Lewis is old man of Dawgs’ secondary

Published 11:22 pm Thursday, August 16, 2007

SEATTLE – When Roy Lewis looks around at practice, he can’t help but feel a little old.

The cornerback from Los Angeles is a fifth-year senior in a secondary full of teenagers. Of the cornerbacks available at practice Thursday, there were two freshmen, a sophomore who redshirted last season, and a walk-on junior.

“Yeah, I am the old guy,” he concedes with a smile.

Being “the old guy” has led Lewis to a dual role this season where he is at times a player, and at times an assistant to secondary coach J.D. Williams.

“I think that’s the duty of being an upperclassman to be a player/slash coach,” said Lewis. “Of course coach Williams is great, but if some of the younger guys have a question and can’t get to coach Williams, they can come to the upperclassmen and we can try to help solve those problems.”

Lewis isn’t completely alone mentoring the young defensive backs. Safeties Jason Wells, a junior who started last year, and senior Mesphin Forrester also provide experience and leadership.

Washington coach Tyrone Willingham says the leadership provided by Lewis is crucial for his inexperienced secondary.

“Roy has always been one of our harder workers,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any coach in our system that has a problem with Roy’s work and how he drives himself and what he expects of others around him. That is always beneficial not only to himself but to the team. Roy has been important.

“I think he is [a vocal leader], he’s not afraid to speak up.”

And despite the lack of experience in the secondary, Lewis is confident in the young players.

“I think they’ll definitely be ready,” he said. “I love the fact that they love to compete. All the young guys we have now love to compete. They’re eager, they’re anxious, they’re hungry, and they just want to play football. That’s what we need, that kind of attitude.”

Murchison enters not-guilty plea: Cornerback Jordan Murchison pleaded not guilty to the charge of second-degree assault at his Thursday morning arraignment. He next faces a pre-trial hearing on August 30 in King County Superior Court.

Murchison, a junior college transfer from Oakland, was expected to compete for a starting cornerback position, but was arrested last week for missing a court date. Murchison’s future with the team remains unclear, but he is not participating in any team activities while Willingham waits to make a decision.

O-Line update: The offensive line shuffling witnessed at the beginning of practice Wednesday may have been nothing more than a few guys resting minor injuries.

Matt Sedillo, who has been practicing with the starters, was a little banged up, hence his not playing with the starting line at the beginning of practice. He was back to full participation Thursday. Nothing, said Willingham, has been decided yet.

“There have been some pushes made by individuals, but not anything that says, ‘Ok, we’ve drastically changed the lineup,’” he said. “Of the group I thought (Casey) Bulyca has probably made the biggest push.”

Bulyca, a senior guard, is one of the players who worked with the first-team in the spring, but was demoted at the beginning of camp.

“I feel like I’ve been doing pretty well and working hard,” said Bulyca. “It’s up to the coaches whether I start or not, but I’m just going to keep working as hard as I can.”

Another departure: Jared Fagan, a freshman walk-on from Sammamish’s Eastlake High School, is no longer with the team, Willingham reported. He is the second walk-on to leave the team this week.

More gold: For the second straight day, four players wore gold jerseys in practice. The group that earned gold was cornerback Roy Lewis, safety Jason Wells, defensive end Daniel Te’o-Nesheim, and fullback Paul Homer.