By Mike Babcock
For The Independent

Last season, he started four games at right guard, beside Lydon Murtha. But he figures Murtha will return to left tackle with the departure of Carl Nicks.

He and Murtha worked well together, Slauson said. "But 'Murth' is going to be fine on the left all by himself, and I need to be there with Jaivorio."

Burkes is the freshman from Phoenix who shed a redshirt after Murtha suffered a split big toe against Texas A&M. He started the next three games at right tackle the first two alongside Slauson, the third alongside Mike Huff.

And he impressed Slauson. Burkes "didn't really know the plays as well as a veteran guy would, but he held his own," said Slauson. "That was good."

With that as a base, the 6-foot-5, 325-pound Burkes is going to do more than hold his own now. "He has all the tools," Slauson said. "He has the longest arms I've ever seen. And his power in his legs, as soon as he locks onto a guy and extends his arms, they're (opposing linemen) going down every time. He has amazing power.

"He's a lot more physically developed than most 18-year-olds. He's got huge hands and just the longest arms I've ever seen. He can grab a guy and just toss him down, grab the guy the way Carl Nicks did but with a lot more aggression than Nicks."

Burkes is among several youngsters joining Slauson, Murtha, Huff and Jacob Hickman in the offensive line competition this spring.

Nicks has to be replaced, as does Brett Byford, a two-year starter at center. And Andy Christensen, who has starting experience at guard and would have been a candidate to replace Byford, has been suspended indefinitely for an off-the-field issue.

Even so, the line figures to be among the team's strengths. And the linemen figure to have more clearly defined roles than in the past four seasons.

"I think our starting two-deep is pretty much set. The guards are going to be the guards and the tackles are going to be the tackles," said Slauson.

In a pinch, "I think guys like D.J. Jones will be able to switch from a tackle spot to a guard. But I think we're pretty much all set with where we're going to play."

He could still "step out" to tackle if there were injuries at the position, "but I don't suspect that happening much," Slauson said. "I'll be a guard."

You know Slauson's story by now. It's been written several times. In fact, it has become obligatory at the start of practice in both the spring and fall.

He came to Nebraska as a tackle, was moved to guard his first spring, moved back to tackle and then, after suffering an ankle injury near the end of his sophomore season, back to guard. He has 22 starts during his Cornhusker career, 15 at tackle.

He's "not necessarily" more comfortable at guard than tackle. "But guard is, I think, the position I'm meant to be in. So I'm perfectly fine with it," he said.

The 6-5 Slauson, who considers his body type more suited to guard, played at about 325 pounds last season. His weight "ballooned up a lot" after the season, but he finished winter conditioning at 328 and expects to drop another "10 to 15 pounds" by fall.

The coaches have indicated they "want me about 320 or so," he said. "But I might want to get even lighter than that, as long as I do it the right way."

He hasn't always handled his weight the right way in the past, earning a reputation for eating whatever he wanted and then dropping weight quickly.

As a result, his speed and strength would go up with his weight and then drop because he was "pretty much eating nothing" to lose the excess.

If he can maintain a lighter weight without losing strength and speed, "I'll be able to play lower," he said. "I'll be able to play faster and really explode on guys."

He and Burkes would be a good combination on the right side, at least as he sees it.