UW Fresh Start (No. 83): No Culp Fiction, Husky TE Looks and Feels Inspired
Wildly athletic.
On the eve of spring practice, that's how new University of Washington offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb described both of his veteran tight ends, Devin Culp and Jack Westover.
A sleeker and leaner Culp, in particular, runs the field more like Hunter Bryant now than Cade Otton, the Huskies' first-team All-Pac-12 tight ends over two of the past three seasons.
The 6-foot-4, 244-pound Culp brought a lot of promise with him when he arrived from Spokane, Washington, but he had to get in line behind those aforementioned tight ends and wait his turn.
After starting five games last season when Otton got hurt, it's Culp's time to be the next big thing. He's put in the work to be different.
"Definitely I want to shout out coach Mac's workout program, it's huge," Culp said, referring to new weight coach Ron McKeefery. "Definitely one of the best I've ever been a part of. There's no jokes from the gimmicks. They're definitely going to throw a lot at you, make your body adjust and it's going to be really hard."
Culp as much as anyone submitted to McKeefery's demanding winter workouts and now he's ready to pick up where Otton and Bryant left off before they went off to pursue NFL careers. He's dropped only six pounds, but he looks like a different player.
Wildly athletic, too.
With spring practice underway, we're offering intel and observations gathered on the UW football personnel in a series of stories on every scholarship player from No. 0 to 99. We'll review each Husky's previous starting experience, if applicable, and determine what comes next under new coach Kalen DeBoer.
As is the case with any coaching change, it's a new football beginning for everyone, including the Huskies' No. 83.
Following last season's overly disappointing 4-8 season, Otton passed up a final year of eligibility to enter the NFL draft and redshirt freshmen Mark Redman and Mason West transferred out.
The expressed concern for the younger players was that DeBoer would significantly curtail the use of the Husky tight end in his spread offense whereas Chris Petersen and Jimmy Lake had to have two of them on the field at all times.
Culp, however, is just as inspired with the way the new attack shakes out as he was with the old one.
"I know we're all loving the new offense," he said. "We all feel we have the ability to use our skill sets in different ways because we're all such different body types. This is going to be an extremely explosive offense."
Culp has 26 games under his belt and 21 catches for 237 yards and a touchdown, with all but one reception coming last season. He found the end zone on a 2-yard toss from Dylan Morris with 3 seconds remaining in a 35-30 loss to Arizona State.
If he's right about DeBoer's offense, he should at least double those receiving numbers. He will show that the fears over a less utilized tight end were greatly exaggerated.
UW Starter or Not: Culp has six starts over the past two seasons, so that role is nothing new for him. His progression has been steady, but it should be accelerated in the new offense. He's totally bought in to what the coaching staff is telling him. A break-out season that makes Culp a more desirable NFL prospect is not out of the question at all.
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