull, according to head trainer Bill Drake. If that diagnosis is correct, he’ll miss 2-5 weeks. Drake said he doesn’t think there is any rupture and there are no plans for an MRI, but the rising junior is done for the spring. The injury occurred while he was reaching for a pass in a routine drill with no defense. … Defensive end Adam West also has a hamstring pull and is considered day-to-day. … Walk-on cornerback Ryan Kensok, an undersized Doba favorite, is out for a week with an arm bruise.