Locker: Skills need to catch up with talent

Published 10:01 pm Thursday, September 11, 2008

SEATTLE — And now, something about Jake Locker that doesn’t have to do with unsportsmanlike penalty calls and footballs being tossed “high into the air.”

Instead of focusing on the 15-yard penalty heard around the college football world, let’s look at the drive that led to Locker’s now infamous end zone celebration.

Before a flag became a national story last Saturday afternoon, Locker’s final drive was quite a story in itself. The sophomore quarterback, the guy carrying the hopes of Husky fans, was engineering the first game-tying (we thought) drive of his college career.

And in that drive, over the span of 76 yards, Locker needed just three minutes and change to remind everyone both how brilliant and maddening he can be. He opened the drive by overthrowing a deep ball to a wide-open D’Andre Goodwin, who had nothing between him and the end zone but a sea of empty FieldTurf. A few plays later, he overthrew Jordan Polk on second down, then missed an open Jermaine Kearse while rolling left on third down.

But just when Husky fans were worrying that the game was slipping away, Locker busted off a 13-yard run on fourth and 10. Later in the drive, he would scramble to avoid pressure, and throw strikes to Polk and Goodwin. He rumbled 15 yards on a quarterback draw to the 3-yard line, then with time running out and one, maybe two plays left, he scrambled left and dove into the end zone for a touchdown.

“He missed some throws down the stretch there that he had wide open, but he kept competing and he found a couple of ways to make a couple of throws, and we called his run a couple of times,” said offensive coordinator Tim Lappano. “He showed a lot of grit and determination to get his team down to the end zone and he scored, and that’s what he’s supposed to do in that situation.”

The drive was vintage Locker, warts and all (Ok, so maybe nothing can be called vintage Locker 15 games into his college career, but you get the point).

Which brings us to this week.

Facing third-ranked Oklahoma, there will be little margin for error for all of the Huskies, especially Locker. To keep this game close, the Locker that finished that game-ending drive will have to show up more than the one that missed an open touchdown pass to start the possession.

Locker said at the start of fall camp that he hoped to complete 65 of his passes this season, but so far he’s at 48.3 percent, just above where he was last year. It’s time for that 65-percent passer, or at least something close to that, to show up.

Is putting all of this pressure on a 20-year-old just starting his second season a bit unfair? Absolutely. But is it the Huskies best chance to pull off a major upset? You bet.

Turning talented but erratic Jake into polished quarterback Jake doesn’t just fall on Locker. It falls on offensive coordinator Tim Lappano to call the right plays. It falls on the offensive line to protect Locker better than it has in Washington’s first two games (seven sacks on Locker would be a lot more against a quarterback that didn’t feature his ability to escape), and it certainly falls on Washington’s young receivers to get open and catch the ball.

As was the case for much of last season, Locker isn’t getting enough help from his offense. A new group of receivers are dropping the ball just like a veteran group did early last season. The running game, non-Jake Locker division, is struggling to find room to run and gain yardage.

And while too much of the offense going through Locker isn’t ideal, Washington coach Tyrone Willingham doesn’t think it’s bothering his quarterback.

“Yes, we want to move beyond that, but I think most great athletes want that,” he said. “They want that responsibility, they want to be the guy that makes the difference in their system. But there’s a balance there that we’re seeking.”

And as I write about Locker being too much of his team’s offense, I can’t help but feel a sense of deja vu… Well no wonder, I’ve written this before.

Just under a year ago, I wrote “The Huskies are way too dependent on him… Way too much of the offense has been Locker.”

So here the Huskies are again, struggling to find more answers on offense while Locker shoulders the load. And even though it’s not fair to ask of him, Locker is going to need to be better this week when the Sooners come to town.

He needs to be more accurate. He’s missed open receivers in the past, but there simply won’t be room for that this week.

Someday, Locker’s quarterbacking skills will catch up with all of his raw talent.

For the Huskies sake, someday had better come soon. Saturday would be nice.

Contact Herald Writer John Boyle at jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more on University of Washington sports, check out the Huskies blog at heraldnet.com /huskiesblog