The good, bad and ugly

Published 3:51 pm Sunday, August 19, 2007

SEATTLE — Washington’s football practice, which included a half of scrimmaging, was open to the public Saturday, and the 1,000 or so Husky fans who showed up had plenty of moments to cheer and to groan.

The good included solid play from fan-favorite Jake Locker, a little bit of trickery, and a couple of big passing plays. The bad? Well, there were the three snaps out of the shotgun that went over the head of the quarterbacks, a shanked punt, a couple of costly holds, and some dropped passes.

“Overall I thought it was good,” said Washington coach Tyrone Willingham. “I thought we did a decent job at a lot of places.”

As for Locker, the player most of the 1,000 or so fans came to see, he started slow but picked things up as the scrimmage went on. He completed only three of his first 10 passes (though two of the incompletions were drops). In the second quarter, however, Locker connected on seven of his final eight attempts, including a 57-yard touchdown to Marcel Reece. Locker finished (unofficially) 10 for 18 for 134 yards and one touchdown. Locker was intercepted after the scrimmage when the team practiced overtime situations, but that pass appeared to go through the hands of D’Andrew Goodwin and into the arms of linebacker Dan Howell.

Locker rushed four times for 25 yards, including a 7-yard touchdown run, in what was a stripped-down version of the offense the Huskies will likely show when they open the season. It should be noted that quarterbacks could not be tackled and were down when they were touched. Locker was also on the receiving end of a crowd-pleasing halfback pass from Louis Rankin that netted 13 yards.

“I thought he really settled in nicely in the second quarter,” said offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Tim Lappano. “He showed a lot of athleticism, made a lot of good decisions, threw the ball pretty accurate.”

Backup quarterback Carl Bonnell also threw the ball well and had a long touchdown pass of his own, a 40-yarder to walk-on receiver Charles Hawkins. Hawkins caught the ball despite pass interference being called on the play.

Hawkins was one of two walk-ons to play a major role Saturday. In addition to his touchdown catch, he also had catches of 11, 15, and 11 yards. Cory Nicol, a walk-on from Woodinville, stared at cornerback with the first-team defense.

“Charles made some good plays,” said Willingham. “He has been making some good plays in camp and if he continues he may have a chance to find a role for himself in our rotation.”

The three errant snaps, one of which sailed over Locker’s head for a safety, was something the team had not seen much of in practice, Willingham said. Only one of the three came from starting center Juan Garcia.

“That kind of showed its ugly face today,” Willingham said. “We’re not happy about those ones, but that’s something I think we can correct.”

For what its worth and it’s probably not worth much the purple team, consisting of the first team offense and second-team defense, outscored the white (first team defense, second team offense) 14-12. The score was obviously not too important to the coaches, as the white team lined up for a field goal down by five with 27 seconds left in the half.

Injury update: Several players were held out of Saturday’s scrimmage, but most were precautionary, Willingham said. There was no surprise in the absences of defensive tackle Wilson Afoa (shoulder), cornerback Byron Davenport (hamstring) and receiver Anthony Russo (finger).

Also sitting out were freshman defensive lineman Tyrone Duncan, who had his arm in a sling, offensive lineman Matt Sedillo, defensive end Caesar Rayford, receiver Cody Ellis, and linebacker Donald Butler. Of that group, Willingham said everyone but Duncan could have played if Saturday had been a game day.

Line taking shape: The starting offensive line consisted of, from left to right, Cody Habben, Ryan Tolar, Garcia, Casey Bulyca and Chad Macklin. While Willingham said the line is “still a work in progress,” the team could be closer to settling on a starting lineup.

“I think the majority of that O-line will be the starters at Syracuse,” said Lappano. “They could be the starting group, I’m not sure yet. There’s still probably some evaluation at that left tackle. We’ll see, but they could be the starting group. Again, we’ll look at the film and see how those guys grade out and that will be pretty critical.”

Ben Ossai, last year’s starting left tackle, played with the second team Saturday.

Freshmen backs earn praise: All four freshmen running backs saw action in the scrimmage, and all had some nice moments. Curtis Shaw might have been the most impressive of the group, gaining 28 yards on four carries.

“I thought they all had their moments,” said Lappano. “I thought Willie Griffith got downhill a couple of times. Curtis Shaw showed some speed, he had some nice runs. Brandon Johnson hit a couple holes nice.”

Lappano also singled out Brandon Yakaboski for his physical running.

Not-so special teams: The kicking and punting games didn’t exactly shine Saturday. The punting, which Willingham has called inconsistent throughout fall camp, was just that. Ryan Perkins hit the best punt, a high spiraling 45-yarder, but also hit one that went only 32 yards. Jared Ballman was OK, but not spectacular, and walk-on Kiel Rasp struggled. Ballman kicked a 24-yard field goal, but missed wide right from 39 yards. Perkins missed a 41-yard attempt, also wide right. He made a 39-yard field goal when they practiced overtime scenarios. There was also a procedure penalty on an extra point attempt.