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Steve Graff had but one thought the first time he saw Ryan Tolar. “Ryan was one big human,” said Graff, the football coach at Pasco High School. Little has changed since that day nearly four years ago when Graff saw Tolar while conducting a football clinic at McLaughlin Middle School in Pasco. Tolar is still big – 6-foot-6 and 320 pounds. Only now Tolar is much more than a widebody who, until the eighth grade, used his size for another sport. “I did not start playing football until the eighth grade,” Tolar said. “I had been playing hockey since I was 6. The team I was on traveled about every weekend to places like Seattle, Spokane and Tacoma. That was a lot of fun.” Football changed things. Tolar, a Class 4A all-state selection this past season, experienced his change of heart in the months before his freshman year during a summer football camp. “He went to camp and we threw him in there with the big boys for a few series,” Graff said. “I remember some guy blew by him, and Ryan grabbed him. They got in a pushing match. Ryan didn’t back down. He wasn’t afraid.” Tolar has been in Pasco’s starting lineup ever since – the only freshman to start for Graff in his eight seasons as head coach. “He really finishes well,” Graff said. “He had a number of pancake (blocks) – I can’t tell you how many. Those poor kids he landed on. “That couldn’t have felt too good.” Tolar was a big reason the Bulldogs advanced to the state 4A semifinals, where they lost to Skyline, 28-23, in the Tacoma Dome. Tolar blasted open holes all season for talented tailbacks Tony Coburn and Leon Jackson, each of whom rushed for more than 1,600 yards last season. “It all starts with Tolar,” Eisenhower coach Dan Eyman told the Tri-City Herald after the Bulldogs rambled for 398 yards rushing in a victory this season. “We can’t control a kid like that.” And to think that Tolar – with only four years of football experience – is still getting better and bigger. Tolar said he’s going through a growth spurt now and would like to add at least two more inches to his already-mammoth frame. “Right now, the biggest things that I am working on are speed and agility,” Tolar said. “I’m always working on getting my strength up and learning the game. I’ve still got a lot to learn.” Which is why he attended the Washington State camp last summer after the Bulldogs held their own camp on campus, and also attended a team camp at Eastern Washington University. Tolar opened some eyes at the WSU camp with his strong pass and run blocking on a team comprised of many Division I recruits. “It was pretty fun,” Tolar said. “I was able to get on the same team as (Timberline tailback) Jonathan Stewart. The team was loaded, and the WSU coaches basically ran our team. It was a good experience.” Graff thinks Tolar will be one of the state’s top recruits next year, especially if he keeps improving at the rate he has for the past four years. “He made his biggest strides that summer,” Graff said. “He could hardly jump rope back then. His feet have gotten better and better each year. He is a big-frame guy who is awfully good. You just don’t make them that big.” POSSIBLE 2006 NUGGETS Corey Brock: 253-597-8483 © Copyright 2012 Tacoma News, Inc.
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