Player of vision

Tyler Carlson remembers his second game as tailback for University High School.

It was the penultimate football game of his sophomore season against the Lewis and Clark Tigers.

“That was the worst game I ever played in my life,” Carlson said. “Actually, I ran the ball pretty well. I had three touchdowns and I had pretty good yardage. But I fumbled three times and that cost us the game.”

Those fumbles didn’t exactly cost the Titans the game, but that doesn’t change Carlson’s memory. The then-sophomore carried 26 times for 107 yards, but three LC running backs combined for almost 300 yards on the ground and U-Hi committed six turnovers, losing four fumbles – all of which contributed to the 28-13 loss.

In the locker room after that game, U-Hi coach Mike Ganey offered his young running back some consoling words.

“I told him that he was going to win us a lot of football games for us in the future,” the coach explained. “And he has.”

“After those three games at the end of my sophomore season, I had a lot of my teammates and coaches come up to me and tell me that I would grow and learn to overcome games like that,” Carlson said.

And he has.

Carlson led the Greater Spokane League in rushing a year ago, tallying 974 yards. This season he’s already rushed for 568 yards and four touchdowns on 102 carries – again leading the league in rushing.

Going into Friday’s homecoming game at University, the Titans have three wins in five games, with a 2-2 record in league. In those two losses – by a field goal at Gonzaga Prep and by the same margin in overtime to Mead at Joe Albi Stadium in the past two weeks – Carlson has carried 60 times for 206 yards.

That’s what Ganey has come to expect from his senior running back.

“If I had to sum up the way he plays, I’d have to say that he runs hard, he has great peripheral vision and he cuts with precision,” Ganey said. “He has the vision to read the blocks of his veteran offensive line quickly and the body balance to make subtle changes in direction with precision. He’s a little guy (5-foot-11, 165 pounds) with a big heart who gets the job done.”

Carlson gives the credit to his beefy, veteran offensive line.

“I have the best offensive line in the league,” he said. “I’ve been playing with these guys now since my freshman year. I played behind them my sophomore year, and we got split up a little bit last year, but not really. We’ve pretty much been together all the way through. We know what each other is going to do. That’s a luxury.

“They’re big, but they can all run, too. When they pull, they can really get going. I have to run hard to keep up with them.

“Since I’ve played with them so long, I can really read what they’re doing. We set up blocks really well together. We’ve been running these same plays since we were freshmen. We know exactly what’s going to happen.”

Carlson also has praise for junior fullback Mike Boyle.

“He’s crazy,” Carlson laughed. He will go out there and hit anybody in the mouth just as hard as he can. He gives 110 percent, and I’d put him against anyone in the league.”

For tough yardage situations, Carlson has a big wedge to run behind. Seniors Josh Hopkins (6-5, 270), Brock Crawford (6-4, 260) and tight end Trevor Wakem (6-3, 215) up front and Boyle (5-11, 190) as his blocking back.

Seniors Drew Baddely (6-1, 250) and Tyson Orndorff (5-10, 235), at tackle and center, respectively, and junior guard Dylan Peters (6-0, 250), round out the offensive line.

Carlson has come a long way since his debut game against Central Valley as a sophomore, a week before his pivotal game with Lewis and Clark.

“They put me in at halftime, and it was the scariest thing I’ve ever done,” he said. “We were down going into the second half and we didn’t win the game, but it was intense.”

Carlson handles the intensity well.

Any running back who carries the ball as many times as he does will find himself on the receiving end of hard tackling. Carlson, however, has found a way to moderate the pounding.

“I get rocked pretty hard quite a few times per game,” he said “You really start to get used to it, to be honest, and there are teams that will hit harder than others.

“I just figure that if I’m running as hard as I can, I won’t get hurt. If you hit the other guy as hard as you can, no matter how hard he’s trying to hit you, you won’t get hurt. You get hurt when you’re going half speed. Then you get slammed.”