LARAMIE – Frank Crum is looking at the glass as being 4/5 full.
 
"It's still the same line, you're just missing me," the now former Wyoming left tackle and Denver Broncos rookie said during his recent appearance on the One Wyoming Podcast. "That's just one puzzle piece."
 
Crum is underselling how challenging it will be for the Pokes to replace him. The 6-foot-7, 318-pound corner piece was an integral part of the program for six seasons and an all-Mountain West first team player as a senior.
 
To Crum's point, UW returns four starters – sophomore Wes King (left guard), senior Nofoafia Tulafono (center), junior Jack Walsh (right guard) and junior Caden Barnett (right tackle) – from last season's 9-4 finish.
 
Barnett will likely move to left tackle to replace Crum, but the 6-5, 310-pound veteran missed spring practice to recover from shoulder surgery. Two promising redshirt freshmen, Jake Davies and Nate Geiger, manned the first-team tackle positions for the bulk of the 15 practices.
 
Following the Brown & Gold Game, offensive line coach Joe Tripodi asked defensive ends Sabastian Harsh and DeVonne Harris if they would meet with their young counterparts to help speed up the development.
 
"We're going against each other now and through fall camp, but at the end of the day when it gets to August, we're one team," Harsh said. "Anything to help another teammate out. I've already talked to Geiger a couple times and the very next practice he's picking up on stuff."
 
When Barnett returns healthy for fall camp, Davies and Geiger could compete for the starting right tackle spot.
 
"It's a lot of fun and there's a lot of competition, especially between the tackles because there's an open spot obviously," Davies said. "That's another part that's making us all better is the competition."
 
Walsh, who started at right tackle in the Arizona Bowl, could certainly handle the position on a full-time basis. However, the coaching staff would like to utilize his unrelenting aggression at guard to propel the inside run game.
 
"I love Jack Walsh," head coach Jay Sawvel said. "One of the things you get an appreciation of being a head coach now is the fact that I get a lot more in depth with a lot more people than what I did before. Jack Walsh is worth his weight in gold as far as being a good player, but also he has no fear to hold anybody to a high standard."
 
Tulafono has the talent to be a contender for the Rimington Trophy awarded to the nation's top center. The 6-2, 324-pound anchor worked seamlessly with starting quarterback Evan Svoboda during the spring as they executed offensive coordinator Jay Johnson's spread and tempo concepts in the shotgun formation.
 
"It's always a big deal to have a veteran center," Tripodi said. "You've got to be good up the middle, whether you're in a transition with new guys or if you have four guys back, a center like Fia is very crucial."
 
Sophomore Luke Sandy accrued  starting experience last season at guard, where he will push King in the fall. Rex Johnsen, JJ Uphold, Dante Gavito and Quinn Grovesteen-Matchey will also compete for spots in the rotation.
 
Alex Conn, who began his career at Nebraska as a coveted prospect, was getting first-team reps at tackle before an injury this spring. The 6-5, 310-pound junior will be in the mix at right tackle with Davies and Geiger when he gets healthy.
 
Tripodi's job is to find the right combination to consistently replicate the performance UW's O-line had at Texas, which featured two defensive tackles (Byron Murphy and T'Vondre Sweat) taken in the first 38 picks of the recent NFL Draft.
 
Sweat told the NFL Network the Cowboys were the toughest unit the Longhorns faced, which is quite a statement considering Texas played Washington's Joe Moore Award-winning offensive line in the College Football Playoff semifinals.
 
"That was a really good compliment to our players," Sawvel said. "I think that's good for our players, it's good for Coach Tripodi. We have high expectations for that group."
 
(Editor's note: This is the fifth in a nine-part series reviewing UW's position groups. Friday's review: Defensive line).
 
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