‘Diamond in the rough’

Published 11:12 pm Wednesday, October 31, 2007

SEATTLE — During a year of Washington football in which talk of defense — or lack thereof — draws groans of discontent from Husky fans, Mason Foster might provide one of the few bright spots during the second half of this season.

A freshman linebacker who has started two games, and played more against Arizona than he has in any game all season, Foster is looking like an emerging playmaker for a defense that desperately needs one. Against Arizona, he had four solo tackles, including two for loss, showing the athleticism and a knack for the ball that have impressed coaches in the early stages of his Washington career.

And if Foster continues to develop and become the type of linebacker Husky coaches and fans hope he can be, the 6-foot-1, 218-pounder may go down as one of the better finds in Washington recruiting history. Foster played his high school football in Seaside, Calif., and while California’s central coast may be a great part of the country for golf and growing Pinot Noir, it’s not exactly a hotbed of football talent.

Despite being an All-Central Coast first-team linebacker and the Monterey County player of the year, Foster received very little recruiting interest. When Washington offensive coordinator Tim Lappano, who has ties in the Bay Area from his days coaching for the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers, first saw Foster, he was surprised to find the multi-dimensional athlete had gone largely unnoticed.

“I went down there — it’s kind of off the beaten path to begin with — and nobody in the Pac-10 recruited him,” Lappano said. “Nobody. I saw this guy play quarterback, fullback, tailback, linebacker. I just watched this kid, and asked the coach ‘Who’s recruiting him?’ And he said nobody. I said, ‘Wow, this guy’s a Pac-10 football player.’”

Already, Foster is proving Lappano right in that assessment. While he admits he still has a lot to learn, Foster has impressed his coaches with his energy and athleticism. Foster says his “relentless motor” is his best strength on the field. He shows that motor off the field as well, constantly motioning and gesturing with his hands while talking only a few miles an hour slower than he plays.

In high school, Foster used that athleticism to play everywhere for the Seaside Spartans. As a quarterback, he completed 68 of 105 passes for 951 yards and 12 touchdowns. He rushed 105 times for 657 yards and 11 scores, sometimes as a quarterback and sometimes playing running back. On defense, he had 158 total tackles, eight sacks and five interceptions, two of which he returned for touchdowns. Oh, and then there’s special teams, where he returned kickoffs of 95 and 97 yards for scores.

Despite all of his talents, Foster was ranked 68th in the country as a linebacker by Rivals.com. Not bad, but certainly not what Foster thought he could be.

“I felt like a lot of people didn’t give me the credit that I felt like I deserved,” he said. “I felt like I had something to prove and play with a chip on my shoulder. My dad always says, ‘Show them that you were the best linebacker in the nation.’ I just try to prove that I am the best. I was under the radar, but I knew that people would find me if I just kept working hard. Being a playmaker on either side of the ball, somebody would find me.”

The Huskies feel they were lucky to be the ones that made that find.

“Yes, I am,” said linebackers coach Chris Tormey when asked if he was surprised how little recruiting interest there was in Foster. “I really am. I loved him on tape, and when I met him in person and saw how intelligent and bright-eyed he was, and saw his size, I felt like we really found a diamond in the rough, and we weren’t disappointed at all once he was here. He’s just continuing to show promise and I think he has a very bright future as a Washington Husky.”

Tormey pointed out that while Foster doesn’t play on both sides of the ball like he did at Seaside, he is still a versatile football player. Foster has learned multiple linebacker positions, and has worked as a backup at both the weakside and middle linebacker positions, something Tormey said few freshmen are capable of handling.

After Washington offered a scholarship and Foster accepted, several schools, including Oregon, Utah State, Utah and Hawaii, started going after him. By then, however, Foster felt loyal to Lappano and the Huskies.

“A lot of schools came in after, but I just told them that I was loyal to Washington,” Foster said. “Coach Lap had come down the summer of my junior year, so he was there for a long time. I felt real comfortable with him, and they were open with me and straight forward. You know, some recruiters come and fill your head with a bunch of nonsense, but he was real straightforward with me and told me that they really wanted me, so I felt like this is where I wanted to go.”

Playing Stanford this weekend, Foster will be only about 80 miles north of his hometown, meaning plenty of friends and family will be on hand. And on Saturday afternoon at Stanford Stadium, Foster will show those family members and friends what they knew all along.

“That’s what my dad and all my boys back home tell me,” he said. “You’ve got to prove you can play this game with anybody. That’s what I’m trying to do now.”

Contact Herald Writer John Boyle at jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more on University of Washington sports, check out the Huskies blog at heraldnet.com /huskiesblog