Freshmen Suspensions Reiterated No-Nonsense Approach to Husky Football

In discussing players who have left his program, University of Washington coach Kalen DeBoer acknowledged those departures have been disappointing to him, because he wants everyone who comes to Montlake to have a memorable college football experience.

That said, DeBoer and his staff have no patience whatsoever for players who don't adhere to their way of doing things.

Husky football is serious business. DeBoer flatly said it's a privilege to play for the UW. These coaches won't wait for anyone to grow up, become responsible or meet their potential. Explicit expectations come with the scholarship.

Kuao Peihopa, Daniel Heimuli and Sav'ell Smalls were all Husky players with considerable football skills who could have done great things in Montlake, but they now play for Hawaii, Arizona and Colorado, respectively, for falling short in either conduct or motivation.

Freshman running back Tybo Rogers, as well as freshman safety Diesel Gordon, recently learned this the hard way after drawing fall camp suspensions and returning to the team just this last week.

Rogers, in particular, is a touted player from Bakersfield, California, who arrived early and performed impressively during spring ball, even showing the potential to play right away in the coming season.

However, he found out no one player is too big for this Husky football team, which offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb made clear when asked about Rogers.

"This last two and a half weeks, he hurt the football team," Grubb said fairly candidly. "There's no way to sugarcoat it. He hurt the team and he knows it."

Rogers and Gordon were in uniform but not pads during practice on Wednesday as they had to start over in meeting NCAA conditioning requirements.

With junior running back Cam Davis lost to a season-ending injury, Rogers is needed more than ever to re-establish himself in the pecking order, yet there are no free passes extended him because of his talent level.

"That's up to him," Grubb said of Rogers' return to meaningful practices reps. "That's solely in his hands. All the tools and the assistance will be there to make him a good player. He doesn't have to wait. If he's able to maintain team rules and do things the way he's supposed to do them, and lives up to his potential, he'll be out there."

What's a little ironic is Rogers played at Bakersfield High School for former Husky running back turned coach Rashaan Shehee and Gordon is the son of a Texas high school football coach, so each player should have had a fairly good idea of the expectations awaiting them on the college level.

Yet they are teenagers and not necessarily men who sometimes have to find out things the hard way.

"He has to move on and that's what we're trying to do with him," Grubb said of Rogers. "We'll see how he does with that."

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