Husky O-Line, With All of its Distinctions, Has No Excuse Except to Dominate
As the University of Washington starting offensive line trots onto the field for spring practice over the coming month, these guys really should be accompanied by blaring trumpets and pounding drum rolls.
They're not unlike a startling archeological find.
Ancient dinosaurs, mind you.
Big creatures.
Jurassic Huskies.
Put them through all sorts of litmus tests and careful dusting, and you won't find anything like this group of UW offensive linemen anywhere in program annals.
While our past research has made it clear that this O-line is the most gigantic to ever pull on the purple and gold — averaging a well-proportioned 6-foot-5 and 327 pounds per man — with good health it also could end up becoming the most cohesive and experienced bunch to get into a stance for the Huskies.
All five starters return for the first time since 1960, when UW football was in the throes of making consecutive Rose Bowl appearances and winning both games, which proved to be truly an enlightened period for toughness and success.
Coach Jimmy Lake simply isn't going to have any excuses if these five oversized and well-motivated guys up front don't mow down just about everyone in front of them, turn Richard Newton or Sean McGrew or both into 1,000-yard rushers and regularly celebrate in the end zone.
"They've got to go out and just be bad ass and take no prisoners every down, and they can do that," said former UW offensive tackle Don Dow, a 1982 Rose Bowl starter against Iowa. "You saw it in the shortened season of how clean they kept the quarterback and the holes that were there for the running backs."
Left to right, it's Jaxson Kirkland, Ulumoo Ale, Luke Wattenberg, Henry Bainivalu and Vic Curne.
The latest Husky roster has Ale tipping the scale at an astonishing 365 and still mobile and Bainivalu up to a fairly hefty 340. Kirkland, a guy with almost no OL body fat on him, is back up to 310 after going from 327 to 295, trying to find the right sweet spot of quickness and strength.
Wattenberg, of course, has been attending classes and going to practice at the UW for what seems now like a decade. He's entering his sixth season in the football program and will become something the Huskies have never had before at any position — a fifth-year starter. He's even been around longer than long-time offensive-line coach Scott Huff.
In early preseason listings, Kirkland is considered the top offensive lineman in the Pac-12 and among the top 10 in the nation. The son of Dean Kirkland, an All-Pac-10 offensive guard in 1990, he wants a lot more than that. Jaxson Kirkland came back to make himself into another Lincoln Kennedy or Kaleb McGary — a first-round NFL draft pick.
"I'm thrilled he came back," Dow said. "Because obviously he didn't have to."
Sixty-one years ago, the Huskies came off a 44-8 beatdown of Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl with all five lineman returning from season to season and they would up upending No. 1-ranked Minnesota 17-7 in Pasadena.
The line back then during the days of single-platoon football, from left to right, went Kurt Gegner, Chuck Allen, Roy McKasson, Bill Kinnune and Barry Bullard.
McKasson would become a consensus first-team AP All-American center while Gegner and Allen at left tackle and left guard were singled out as honorable-mention A-A selections.
All of five of them came back to play as seniors in 1960. Signs of the times, they averaged 6-foot-2 and averaged 211 pounds per man that season. Only Allen was an NFL prospect among these returning OL starters — at linebacker.
In 1960, there were far more future NFL players found among the younger guys who were reserves on the UW roster and listed down the depth chart in center Ray Mansfield and tackles Jim Skaggs, Jake Kupp and Ben Davidson.
Jim Owens' coaching staff continually tried to find a replacement at right tackle for the 6-foot-4, 225-pound Bullard, who was injured throughout that second season of glory and more vulnerable to losing his spot because of it. The then 6-foot-7, 245-pound Davidson, who later became a fearsome Oakland Raiders defensive lineman, received an extended opportunity to beat out Bullard before getting moved to end.
As camp opens this week, Kirkland is a returning first-team All-Pac-12 selection. Wattenberg, Bainivalu and Curne each were honorable-mention recipients. Only Ale, this massive 6-foot-6, 365-pound left guard, went ignored without accolades. Here's thinking he might be more motivated than any of his UW peers this coming season.
"He's really athletic," Dow said of Ale. "Some of that is just time on the field. If you think about it, McGary was always overshadowed. Kirkland is going to get all the noise, and Wattenberg, and rightly so. But I'll bet you see Ale slide up there and get him an honorable mention or second-team All-Pac-12 this year."
If not swallow a couple of defensive linemen whole.
Jurassic Huskies.
Run for cover.
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