SEATTLE — Players and coaches spoke with excitement and optimism in their voices as Washington prepared for its first football practice of the 2008 season.
The good feelings about the season to come, however, were overshadowed Monday by negative news that didn’t help the Huskies start fall camp on a positive note.
Linebacker E.J. Savannah, Washington’s leading tackler last season, was left off the roster because he is currently academically ineligible. Four other players, DL Senio Kelemete, S Vince Taylor, RB Demetrius Bronson and DL Craig Noble, all freshmen, are also not on the roster because they are not yet academically eligible.
Later Monday afternoon, after the press conference, it was revealed that redshirt freshman Chris Izbicki, who is expected to compete for playing time at tight end, is facing a pair of misdemeanor charges stemming from an incident at a concert last month.
“This is really the fun time to be back,” Willingham said to start Monday’s press conference.
The questions immediately following Willingham’s opening statement, however, were about Savannah and his future with the Huskies. This is hardly the first trouble Savannah has faced. The Bellevue High School graduate was also suspended at the start of spring football for unspecified disciplinary reasons, and was also taken out of the starting lineup at times last season while being disciplined. Savannah is also recovering from non-football related broken arm suffered over the summer.
Willingham said that academics aren’t the only thing keeping Savannah off the field.
“His situation is that right now he is academically ineligible,” Willingham said. “If that is cured, then we will at that time talk about his status with the team.
Willingham wouldn’t go into details as to what those academic or other issues are, and described the linebacker’s absence as “indefinite.”
Asked to guess at how long Savannah would be away from the team, Willingham answered:
“I wouldn’t right now,” he said. “Sometimes those things can change over night, sometimes it may be forever.”
Without Savannah, Willingham said the starting linebackers would be Donald Butler, Josh Gage and Mason Foster.
“E.J. was our most productive linebacker last year, but then again I think E.J. has an obligation to this team that he has to take care of,” said Butler. “We have to move on. I hope E.J. is here, that’s my man, that’s my other linebacker out there with me, and he get’s after it. He plays emotional and I like the way he plays, but he hasn’t been doing the things he needs to do, obviously, and that’s why he’s not here. We’ll see.”
Washington has 101 players on their roster, but can have up to 105, meaning at least one of those four freshmen or Savannah, won’t likely be joining the team this fall unless someone else leaves the team.
Savannah attended Monday’s practice, but did not participate. Izbicki, one of the Huskies’ top recruits in 2006, did participate. Off the field, however, he is facing two misdemeanor charges in King County Court, one for second degree criminal trespass, and one for minor in possession of alcohol.
Izbicki was arrested July 20 at the White River Amphitheatre attending the KUBE Summer Jam concert. According to a police report, he was twice removed from a VIP area without being arrested before he was placed into custody when he returned to the venue after being told to leave. Izbicki then recorded a .241 reading upon taking a voluntary breath test. He will be arraigned on both charges Aug. 14.
If there was a silver lining on an otherwise dark opener for the Huskies, it was the sight of center Juan Garcia on the practice field participating in a few drills. Garcia, who suffered a Lisfranc sprain during spring football, putting his final season in jeopardy, is progressing ahead of schedule, and he and his coaches remain cautiously optimistic that he will be back for a good portion of the season.
“Obviously I think there’s a great concern as to how well he’s progressing,” Willingham said. “We think it is excellent to this day, but now we begin practices, and that is a different issue. We will be very guarded with him with what we do and how we structure him in to try to ensure the best-case scenario for him.”
Garcia was running at close to full speed, and participated in some of the early drills, one of which included pushing against fellow offensive linemen. For most of the practice, however, he was running and working on other drills by himself.
Other injury updates: Safety Jason Wells, a starter last season before tearing his ACL against USC, said he is close to 100 percent, but he is being eased back into things since these are his first football practices since the injury. He worked with the third-team defense Monday.
Ryan Tolar, who missed spring football after having offseason shoulder surgery, is also back and was working with the first team at left guard. He also took snaps at center with the second-team defense, a move the team made because of Garcia’s unknown status.
Butler, who was slowed by a knee injury last season, said he is back to full speed.
“I definitely can say that I’m 100 percent, finally,” he said. “It’s exciting to be back.”
Aiming high: Quarterback Jake Locker knows he needs to improve upon his 47.3 percent completion percentage from last year, and apparently the redshirt sophomore is setting his goals high.
“Sixty-five percent, that’s a good goal,” he said. “That’s a good number to shoot for.”
Young returns: Chancellor Young, a graduate of Seattle’s O’Dea High School, is back on the roster for the fall. Young, a receiver, played sparingly at Duke in 2004 before transferring to Washington. After redshirting in 2005, he was expected to contribute in 2006 but failed to qualify academically.
“He kept battling and doing the things to put himself back to being a member of the team, because it’s something that he very desperately wanted to do,” Willingham said. “And we held the door open for him to try to do that and tried to work with him so it could happen. We are excited to have him back.”
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