UW Football: big plans at guard

Washington offensive line coach Mike Denbrock ponders the issue of his team's inexperience at guard and calls it "maybe the biggest question mark we've got on the offensive side of the ball."

And if it's ever solved, it will be the biggest answer the Huskies will have on the offensive side of the ball.

Because while guards are among the biggest players on a football team, no one at Washington can recall when they've ever been as big as this group could be.

"Me, Jordan [White-Frisbee] and Casey [Bulyca] might be the three biggest guards in the nation right now," says sophomore Morgan Rosborough, who is one of four guards competing to take the starting openings created by the graduation of Stanley Daniels and Clay Walker.

Rosborough weighs 370 pounds. White-Frisbee, listed at 320, says he's closer to 340. And Bulyca, also listed at 320, says he's closer to 350. The "runt" of the group is redshirt freshman Ryan Tolar, who is listed at 325 is apparently about on target.

By comparison, Daniels and Walker were a relatively svelte 310 and 300 pounds, according to their listed weights, which aren't always known for their reliability (or give or take a biscuit or two, as UW coach Tyrone Willingham likes to say).

The question — other than the issue of inexperience — is whether bigger will be better.

Denbrock says it's always a balancing act for linemen of when big becomes too big.

"I like that we've got some good-sized guards in there," Denbrock said. "You like to have some road-graders in there to get up on some people and be powerful. But if you're pulling the guard and running the toss sweep or something, then size is important but athleticism is too. You need to move around and be mobile on offense. Those guys are making progress there, but there's some work that needs to be done there, and they know that."

Rosborough hopes to get to the 350-360 range by this season.

Even at that, however, he will be a relative shell of his former self. Rosborough said he weighed 400 pounds as a senior at Long Beach (Calif.) Jordan High. Willingham was interested in Rosborough — whose brother, Joel, played briefly at UW in the early '90s — but made a scholarship offer contingent on Rosborough showing he was serious about getting in shape. When Rosborough dropped a few pounds, he was finally given an offer.

Despite Rosborough's size, UW coaches and teammates marvel at his quickness and agility.

"He's one of the most athletic big guys I've ever seen in my life," says Bulyca.

Rosborough, who was 390 as a freshman at UW, says shedding weight has allowed him to "get off the ball faster" and has given him "a lot more stamina than I used to have."

That was on display Saturday when he took the snaps with the starting unit at left guard. White-Frisbee is running No. 2 at that spot, having apparently recovered from a foot injury that has slowed him the last two seasons.

Bulyca, a Woodinville grad with two years of eligibility left, is running No. 1 at right guard ahead of Tolar, and is the only one of the four who has ever played a down.

Bulyca played much of the second half against Oregon last year when Walker was injured. Otherwise, Walker and Daniels took every snap in a year when three of UW's five O-linemen never missed a play (the only other reserve to play was left tackle Eric Berglund, when starter Ben Ossai sat out a first quarter).

Rosborough almost played, running onto the field against Oregon State when Daniels sprained an ankle. But OSU then called time out, allowing a UW trainer "to do the fastest tape job in the world" on Daniels, laughed Rosborough.

The hope is that the inexperience at guard will be offset by added experience elsewhere as Ossai, right tackle Chad Macklin and center Juan Garcia all return.

But Denbrock also hopes for more of a rotation this year, which could alleviate putting all the, uh, weight of replacing Daniels and Walker on just two players.

"It would be our hope that we can keep those guys fresh and rotate those guys in there," Denbrock said. "But a lot of that will depend on their development. But I think right now, that may be the case this year."

Notes

• WR Anthony Russo sat out practice after suffering a hamstring injury that could sideline him for a few days.

• The practice was one of several this spring that will be open to the media. The highlight play was an 80-yard TD during a live drill from Jake Locker to Marcel Reece, who broke a tackle at about midfield then sprinted the rest of the way for the score despite losing his shoe.

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com. Read his blogs on Washington football at www.seattletimes.com/huskies.