Washington tight end Chris Izbicki has left the football program and will not be with the team for the Holiday Bowl, the school confirmed Wednesday.
Izbicki, a 6-foot-3, 232-pound junior from Kirkland’s Lake Washington High School, came into spring and fall camps as the presumed starter at tight end, and was being looked to to replace the receiving production of Kavario Middleton, who was kicked off the team for violations of team rules.
Izbicki said he had also done some growing up after he was charged with second-degree criminal trespass and minor in possession of alcohol after an incident at a concert at the White River Amphitheater in the summer of 2008.
Izbicki’s production did not come. The junior tight end had just two catches for 16 yards this season. His second catch came in fourth game of the year.
Izbicki lost playing time as the season went on. Washington chose to use Marlion Barnett in most receiving opportunities for the tight end, and moved guard Daniel Kanczugowski to the spot in order to fend off larger defensive ends.
Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian said last week tight end has been a disappointment this season and personnel was the reason.
“Yeah, wasn’t good enough,” Sarkisian said. “The more weapons you can put on the field the better off you are. Historically and traditionally for me the tight end has been a very big part of our offense so it’s been somewhat frustrating but it will be something we will look to from a recruiting perspective and then also as we grow as a program to utilize that position more.”
Izbicki finished with five catches for 23 yards and two touchdowns in his two years of play. He was ranked the No. 4 tight end prospect in the country by Scout coming out of high school, which also called him the state of Washington’s No. 1 prospect overall
Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times first reported Izbicki’s departure.
2 Comments
Sounds like he has a lot of maturing to do. No doubt in my mind he’ll dominate the GNAC when he enrolls at Central Washington this spring.