SEATTLE — Chris Polk has made a habit out of winning the starting tailback job for the University of Washington football team as a freshman.
This time around, he wants the role to last.
Polk earned a medical redshirt after getting hurt in the second game of the 2008 season, so he’ll be a freshman again. And, after battling four other tailbacks, Polk will also be starting in another season opener when the Huskies host LSU on Saturday night.
“It just goes to show you that things don’t always go the way you planned,” he said. “You can have a season-ending injury and have someone else take your spot. So I just want to come out here and give 100 percent effort — every day, all day.”
One thing Polk knows all too well is that these things can be fleeting. Not only is there competition ongoing — sophomores Johri Fogerson and Willie Griffin are nipping at Polk’s heels, while two other tailbacks are also in the mix — but he’s also just an injury away from being back on the sideline.
That’s what happened last season, when Polk dislocated his shoulder in the second game. The injury eventually required season-ending surgery.
The injury also shook Polk’s confidence, so much so that he thought about quitting the game. Polk admits that he still hasn’t completely rebuilt his psyche.
“I had never been hurt before, so I started to think about it like: I’m not as good as I used to be,” said Polk, who is a distant cousin to Huskies receiver Jordan Polk. “There was this little thing in the back of my head, like: Am I going to have a good practice? I just come out here and try to prove myself wrong.”
After graduating a few months early from East Valley High School in Redlands, Calif., in the winter of 2007, Polk had every reason to believe he could compete for a starting spot as a true freshman last fall. He was such a sought-after recruit that Polk had originally decided to attend USC after his junior year, but he backed out on his verbal commitment a few months later.
“I’d much rather be part of a team that’s brought back up than to contribute to a team that’s already there,” Polk said when asked whether he regrets the decision to go to UW. “I want to be a part of a team that’s worked its way from the bottom all the way up.”
Polk earned the starting job as a true freshman at UW, but his shoulder injury made that campaign a short one.
“It’s a restart,” he said of coming into another season as a freshman starter. “I feel like I have something to prove. I kept doubting myself. I kept putting myself down. I was questioning whether I still had anything in me. So this is the year when I have to prove myself.”
He did just that during spring and fall camps, beating out Fogerson, Griffin, Curtis Shaw and Demitrius Bronson for the rights to open against LSU.
“So far, yeah, I’ve proved myself wrong,” he said. “But I haven’t played any games yet. If I can make it through the season, that’s when I’ll prove it.”
Head coach Steve Sarkisian said that Polk won the job because he’s the most “complete player” among the candidates.
Running backs coach Joel Thomas added that Polk impressed the coaching staff with his running style.
“He’s put on some pounds this summer, and he runs heavy,” Thomas said. “That doesn’t mean that he runs slow; he’s kind of a load when he gets behind his pads and runs.
“He’s a guy who can get a couple of yards on his own. That’s obviously something you like as a running back coach.”
Thomas admitted that, until he arrived at UW, he didn’t know anything about Polk. But the coaching staff watched tape from last season, and from Polk’s days at East Valley High.
“He reminded me of a guy I coached last year named Kory Sheets,” Thomas said, referring to a former Purdue running back who had a 1,000-yard season in 2008. “They’re very similar. I think Chris is a bigger (5-foot-11, 210 pounds) version.”
Despite his role, Polk is not going to get 20 to 25 carries per game. The coaching staff plans to rotate as many as five backs at the position, which is something Sarkisian did while serving as offensive coordinator at USC.
But Polk will be at the front of the pecking order, and it’s a familiar spot.
“I feel like I have to prove myself all over again,” he said. “Coach Sark was the one who recruited me when I committed to SC, and he had high expectations. So I don’t want to let him down.”
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