SEATTLE — Throughout the first two weeks of training camp, University of Washington football coach Steve Sarkisian has preached that this is the deepest team he’s had at UW, and that depth was on display during Saturday’s intrasquad scrimmage.
Not that it was necessarily a good thing for the 2011 Huskies.
UW’s most complete scrimmage of the fall training camp saw the second teams on both units outplay the first units for most of Saturday afternoon. It left Sarkisian sporting an I-told-you-so grin but also admitting a touch of concern.
“I know we’re better than that,” said Sarkisian, who barked at several players on the field during the ragged session but was strictly positive afterward.
Quarterback Keith Price, who completed 8-of-15 passes for 76 yards and had several of his throws dropped, said the Huskies aren’t quite ready for the Sept. 3 opener that’s only 13 days away.
“We’ve still got a long way to go,” said Price, who led three drives against the second-team defense and had just one score to show for it.
Dropped passes were only part of the Huskies’ problem Saturday. The running game missed star running back Chris Polk, who is sitting out the opener following arthroscopic surgery to his left knee, and the UW defense gave up two long drives engineered by backup quarterback Nick Montana.
If there was a breakout performer at the scrimmage, it may well have been Montana. He completed 13-of-24 passes for 135 yards and had the day’s only touchdown pass. In the two drives against the No. 1 defense, he helped lead UW’s second-team offense to eight first downs, a touchdown and a 27-yard field goal while completing 11-of-19 passes for 117 yards.
“I’m still out there competing,” said Montana, who entered the spring battling Price for the starting job but has since been designated as the backup. “It can only get you better, it can only get Keith better, and it can only make the team better.”
Price wasn’t nearly as effective, although his starting job does not seem to be in jeopardy. Sarkisian actually gave him a vote of confidence after the session, saying Price had good tempo Saturday and bounced back well from all the dropped passes.
“I like where Keith’s at,” Sarkisian said. “… All in all, I was impressed with him.”
Price closed out his day with a 2-yard touchdown scramble on fourth-and-1. Wearing a no-contact yellow jersey, he dove into the end zone just to make certain he scored.
“I’m just a competitor,” Price said. “I’m not supposed to do that, but I just needed to get into the end zone. I just needed the offense to see that I’m serious about it.
“… We needed to score, just to end on the right note. I don’t think we played really well, so I think we needed that.”
The only other touchdown of the day came when tight end Evan Hudson bobbled and eventually corralled a Montana pass in the end zone for a 3-yard score against UW’s starting defense.
Among the other observations from Saturday’s session:
The Huskies miss Polk
Without its leading rusher, UW got very little out of the run game. Johri Fogerson, with 37 yards on six carries, was the Huskies’ leading rusher Saturday. Jesse Callier, who could start in place of Polk in the Sept. 3 opener, had a quiet 25 yards on seven carries.
Where’s the tight end?
The position that disappeared last season was pretty quiet again Saturday. Star freshman Austin Seferian-Jenkins had a 21-yard touchdown reception called back due to a holding penalty, and he finished with just one catch. Hudson was the only other tight end to catch a pass in the scrimmage.
Shotgun formation
The offense uses less shotgun formations than it had under former quarterback Jake Locker, although Price still seems more comfortable a few steps behind the center. Look for UW’s quarterback to get about a 50-50 split in snaps out of shotgun and under center this season.
Mason Foster will be missed
UW’s defensive leader last season was always making noise, and on Saturday the Husky linebackers were pretty quiet. Garret Gilliland stepped in to run in place of Princeton Fuimaono with the No. 1 defense, while fellow starters Cort Dennison and Johnny Timu didn’t make much noise either.
Devin Aguilar has work to do
The senior receiver was already losing ground to youngsters Kevin Smith and Kasen Williams, and his three dropped passes Saturday didn’t help his cause. Aguilar had a team-high six receptions, but the drops seemed more noticeable on this afternoon.
Sarkisian optimistic
Through it all, Sarkisian continued to exude optimism when the scrimmage was over. His biggest concern, he said, is a team that had to scrimmage without Polk, starting defensive tackle Alameda Ta’amu (broken hand, but expected to be available for the opener) and starting cornerback Quinton Richardson (high ankle sprain, questionable for the opener).
“That’s potentially three all-Pac-10 players,” he said. “No, we’re not where we wish we were, but I am pleased with where we are. I think we’ve accomplished a lot in two weeks time.”
Fortunately for the Huskies, they’ve still got nearly two weeks to figure it all out.
“Two weeks is a lot of time, especially with the coaches we have,” Price said. “We’ll get a lot of things cleaned up.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
