Fabbians Ebbele (left) could end up on either side of the line. Photo by Chris Morrison-US PRESSWIRE

Arizona Wildcats sophomore offensive tackle Fabbians Ebbele, who returned from suspension before the beginning of fall camp, is working toward getting back his starting job.

He once had the look of a four-year starter — not much in college football is more valuable than an offensive lineman with that kind of experience — but that was before a change in coaches, a change in offense and his involvement in an off-campus brawl in March.

He faced assault charges that were dropped in the summer, and Ebbele rejoined the team after missing almost all of spring practice.

“Now, I know I’m not starting, but that is motivation to me to work harder to get back to that starting spot,” he said after Thursday morning’s practice.

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Offensive tackle Fabbians Ebbele blocks Washington defensive end Andrew Hudson last season. Photo by Steven Bisig-US PRESSWIRE

Arizona Wildcats sophomore Fabbians Ebbele, who started every game last season at right tackle, is nowhere to be found on the team’s depth chart entering camp.

For a while, it looked as if he might not be on the team at all, but assault charges stemming from a brawl at a party in early March were dismissed this summer.

Ebbele and defensive back Jourdon Grandon had been facing a court date based on the incident.

Both players are off suspension and will get a chance to work their way into the good graces of first-year coach Rich Rodriguez when fall camp begins with a Thursday night practice.

“They paid a punishment and they needed to,” Rodriguez said. “They realized they made a mistake.”

Like most positions on the team, the offensive line is in flux, despite the return of all five starters.

You can count on senior Kyle Quinn at center, and senior Trace Biskin is fairly well set at right guard. After that …

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Fabbians Ebbele (left) could rejoin his teammates for fall camp. Photo by Chris Morrison-US PRESSWIRE

Arizona Wildcats offensive tackle Fabbians Ebbele and defensive back Jourdon Grandon, suspended for almost all of spring practice, are on pace to return to return to the team in the fall, coach Rich Rodriguez said Tuesday.

“They still have some things to do within the program,” Rodriguez told TucsonCitizen.com.

Ebbele and Grandon, along with two other Arizona football players and a former ex-Wildcat, were involved in a brawl at an off-campus party in early March.

Ebbele and Grandon were facing criminal assault and trespassing charges, although those won’t be pursued.

Rodriguez said from the start that he wanted to let the legal system play out before making a decision on the players’ futures.

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Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez is facing the first major discipline moment of his early tenure with the Wildcats, with the news that four football players were arrested early Friday morning.

The student-run Arizona Daily Wildcat reported Wednesday that three of the players were arrested on criminal trespassing in the first degree and assault — sophomore defensive back Jourdon Grandon, sophomore starting right tackle Fabbians Ebbele and sophomore offensive lineman Eric Bender. Another player — sophomore safety Jared Tevis — was arrested on trespassing charges.

Arizona athletic director Greg Byrne released a statement Wednesday morning: “We are taking this matter seriously. We are cooperating fully with the Tucson Police Department, and disciplinary action will be handled accordingly. Due to federal student-privacy laws we will have no further comment.”

The Daily Wildcat, citing reports from the Tucson Police Department, wrote that the arrests occurred after a brawl at a party at the home of five UA students:

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Fabbians Ebbele is 6-8 and 305 pounds, with long arms that are effective in pass protection. Photo by Steven Bisig-US PRESSWIRE

Arizona Wildcats right tackle Fabbians Ebbele is a Freshman All-American, as selected by the Sporting News.

Ebbele was part of the young Arizona offensive line that featured a pair of redshirt freshman tackles, the other being left tackle Mickey Baucus. The entire starting offensive line, plus all the backups, are expected to return intact for the 2012 season — and freshman Lene Maiava earned raves for his time on the scout team this season.

Ebbele and the rest of the offensive line, led by senior-to-be center Kyle Quinn, will have to adjust next season to new head coach Rich Rodriguez’s zone-read offense, but at least they will have the same position coach — Robert Anae.

Anae was rehired by Rodriguez — “I think he did a really nice job with the offensive line this year,” Rodriguez said — preventing a case where these young linemen would have their third position coach in three seasons.

Ebbele, from Chicago, started every game this season, as did Baucus.

Ebbele is one of eight Pac-12 players, including three offensive linemen, who were chose to the Sporting News’ Freshman All-America team. The other linemen are Oregon’s Hroniss Grasu and USC’s Marcus Martin.

Chris Putton worked as the starting left guard in spring practice. Photo by Michael Chow, The Arizona Republic

In collaboration with our Gannett partner, The Arizona Republic, we will be providing a weekly series throughout the summer, previewing the Arizona Wildcats football team.

