UW Roster Review, No. 0-99: 4 Who Walked On and Man the Trenches

This quartet of Huskies is willing to do the grunt work without financial assistance.

Author:
Dan Raley
Publish date:
Jul 12, 2021 2:00 PM EDT

The University of Washington offensive linemen without scholarships often are the most invisible players at practice. They're not only buried on the depth chart, they're hidden in the pushing and shoving up front.

Yet this spring, walk-ons Gage Harty and Will Pliska stood out for their hustle and misfortune.

As more than 100 players crisscrossed Husky Stadium all at once to join in calisthenics, Harty, a 6-foot-4, 270-pound sophomore, was the big body spotted in a full sprint, joyously passing everyone just to line up. It was a sight to see.

On the other hand, Pliska was the lone Husky at any position this spring who crumpled to the ground in obvious pain and the 6-foot-5, 290-pound sophomore couldn't get off the stadium floor without the help of two trainers. He broke his ankle and needed immediate assistance.

Harty, Pliska, Chase Skuza and Noah Hellyer are the Husky offensive linemen who play without financial assistance, a huge sacrifice for guys who spend most of their time knocking heads and pushing sleds. It's grunt work, performed for free.

Going down the roster in numerical order, this is another of our post-spring assessments of all of the Husky talent at hand, gleaned from a month of observations, as a way to keep everyone engaged during the offseason.

These guys wear 62, 67, 69 and 73, numbers that each one has all to himself. These guys back up three touted units of linemen who will be starters at some point at the UW and could be first-teamers elsewhere. The walk-ons provide numbers support, with each hoping this position excellence makes each of them greater contributors and gives them a chance to move up.

Gage Harty

Harty hasn't appeared in a game in his three seasons with the Huskies, even in the blowouts. He turned up as high as the third team this past April. Yet his body language in practice seems to indicate his playing status is not the most important thing to him. He's out there having fun.

This was clear during the aforementioned slalom run by No. 73 during the spring, with part of his jaunt captured in the following video.

From Spokane Valley, Washington, and University High, Harty was a two-way linemen for three years who received modest recognition, earning All-Greater Spokane League honorable mention at best as a senior.

His logical goal would seem to be simply getting into a real game while at the UW. This year's non-conference schedule, with home games against Montana and Arkansas State, might enable that.

Will Pliska

Similar to Harty, Pliska has spent three seasons in the UW program. However, the product of Kirkland, Washington, had a breakthrough in 2019, making the travel squad and getting into a 51-27 victory at Arizona.

Midway through the recent spring drills, however, Pliska went down hard and needed two trainers to get him up off the hot turf, walk him to a training table and finally drive him on a cart off the field to the training room. His fractured ankle requires a six-month rehabilitation.

Obviously a decent student as well as a capable athlete, he received football financial aid offers from Ivy League schools Columbia, Colgate, Cornell, Harvard and Yale, plus Weber State, but chose to be a UW walk-on. As an injured walk-on, Pliska is finding football doubly tough, but he seems to be a high achiever.

Chase Skuza

Skuza was headed to lower-level Central Washington University in 2017 with some sort of financial assistance, even signing the necessary paperwork, but he had a change of heart and turned to the UW.

Four seasons into his Husky career, the 6-foot-6, 305-pound junior tackle from Sumner, Washington, has appeared in a pair of games against Eastern Washington and Hawaii, both in 2019.

After the Eastern game, he posed for the accompanying photo with former Sumner High teammate Tre Weed, enjoying one of his game-day appearances with a friend and making memories.

Skuza has two more seasons of eligibility, but he likely won't use it all. This past spring, he graduated from the UW.

Noah Hellyer

The 6-foot-2, 290-pound sophomore hails from Skyview High in Vancouver, Washington, and has been part of the UW program for three seasons, and he's still awaiting his first game time.

With no discernible scholarship offers before joining the Huskies, Hellyer appears to be somewhat of a scrapper, playing as high as the third unit in the spring.

Similar to the others, he finds the O-line competition a challenge, but he keeps coming back for more. The life of a walk-on is not glamorous, but these guys find it fulfilling and worthwhile.