SEATTLE – Dan Howell said the hardest part now is calling home. Any time he would phone is parents in Newhall, Calif., his dad Keith would be the one to answer. But now reality is setting in. Howell called his family house Tuesday knowing what to expect, but hoping for something else.
“I knew I was going to hear my mom’s voice,” Howell said. “But part of me expected my dad’s.”
Howell, a starting junior linebacker for the Washington football team, returned this week after spending last week in California following the death of his father on Sept. 10, the day after the Huskies lost at Oklahoma. Keith Howell, 57, died five days after having heart surgery to correct what Dan Howell said was a long-time problem with his heart. Howell said the surgery had been deemed a success, but complications – Howell thought it was a blood clot – arose.
“I guess it was just his time to go,” Howell said. “It caught up to him I guess. All our days are numbered, but his days were good days.”
The death came as a shock to the Howells, as all indications were that Keith Howell was recovering well. Dan’s mother Dinah called him twice to assure him that Keith would be fine, including on the morning he died. But Dan emerged from Sunday’s position meetings to several phone calls telling him his father hadn’t made it.
“It kind of shocked me because that morning, my mom was like, ‘He’s going to be good, he’s going to be OK,’ ” Dan Howell said. “It just kind of hits you.”
Howell flew down to California the following Tuesday (“I would have walked home that night if I was able to,” he said) and missed last week’s victory over Fresno State. The funeral was just before the game kicked off, and Howell received running play-by-play at the memorial service from his roommate.
Howell said the reality of the situation didn’t really set in until he returned to Seattle to re-join the team earlier this week. He compared it to when you first leave home to go to college.
“You don’t realize how much you miss home until you first leave for college,” he said. “And even though I was at home, I had so much family around me, it was like a celebration for us. When you leave home and you don’t have that constant family interaction, it sets in on you.”
Howell credited his teammates and coaches for being supportive through the ordeal, saying that Tyrone Willingham is so similar to his father, they could be brothers. But he said he doesn’t intend to put his father to the back of his mind this weekend, and doesn’t think he needs to.
“I don’t allow myself to split up the time my father’s going to be on my mind, and I want to keep it that way,” he said. “Because to me, that’s how important he was. He deserves my attention all the time. I’m going to stay focused (on the game), I’ll be able to put my assignments in front. That’s not a problem for me.”
“Anybody that’s lost a father, you’ll be struggling with that for some time,” Willingham said. “That’s not something that goes away in one day or one week. You know there’s going to be ups and downs for the young man.”
Howell said having his father on his mind will keep him calm and relaxed, because that’s the way Keith Howell was. He said while there’s pain of his father not being here anymore, he prefers to think about the time he did have with him.
“Twenty years was (what) I needed with my father,” he said. “Twenty years was all I needed to learn. Twenty years is what I’ll use to keep myself going forward and staying focused.”
Injury update: Willingham said there is “a good, strong chance” that tight end Michael Gottlieb would play on Saturday. Gottlieb has missed the past two games with a broken hand after catching one pass for 24 yards in the season opener. Willingham said that when Gottlieb and Robert Lewis (foot) return, Walt Winter would still remain at tight end rather than move back to defensive end.
Receiver Cody Ellis also returned to practice after missing the entire season with a broken clavicle, but he is limited and is wearing a red jersey.
Cornerback Dashon Goldson was “very limited” in practice Tuesday according to Willingham and it was not clear if he would play against UCLA.
Nickel package adjustment: Neither Willingham nor defensive coordinator Kent Baer would say what the team plans on doing with their nickel package with linebacker E.J. Savannah out with a broken thumb. Against Fresno State, former Edmonds-Woodway star Kyle Trew manned Savannah’s position but the coaches said they weren’t sure yet who would be there this week.
A View From Above: Washington defensive coordinator Kent Baer said he suggested that he move up to the press box for games and secondary coach J.D. Williams move down to the field prior to the Fresno State game and he believes things worked out well.
It was the first time in Baer’s career as a coordinator that he has worked from the press box. His first impression of watching the game from above in Husky Stadium? “It’s high,” he laughed.
Baer said he intends to continue watching the game from that vantage point along with linebackers coach Chris Tormey. He said the biggest issue was if adjustments with the linebackers would be made easily with both he and Tormey not on the sideline. But he said it allowed him to get a better read on what was going on.
“I feel very comfortable doing it that way and I think we’ll do it again,” he said.
DBs getting better: Baer said he believes the secondary is getting better and that it just needs to cut down on allowing big plays.
“The first two games, there’s been some times they played really, really well,” Baer said. “There were about four things against San Jose and three or four things against Oklahoma where we really broke down. Those ended up being big. Three plays over 30 yards in each game I believe. You start adding those up, that’s a lot of yards.”
Howell on Howell: While he was home with his family, Dan Howell had a chance to watch his younger brother Delano play for Hart High School, and came away impressed.
“Delano Howell is Super Howell,” Dan Howell said. “I’ve said it before, I dare compare him to Reggie Bush. Reggie Bush was a great back, he could make plays. My brother is the same thing.”
It isn’t just brotherly hyperbole. Delano Howell, a junior running back/defensive back, is considered one of the better tailbacks in what is a very competitive area.
“He’s a talented cat,” Dan Howell said. “And not only that, he gets it done in the classroom. On Thursday of last week, we were all in the kitchen playing cards and he’s got his friends together studying for AP Physics and AP History tests. He knows what he wants, he takes care of business. … And then we had to beat him in cards, but it’s all good.”
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