Offensive linemen are, by nature, shrouded in obscurity by virtue of their position. Blocks get less attention than passing touchdowns or broken tackles.
Even by that standard, the Wildcats’ offensive line has its share of unknowns.
Guards Freddie Tagaloa and Jacob Alsadek and right tackle Gerhard de Beer were all listed on this year’s injury report. All three missed time last week against UCLA. Christian Boettcher, Alex Kosinski and Cody Creason, respectively, played in their place.
Boettcher is notable because of his background — he’s a former walk-on whose lone offers out of Scottsdale’s Desert Mountain High School came from Division II and NAIA programs. He wanted to play in the Ivy League, but an ACL tear his senior season scuttled that.
“I wasn’t the talent that I needed to be to still be a highly recruited guy,” Boettcher said.
So Boettcher walked on at Arizona, largely because of the school’s biochemistry program.
Now he’s on scholarship and a possible starter on Saturday against Utah. Boettcher made his first career start against Hawaii on Sept. 17 and the second last week at UCLA.
Asked this week to name a career highlight, Boettcher recalled being put on scholarship. Coach Rich Rodriguez delivered the news back in May. Here’s how it went Boettcher’s own words:
“They do a good job of keeping it quiet. I called my mom, they don’t give it to you right away, but they let you know, hey, you have a spot. So it was cool, so I called my mom and let her know. She actually wasn’t as emotional as I thought she was going to be. I was crying, personally, and she was … I could tell she was sniffling but not crying. My dad was super excited about it, even more than my mom, but that’s because he runs all the finances (laughs).
“We have end-of-the-spring meetings, so everyone, all 120 guys, they all come in. Coach Rod gives a special talk. Obviously if it’s, like, Anu (Solomon) he says, ‘You’re doing this, this, this and this, we expect you to do this in the fall.’ For some of the other guys they’ll just give, like, ‘Here’s what you need to do, you need to get stronger in the weight room.’ He keeps it personal. When he talked to me, I was the one left guard at that point in the spring so he thought I was going to be a big part of the team. He said, ‘We’d like to put you on scholarship.’”
“I don’t remember the rest of the meeting (laughing). I probably shaked his hand, really shaky.”
“I mean, that’s not where you stop. Once you get that (scholarship), you gotta prove it.”
