Huskies Probably Can't Go Wrong at Right Tackle

The UW has several candidates to start opposite Jaxson Kirkland.

Vick Curne started at right tackle for the University of Washington football team for the past two seasons uninterrupted. Matteo Mele had his hands on the No. 1 job throughout spring practice. The promising Roger Rosengarten pulled a lot of first-unit snaps there, too. Troy Fautanu is now looking for a new place to play.

Five weeks from the beginning of fall camp, right tackle ranks right up there as one of the UW's most unsettled and curious position battles — largely because of what happened at left tackle.

Once two-time, first-team All-Pac-12 selection Jaxson Kirkland received clearance to return on the other side and play a sixth season, this sent ripples throughout the UW offensive line from end to end.

Like a shell game, you can almost slide all of these right-tackle pieces around and put them in any order.

Here's one attempt at how it might play out on the depth chart come August: Fautanu, Rosengarten, Mele and Curne.

A 6-foot-4, 307-pound sophomore from Henderson, Nevada, Fautanu might have played the best of any Husky lineman in any role this spring while pulling snaps at left tackle as a stand-in for Kirkland.

Now that the other guy is back, Fautanu is position-hunting. He started two games at left tackle last season, again for Kirkland, and in the Apple Cup at left guard. He's flexible and agreeable.

"I really don't care, honestly," Fautanu said. "My main goal, when I got here, is I'm trying to get on the field as fast as I can."

With Kalen DeBoer's high-powered offense in need of the ultimate pass protectors on the flanks, a wise plan would be to pencil Fautanu in at right tackle and return him to the left side again in 2023 once Kirkland leaves for good. 

Roger Rosengarten is getting closer to playing on a regular basis.  / Dan Raley

Rosengarten, of course, is a past recruiting prize — he said no to the likes of Ohio State, Oklahoma, Notre Dame and Penn State to come to Montlake — who needs to play soon. The 6-foot-6, 294-pound redshirt freshman from Highland Ranch, Colorado, has appeared in five games. It would surprise no one if he opened at right tackle or at least spelled Fautanu against Kent State in the season opener. 

Mele has been in the mix for four seasons and this might be a make-it or break-it moment for him if he is ever to become a full-time starter for the UW. A 6-foot-6, 295-pound junior from Tucson, Arizona, he's appeared in 16 games, starting once at center in 2019.

"It might be one of my last opportunities to put it together, but I'm definitely giving it everything I've got every day," he conceded as spring practice came to a close.

Vic Curne moved from right tackle to right guard this spring.  / Dan Raley

And then there's Curne.

The new staff took one look at him, as this 16-game starter at right tackle, and decided he was a guard. A 6-foot-4, 320-pound junior from Houston, Curne has a body shape that seems better suited for filling up space inside rather than trying to deal with athletic edge rushers.

Still, he's started two seasons at right tackle should the Huskies decide that his experience is needed out there. 

The horse-trading continues. 

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