Taking a quiet hike

It didn’t take Charlie Wulff long, after arriving at training camp this fall, to realize his role on Eastern Washington University’s football team had changed in the eight months since he had last pulled on his pads.

That realization stemmed not from what the Eagles senior center saw upon returning to Cheney, but from he didn’t see – which were the familiar faces of the four seniors who had lined up alongside him last fall.

Gone were Rocky Hanni, Matt Alfred, Zach Wasielewski and Chris Carlsen, a quartet of battle-tested offensive linemen that was integral to Eastern’s success in 2007, when it finished 9-4 and advanced to the semifinals of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

Even Wulff’s former coach and uncle, Paul Wulff, had bailed on him, opting to accept the head coaching job at Washington State.

“It was definitely different,” said the 6-foot, 270-pounder and three-year letterwinner, who missed spring drills after undergoing off-season surgery on his left collarbone. “The biggest thing for me is that I’ve always perceived the older guys as being better, and now that they’re gone, it just seems like the experience has gone with them.”

In the past, Wulff could simply defer to his veteran teammates on the O-line to provide the vocal encouragement and leadership at practices and during games. But that responsibility has suddenly fallen on his broad shoulders – and he’s not particularly comfortable in that role.

“What leading I do is by example, I’m not a real big talker,” Wulff said, “I don’t know. I guess I get pretty vocal sometimes, but it usually directed at the defense.”

Wulff’s position coach, Aaron Best, is quick to point out that most of his center’s vocal assault on opposing defenses is of the profane variety.

“He’s surly,” Best said of Wulff, a native of Woodland, Calif., who will make his 23rd start for the Eagles (0-2) when they face Western Washington (1-1) in Saturday’s 6:05 p.m. home opener at Woodward Field. “He’s surly in everything he does, on and off the football field. He’s a guy you have got to get to know, without question.

“But with that surliness comes, obviously, a certain kind of attitude and physical toughness that allows him to play through injuries.”

Best goes so far as to list Wulff among the three toughest players he’s been associated with at EWU, listing him right alongside Hanni and Jim Buzzard.

“He’s Hanni-esque when it comes to playing through injuries – simply one of the toughest individuals I’ve ever been around,” Best said. “If he can’t walk, he may not play. But if he can, he’ll line up on Saturday, no matter what else is wrong.”

An avid hunter who likes listening to country music, Wulff’s mannerisms remain as crude as the nasty, sweat-stained baseball cap he often wears to team meetings. Nonetheless, he seems to have won over his younger teammates starting alongside him on the O-line this fall.

“Chuck’s still the same guy he’s always been,” junior guard Ryan Forney said. “He’s not the most vocal leader, but he plays tough every snap and he’s always flying around the field. And that kind of inspires everybody else to try to do the same thing.”

“I think he’ll always be the same – a guy who likes the simple things in life,” added sophomore tackle Brice Leahy. “Charlie’s just a fun guy to be around, but he has become a little more of a leader. He seems to have grown into the role and is a lot more responsible this year.

“He definitely gives it everything he has, like he’s playing in his last game. Everybody wants to play intense, like that, but you don’t always have it – and Charlie does.”

Best said it’s only natural that Wulff takes on additional leadership duties this fall.

“As our only returning starter up front, he takes on that fifth-year senior role – a mentor’s role, where he’s kind of like the surrogate father out there on the football field.

“He doesn’t talk a lot, I know, but he does know how to corral the troops when he needs to. And he’s by far the leader of those five (offensive linemen) on the field.”

Still, Wulff can’t help but sometimes look back to those days when Hanni and Alfred, a pair of All-Americans, took care of keeping everyone in the offensive line on the same page.

According to Wulff, all four of the departed seniors he had grown to respect deeply, were unique in their own way.

“And I miss them all,” he said.