If you’ve been keeping tabs on the money from free agency and NFL stars flying around (Russell Wilson, etc.), then you would have seen that former Boise State standout, DeMarcus Lawrence (DE/OLB) inked a 5-year, 105 million-dollar deal with a 65 million-dollar guarantee.
But this is a Husky site, and why are we talking about Lawrence? Because there is a tie that binds him and Husky BUCK, Joe Tryon: Pete Kwaitkowski.
When Tryon signed with Washington he’d been playing tight end and basketball at Hazen High School in Renton, but Kwaitkowski visualized him as a guy on the edge who would be “getting after quarterbacks in the Pac-12”.
Before spring ball began, Realdawg.com asked Kwaitkowski who he felt might take the biggest step forward this season — and without hesitation the coach replied, “Joe Tryon.”
At 6-5, and close to 270, Tryon has been having a great spring, but he started coming on last year towards the end of the season. He made his first start against Oregon State and finished the year putting his name on the stat sheet against Washington State (a sack), Utah in the Pac-12 championship game, and Ohio State in the Rose Bowl.
So why the comparison to Lawrence?
They are similar. Tryon is a little bigger, of course, but Kwaitkowski coached up Lawrence at Boise State, and Lawrence was a three-star BUCK that came out of the juco ranks (Butler CC in Kansas). Lawrence wasn’t ranked out of high school and was relatively unheard of, but took his biggest step forward under the mentoring and coaching of Kwaitkowski.
Now, he’s in the NFL and his star is on the rise (just look at that kwan).
What’s intriguing about Tryon is that he’s big, long, athletic, and has a lot of fast-twitch to him. Realdawg.com even asked Kwaitkowski if Tryon can be as good as Lawrence, and he simply said “He could be”.
That was the perfect, albeit ambiguous answer.
Kwaitkowski won’t say “yes” and put that kind of pressure on Tryon, but he didn’t say “no” either. What he’s saying is that Joe Tryon can be as good as Joe Tryon wants to be — and he has the potential to take it to the next level and beyond.
Anyone standing next to Tryon will tell you he already looks like an NFL player; he has the body and is that prototype scouts love. But even with that, how much can he push himself, dedicate himself, and learn the position to take that step to be as good as a DeMarcus Lawrence?
Washington hasn’t had a legitimate pass-rushing end who’s the whole package since Hau’oli Kikaha, but Tryon could be that guy in 2019.
Quotables:
“In the outside backer room, we all joke around about how little sacks we got,” Tryon said. “It’s motivation this year because I don’t even know how many we had last year, but it was a pitiful amount.”
“The one thing Joe did last year…the guy showed up to every practice, was continually getting better, (provided) great effort, and his role changed”, Kwaitkowski said of Tryon, “When he got his opportunities he made plays, so he got more opportunities. The more opportunities he got, the more plays he made. That’s how it works. By the end of the year he was one of the better players, so he’s going to play a lot.”
