Buelow Earns Chance to Start Over on UW Offensive Line
University of Washington offensive and defensive linemen typically are huge human beings. Julius Buelow, at 6-foot-8 and 310 pounds, takes this experience up a notch.
Speak to him in a media scrum and this Hawaiian, who's the tallest player on the Husky roster, towers over everyone.
Buelow also is a fairly candid college football player, willing to address a subject others might feel compelled to gloss over.
As a redshirt freshman, he was the starting left guard for the first five games of the 2021 season until getting replaced when those Huskies really began to fall apart and finished 4-8. It wasn't all his fault, but he struggled some.
"I felt like I kind of let the team down," he said. "Even though I was a young guy, I put a lot of pressure on myself to be a productive member of the team. No matter what my age was at that time, I felt I should have stepped up more."
BIG MAN ON CAMPUS
He didn't handle the bull rush well. He had trouble picking up individual blitzers. He didn't feel any chemistry with the upperclassmen who filled out the rest of the line.
Two years later, Buelow is back to make amends. He's in contention for the starting job at right guard. He's comfortable and feel he belongs.
"It definitely taught me a lot," he said. "Facing adversity, that was kind of the first time I went through something hard in football. Losing my spot taught me that you can't have that 'I've arrived mentality.' "
Last season further humbled him when Kalen DeBoer's coaching staff took over, moved Buelow to left tackle and played him in 10 games, mostly as a special-teamer.
In his fifth season in the program, Buelow is more aware of what's expected of him. He's teaming with players his age, guys who are roommates.
"All those things I've fixed that have brought me to this point," he said. "But you have to learn somehow."
Time to put that size and experience, good and bad, to work.
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