Husky O-Line Didn't Get Off To Best Start And Here's Why

The UW has had a lot of new starters and place-holders for injured players.

Trey Cooley looks for room to run against Utah State. | Dave Sizer photo

Twenty-two months ago, Jedd Fisch delivered the University of Washington offensive-line state of the union address in the middle of the Pennsylvania countryside.

After getting pushed around by Penn State, the Husky coach in his postgame news conference rather pointedly told how his guys up front weren't big enough to compete at a high level in the Big Ten, that larger players were on the way, that this wouldn't be an issue down the line.

Sure enough, Fisch's staff brought in the highly acclaimed John Mills and Kodi Greene, well proportioned and mobile offensive linemen who could have played anywhere, and, in fact, initially committed to Texas and Oregon.

Yet one of the early season struggles for the Huskies has been the noticeable lack of wide lanes for their ball carriers to run through. Naturally, the line gets called out for that.

John Mills sits with his fellow UW offensive linemen during the Apple Cup. | Dave Sizer phot

In the opener, UW running backs collectively ran 21 times for just 76 yards and a touchdown. Last weekend, these rushers had 21 carries for a mere 49 yards and a score.

Size isn't the issue. Youth, it appears, reared up and gave this UW team a reality check after Fisch's line opened the season with a new left tackle, new center and new right guard.

"This is a very young team," said Fisch, who has started five freshmen overall, including Greene, throughout his lineup. "We're going to live with some mistakes other teams might not have to live with."

While any national poll aspirations have taken an early beating -- with the Huskies winning two games so unconvincingly they've gone from No. 17 to 19 to out of the rankings -- Fisch will use a lightweight non-conference schedule to buy his team some time in order to work things out.

Some of his linemen have been place-holders, such as Sam Houston State transfer Kolt Dieterich learning the center position on the fly in fall camp while everyone awaits the return of the No. 1 guy Landen Hatchett with a fully healed right wrist.

Hatchett's older brother, Geirean, likewise has had come back from a torn biceps muscle to reclaim his starting right guard spot from second-year player Champ Taulealea and calm things down. Taulealea seemed to panic some with three holding calls in his first career start against Washington State in the opener.

As each of the UW linemen will tell anyone who will listen, four of them can execute perfectly but the one guy who screws up ruins the play. And that's what's happened.

Kodi Greene works the sideline during the Apple Cup. | Dave Sizer photo

"It's not mental errors that are occurring," Fisch said. "It's more fundamental physical decisions."

He explained how it's staying on blocks longer, making sure open lanes have been secured before looking to hit someone else and playing with more energy.

The Huskies get one more test drive against Eastern Washington on Saturday before they hope to have all of the Hatchetts and everyone else together to open some holes in their Big Ten opener against Minnesota on Sept. 26.

"All of those things are correctable," Fisch said.

Good or bad, that will be evident in the box score.