The Republic sent a photographer to Tucson three times in the spring to capture the pictures needed for its slick presentation of the preview, which you can find here at azcentral.com. You can also read about those other guys all summer in the ASU preview.

At TucsonCitizen.com, we can’t offer the cool look of the preview that you’ll find on azcentral.com, but we’ll give you the text and some of the photography.

Here is the third part: The offensive line. Look for updates every Friday.

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Trace Biskin jumps rope before practice. Photo by Michael Chow, The Arizona Republic

Arizona Wildcats coach Mike Stoops was asked what quality new offensive line coach Robert Anae brought to the team.

“Patience,” Stoops said with a chuckle.

Anae has been working this spring with a bunch of pups. Big pups to be sure. But pups nonetheless. The all-new offensive line will display the results of Anae’s work Saturday at the team’s final spring scrimmage at Arizona Stadium (1:30 p.m.).

“Everybody since day one after the bowl game has been saying, ‘What’s going to happen with Arizona with their offensive line being young?’” said junior guard Trace Biskin. “You know, whatever.

“We come out here and just try to get better. We don’t care how old we are. We’re just looking to get better every day. Coach Anae stresses that as long as we play tough, we’re going to be fine.

“You can correct mistakes, but you can’t correct toughness.”

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Freshman Fabbians Ebbele works out during fall camp.
Photo by Brad Allis, Wildcat Sports Report

The Arizona Wildcats have eight-and-a-half-months to figure out an all-new offensive line, under an all-new offensive line coach, trying out a slightly new philosophy.

First things first. The coach, Robert Anae, while new to Arizona is a veteran coach whose recent stops include Texas Tech and BYU. He replaces co-coordinator Bill Bedenbaugh, whose departure to West Virginia leaves running backs coach Seth Littrell as the sole coordinator.

“Hiring Robert Anae, it couldn’t be a better fit for us,” said coach Mike Stoops said.

“He has an expertise on the offensive line that is desperately needed at this level of football. I couldn’t be more pleased with that element of our staff.”

Anae will be the run-game coordinator and will collaborate with the play-calling Littrell on the game plan.

“I’m just happy that he’s here,” Stoops said of Anae. “I didn’t think this opportunity would ever arise. He’s a guy who I have competed against for many years at BYU and at Texas Tech. I certainly was well-aware of the preparation of his players and how they played.”

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Freshman Fabbians Ebbele works out during fall camp.
Photo by Brad Allis, WildcatSportsReport.com

The Arizona Wildcats are losing their entire starting offensive line after this season, so who’s next?

One likely answer is Kyle Quinn, who will make his first career start in the Dec. 29 Alamo Bowl against Oklahoma State. Quinn replaces senior Colin Baxter, who is out following surgery on his right knee.

The next wave includes three redshirt freshmen and four freshmen who are redshirting. Among that latter group, watch for Mickey Baucus and Fabbians Ebbele.

“Those two young tackles, if they continue to improve, they’re going to be as good as anybody I’ve coached,” said offensive line coach and co-offensive coordinator Bill Bedenbaugh.

“They’ve got that talent. Now, they have to come with a mentality and a competitiveness and a toughness and those kind of things. If you look at them and see how they work, they’ve got what it takes.”

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Fabbians Ebbele, from Chicago, should be one of the new building blocks for the offensive line/Photo by Brad Allis, WildcatSportsReport.com

You might not have been able to tell from the kind of vocabulary offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh was using during Monday’s practice, but he seems to really like his young offensive linemen.

It’s this group of four true freshmen, combined with three redshirt freshman offensive linemen from the class of 2009, that will be the future foundation of everything the Wildcats want to do on offense.

For now, the true freshmen might give up a speed rush to Brooks Reed coming off the edge in practice. They might not go hard every time from snap to whistle. That’s OK. It’s early. What is encouraging is they look the part.

Mickey Baucus, Fabbians Ebbele, Carter Lees and Trent Spurgeon are part of what appears to be Mike Stoops’ most physically impressive freshman class.

“These guys, there are all in the 6-6 to 6-8 range, and they all have long arms, and they are all 290 to 300 pounds. They’re athletes,” Bedenbaugh, also the co-offensive coordinator, said of his linemen.

“But the biggest thing is, just mentally picking up the game. They’re getting a lot of reps right now, but it’s going to take some time.”

With six seniors and one junior (guard Vaughn Dotsy) in the two-deep, Arizona doesn’t have much margin or error with injuries. The experience drops off quickly. Redshirt freshman Eric Bender-Ramsay is listed as a possible backup at left tackle. Chris Putton is a second-stringer at left guard.

The opportunity could be there for a true freshman.

“We’ve got to have one of them develop in case we get into a situation where we need them,” Bedenbaugh said.

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