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DeBoer Circles Back and Offers California OT — a Second Time

The coach was at Fresno State the first time he proposed a scholarship to the Sonora lineman.
Dan Raley|
DeBoer Circles Back and Offers California OT — a Second Time
DeBoer Circles Back and Offers California OT — a Second Time

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Washington Huskies

Roger Alderman shook hands with a welcoming coach Kalen DeBoer on the football field during pregame warmups, with players running all around them. He sat for a photo with the Bulldog mascot. It was T-shirt weather and he wore a gray one.

Six months ago, the 6-foot-5, 275-pound Alderman, a two-way lineman from Sonora, California, which sits in the Sierra Nevada, Foothills, traveled the 112 miles to Fresno State for an unofficial recruiting visit. 

Alderman left town with his first college football scholarship offer after watching DeBoer's Mountain West team pull out a thrilling 34-32 victory over Nevada.

While on this college tour, he took a moment to speak with Fresno's barkboard.com, which asked him to size up his football ability.

"My game as a lineman is that I am mentally and physically strong," Alderman said. "I can explode off the line to defend my quarterback and open holes for our runners. I like to make big hits and pancake the opposing team.”

The big lineman said he "really enjoyed the coaching staff and the atmosphere" and would be back. 

Well, not much as changed since then, outside of DeBoer moving to the University of Washington and Alderman becoming even more of a dominant player.

On Wednesday, DeBoer's Husky staff made Alderman a scholarship offer, his ninth overall. Others in pursuit of him are Army, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Utah State, Washington State and, yes, Fresno State.

Alderman carries his weight well and boasts an 80-inch wingspan and 10-inch hands. This past season for a 6-4 team, he made big strides in becoming a collegiate recruit.

His Sonora coach Bryan Craig said it best when he provided the following assessment of his promising young lineman to Front Row Preps, "Mr. Alderman makes a difference. Teams come in and have to find out where No. 66 is. He takes over games in the middle of the field."

Mr. Alderman has another DeBoer offer and likely will end up in Seattle for a visit. The coach can offer him another handshake, a photo with a Husky dog and maybe another high-scoring, entertaining game.

The T-shirt weather, however, is sketchy at best in the fall. Somebody will have to hand him coat.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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