Cougars’ big unit
PULLMAN – It wasn’t that many months ago where most of the focus and concern of Cougar fans was directed at the offensive line. Coming into spring practices, two new starters had to enter the fold and position changes were almost the norm.
Then a funny thing happened in practices – nothing.
The Washington State offensive line performed admirably, much to the surprise of many a springtime observer. And this fall, with some of the attention shifted elsewhere, the starting five from spring has remained intact.
“Not one of the offensive linemen has missed a single practice and I think that’s due to how hard they worked this summer,” offensive line coach George Yarno said. “We really took off where we left off in the spring. We continue to get better every day; we’re starting to play as a unit. I’m really excited to see how these guys perform Sept. 1.”
With a ton of experience returning inside in the form of senior center Nick Mihlhauser, the primary concern up front for WSU is on the edges, where two new tackles who both started games at guard in 2004 are going to have to block the Pac-10’s best speed rushers.
The graduation of Calvin Armstrong at left tackle and Sam Lightbody at right tackle means that Bobby Byrd and Charles Harris of Mead must step into the most visible roles on the line.
“I can’t try to be extraordinary. Those two guys are in the NFL,” Harris said of Armstrong and Lightbody. “We’re just starting to get going together as a group. It’s nice, because at the beginning of camp we didn’t really know, a lot of new moving pieces, two new guys on the line. So it’s nice to have everyone going.”
Byrd in particular will be under the microscope, as he’ll be protecting the blind side of whichever quarterback the Cougars put under center. Byrd was one of the last players WSU tried in an early-season shuffle at left guard last year, but he then stuck with the starting job for the last nine games of the season as a redshirt freshman.
Moving to the outside, the sophomore said he knows he’ll be facing a different breed of defender than he did last season.
“That’s the biggest change from guard to tackle, is the size of the guys and the speed of the guys,” Byrd said.
Yarno also has a pair of talented redshirt freshmen moving into more prominent backup roles this season, with Andy Roof of East Valley and Dan Rowlands both looking to earn playing time. Rowlands had off-season gall bladder surgery and is just returning to practices now. But Yarno said he feels his line has depth this year – something that was lacking at times in 2004.
“I think right now we have at least eight and I’d like to get nine or 10 that can come in, rotate, play and help us win football games,” he said. “This is a great group of kids. They will do anything to be the best they can be.”
Notes
As has been a recent tradition, head coach Bill Doba gave players an unscheduled day off Sunday to rest after the final two-a-day practice of fall camp on Saturday. WSU also has a scheduled day off today for the first day of classes, and the team will be back on the practice field Tuesday afternoon. … Safety Husain Abdullah‘s ankle injury, suffered in Friday’s scrimmage, is possibly serious enough to hold him out of the opener against Idaho. More information on the injury is expected today.