Four walk-in offensive linemen who play for the Washington Huskies

The University of Washington’s offensive linemen with no scholarships are often the most invisible players in training. Not only are they buried on the depth map, they are hidden in the push and push forward.

But this spring, the walk-ons Gage Harty and Will Pliska stood out for their hectic pace and unhappiness.

When more than 100 players simultaneously traversed Husky Stadium to take part in calisthenics, Harty, a 6-foot-4, 270-pound sophomore, was the big body spotted in a full sprint and glee at passed them all just to line up. It was a sight.

On the flip side, Pliska was the only husky in any position that spring to collapse to the ground in apparent pain and the 6-foot-5, 290-pound runner-up couldn’t get off the stadium floor without the help of two coaches. He broke his ankle and needed immediate help.

Harty, Pliska, Chase Skuza and Noah Hellyer are the husky offensive linemen who play without financial support, a huge sacrifice for the guys who spend most of their time banging heads and pushing sleds. It’s grunt work that is done for free.

The list, in numerical order, is another of our assessments of all available Husky talent after spring, drawn from a month of observations to keep everyone busy during the off-season.

These guys wear 62, 67, 69 and 73, numbers that everyone has to himself. These guys support three advertised linemen units that will eventually be starters at the UW and could be first team members elsewhere. The walk-ons provide numbers support, with everyone hoping this stellar position will make each of them bigger contributors and give them a chance to move up.

Gage Harty

Harty has not appeared in any game in his three seasons with the Huskies, not even in the Blowouts. He rose as high as the third team last April. In practice, however, his body language seems to indicate that his game status is not the most important thing to him. He’s out there having fun.

This became evident during the springtime slalom of No. 73 mentioned above, with part of his excursion captured in the video below.

From Spokane Valley, Washington, and University High, Harty was a two-way linemen for three years who received modest recognition and was honored as a Senior All-Greater Spokane League at best.

His logical goal seems to be to just step into a real game during the UW. This year’s conference-free schedule with home games against Montana and Arkansas State could make this possible.

Will Pliska

Similar to Harty, Pliska has spent three seasons in the UW program. However, the Kirkland, Washington product had a breakthrough in 2019, making it onto the travel roster and scooping a 51:27 win in Arizona.

In the middle of the last spring exercises, however, Pliska hit the ground hard and needed two coaches to lift him off the hot lawn, lead him to a training table and finally drive him from the field to the training room on a cart. His broken ankle requires six months of rehabilitation.

Obviously a decent student as well as a capable athlete, he received offers of financial aid to football from Columbia, Colgate, Cornell, Harvard, and Yale Ivy League schools, and Weber State, but chose to be a UW walk-on . As an injured walk-on, Pliska finds football twice as difficult, but he seems to be a top performer.

Pursuit sorry

Skuza was directed to the subordinate Central Washington University in 2017 with financial support and even signed the necessary papers, but he changed his mind and turned to the UW.

For four seasons in his husky career, the 6-foot-6, 305-pound junior tackle from Sumner, Washington, played in two games against Eastern Washington and Hawaii, both in 2019.

After the Eastern game, he posed for the accompanying photo with former Sumner High teammate Tre Weed, enjoyed one of his game day appearances with a friend and made memories.

Skuza has two more seasons of eligibility, but he likely won’t use all of them. He finished his studies at the UW last spring.

Noah Hellyer

Hailing from Skyview High in Vancouver, Washington, the 6-foot-2,290-pound sophomore has been on the UW program for three seasons, and he’s still awaiting his first season.

With no discernible scholarship offers before joining the Huskies, Hellyer appears to be something of a scrapper and plays through the third session in the spring.

Like the others, he finds the O-Line competition a challenge, but he keeps coming back to find out more. The life of a walk-on isn’t glamorous, but these guys find it fulfilling and rewarding.

Noah Hellyer has been with the huskies for three seasons.

YOUR athletics

Collective outlook for 2021: All planned as reserve offensive linemen

YOUR service time: Played in 3 games in total

Statistics: None

Individual honors: None

Perspectives: None

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