SEATTLE – Paul Homer thinks he might have a long football future ahead of him. Just maybe not as a player.
Homer, a University of Washington fullback, has hopes of being a doctor when his playing days are over, and one area of practice he is considering is orthopedics.
“I’d want to stay in football, be a team doctor or something,” said the sophomore from Omaha, Neb.
Of course, if he were given a chance to play beyond college, medicine could always wait.
“Yeah, if that happens it would be great, but if it doesn’t I’d be happy to go to med school,” he said.
In a time when too many student athletes seem to ignore the student part, Homer is a refreshing change of pace. He picked Washington, in large part, because of [—] get this [—] academics. Oh, and he’s looking forward to taking organic chemistry in the fall.
“That was one of the main things I looked at when I was choosing a school,” he said. “Every school I looked at what their academics were like.”
Homer isn’t just brains, however. The 6-foot, 222-pounder combines with senior Luke Kravitz to form a fullback duo that coaches have been saying good things about in the first two weeks of practice.
“I’ve been very pleased with Paul Homer and Luke Kravitz,” said Washington coach Tyrone Willingham. “Those two are forming our tandem for short-yardage, goal-line situations. Those two are doing a good job.”
Willingham, who described Kravitz as more of a nifty runner and Homer as a formidable blocker, joked last week that he “hopes live long enough so that Paul can be my doctor, because he’ll be a darn good doctor.”
For the time being, Willingham just hopes Homer can be a darn good fullback.
Sports notes lead:Gold rush: Wednesday marked the first time in fall camp that more than one player was awarded a gold jersey in practice. Receiver Cory Williams earned the honor for the fourth straight day. Joining him were cornerback Roy Lewis, defensive end Daniel Te’o-Nesheim and safety Jason Wells.
Sports notes:That’s gonna leave a mark: As practice moves into the middle of its second week, more and more players can be seen walking around campus icing various bumps and bruises. That is about par for the course for the second week of practice, said Willingham.
“About this time, everybody has something that bruised and hurt and sore, and it’s difficult to work through,” he said. “But that’s what football requires, that you work through those owies as I call them.”
Sports notes lead:O-line shuffle: The much talked about starting unit of the offensive line looked a little bit different than it has so far in fall camp. That could be the sign of a shift at the top, or it could just be coaches trying some different things. When the team took the field for a two-minute drill at the beginning of Wednesday’s afternoon practice, the first-team line was, from left to right, Ben Ossai, Ryan Tolar, Juan Garcia, Casey Bulyca and Cody Habben. Early this week and last week, the top unit had Chad Macklin and Matt Sedillo in place of Ossai and Bulyca.
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