Wednesday night’s alright for fighting

Published 7:08 pm Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Wednesday’s UW practice had the first notable scuffle of spring, as QB Quinton Richardson and WR Anthony Boyles got after it a bit on a play, leading to a scrum that involved many players.

After some pushing and shoving died down, Steve Sarkisian lectured his team, then had them run sprints from sideline to sideline for a few minutes.

“Guys get a little ornery on day five,” Sarkisian said. “But we had a good teachable moment there. There are going to be little scuffles in this game, but the moment you join another guy’s scuffle, that’s when the penalties really occur. So we’ve got to be a disciplined football team. So that was a good teachable moment and I thought we learned from it.”

These things happen in football practice (not that we saw it the last few years), it’s only natural in such a physical sport, so it’s nothing to get too worried about. As linebacker Mason Foster put it, “We’re all brothers, but every family fights.”

One of the many witnesses to that scuffle an the rest of practice was former Seahawk coach Mike Holmgren, who spent the afternoon at Husky Stadium watching with his son in law, Matt Peterson, who is the UW’s program coordinator for recruiting.

Chris Polk again sat out practice with a leg bruise that kept him out Monday as well. Sarkisian said he thinks Polk is close to coming back. Fellow tailback Brandon Johnson was sidelined today with a concussion, and tailback Curtis Shaw missed the second half of practice after taking a helmet to the knee.

For the second practice in a row and the third time this spring, the defense won the day (which was dubbed turnover Wednesday, by the way).