Word from the wideouts, ‘Go deep’

Published 11:43 pm Tuesday, September 25, 2007

SEATTLE — Anthony Russo isn’t going to be confused for Terrell Owens anytime soon, but the Washington senior has enough of the flamboyant Cowboys receiver in him to talk to his coaches when he thinks it’s necessary.

That was the case Saturday, when Russo felt like the Huskies weren’t taking enough shots down field.

“We were bugging them the whole game to do that, like we always do,” said Russo, who had a career-high 106 receiving yards and two touchdowns, including a 63-yarder. “We always do that. We’ve been doing that for five years, telling them to go deep. We always want to go deep as receivers. We opened up the playbook and it definitely worked, so hopefully the coaches will open it up some more.”

Offensive coordinator Tim Lappano doesn’t mind his players sharing opinions about his play calling.

“I always ask,” he said. “I trust our players. I ask at halftime after we go through our stuff. I think it’s always valuable to ask, because you’re the guy out there. Sometimes you know when something can work and when something can’t.”

There is a limit, of course. While coaching quarterbacks at Oregon State, Lappano heard plenty from future NFL star Chad Johnson.

“There’s a fine line there, because Chad Johnson got me on the phone every freaking series and said, ‘Coach, I’m open, I’m open, I can take this guy,’” Lappano said. “Other kids, it’s the real deal. Most of our guys are pretty trustworthy, and if there’s something there that they know, I trust them and believe them.”

It wasn’t just Russo’s prodding that changed the play calling Saturday. The Huskies trailed UCLA late in the game and had no choice but to open up the playbook.

Whether it was the change in offensive philosophy or just him getting comfortable, the opening up of the playbook seemed to help quarterback Jake Locker. After completing just nine of his first 23 attempts for 63 yards in the first three quarters, Locker was 8 for 13 for 153 yards and three touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Russo hopes that success they had throwing downfield can help the Huskies in future games.

Learning the hard way: From day one, coaches have been reminding Locker about the importance of avoiding unnecessary contact. After facing a pair of physical defenses, Locker is starting understand that message.

“I think I’m learning as the games go on that it would be a lot easier on me if I do slide or at least get down and learn not to take the big hits,” he said. “There were a couple of times where I made what I consider a stupid play where I gained an extra 1 or 2 yards but took three or four extra hits when I could have just run out of bounds. That’s something I need to start doing, it’s going to be in my head now for the rest of the time that I’m playing. It’s a little bit different than the guys that were tackling me in high school.”

One particular play against UCLA in the second half really drove the point home for Locker, who hit his head on the field. He said it was the first play this year that shook him up a little bit.

Receiver rotation: The Huskies involved more receivers against UCLA, a trend Lappano hopes to continue against USC. Sophomore D’Andre Goodwin was on the field for 22 plays after being used sparingly in Washington’s first three games. Cody Ellis, who was slowed with a hamstring injury early this season, was also more involved.

“I liked the rotation,” said Lappano. “I think it kept Marcel [Reece] fresher. I think that helped us in the fourth quarter. We were fresher and we were able to run by some guys.”

Scaling it back: All week, Washington players and coaches have been talking about the mental mistakes that killed the Huskies against UCLA. Lappano said that might be sign that he needs to scale back the offense a bit.

“When you’re making too many mental mistakes, you’ve got too much in,” he said. “You can’t get it all practiced. We’ve got to look at that. Without giving it away, we’ve cut some things back.”

Stanford game time announced: Washington’s Nov. 3 game at Stanford will begin at 3:30 p.m. and be televised locally both in the Northwest and the Bay Area by FSN.