SEATTLE — Countless fans of University of Washington football would give their right arms to be Jake Locker.
The Huskies’ senior quarterback spent the first month of the 2010 season trying to be someone else.
On Monday, two days after an upset win over USC, Locker said that his success in that game had a lot to do with getting back to what he does best. And when you’re Jake Locker, that means using your legs to open things up for your arm.
After rushing for 100 total yards in the first three games of the season, Locker broke out for 110 on 12 carries in Saturday’s 32-31 win over USC. It’s no coincidence that Locker also had his most passing yards of the season in that game — 310.
“After watching the games and looking back at the first three, it was something, personally for me, that I felt was missing,” he said of the quarterback runs that were a big part of his early success at UW. “It was a part of my game that I think creates more of a challenge because you can’t account for it; it’s not designed. And for me, helps me stay in the game.”
When Locker is able to get out and run, he doesn’t just stay in games, he often dominates.
Saturday marked the second time in the senior quarterback’s career that he has passed for at least 300 yards and gone over the 100-yard mark as a runner. It was one of those games in which Locker’s potential and production intersected, leaving head coach Steve Sarkisian to use words like “legendary” in assessing the performance.
“You could feel him competing out there,” Sarkisian said Monday. “When you’re converting a fourth-and-11 on a two-minute drive to go win a ballgame, and then the run on the third down to put us in really good field position for the field goal at the end, those are plays you write books and movies about.”
Locker’s most impressive play might have been the one with the worst ending. Midway through the second quarter, he took off on a 54-yard run down the left sideline while bursting past a USC safety, only to get caught from behind and lose the football when cornerback Shareece Wright poked the ball out of the end zone for a turnover.
Locker was able to joke about the play Monday.
“I guess I’m not fast enough,” Locker said with a smile. “I thought our rushing game was really productive all day, and I felt really good about it and taking advantage of running — not only in the designed plays, but maybe when there wasn’t something downfield or maybe when I was able to find a lane.
“Things and situations (like) that, in the first three weeks, I passed up sometimes while I waited in (the pocket) for routes to develop and at points (wasn’t) using one of my strengths, I believe. I thought I was able to get back to some of that Saturday and felt really good about.”
Running with the ball has been a strength for most of Locker’s career. But as a junior, the new coaching staff led by Sarkisian and offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier spent a good part of the season developing him as more of a pocket passer — both for the good of the Huskies and Locker’s future NFL prospects.
The adjustment undoubtedly will help Locker in the long run, but his return to rolling out and taking runs when they’re available brought back some good memories — for some people, anyway.
Sarkisian said USC coach Lane Kiffin wasn’t so excited to see Locker running wild. Asked what the Trojans coach said about Locker’s performance this week, Sarkisian said of Kiffin: “He wished he would have come out and gone pro last year.”
Sarkisian summarized Locker’s return to form as “playing without fear,” which was a catchphrase the coaching staff pressed on the players for the two weeks that followed a 56-21 loss to Nebraska late last month. Locker, who completed just four of 20 pass attempts in that game, seemed to take the mantra to heart.
“I thought he wasn’t concerned about what might or what could happen,” Sarkisian said Monday. “He played each snap for that snap, and I thought you saw that in not only in his physical performance but his mental make-up leading to the ballgame.
“… What he had to endure from that Saturday of (the loss to) Nebraska, and two weeks following, would be tough on anybody from a psyche standpoint. I thought he responded in beautiful fashion, and played a ballgame that was, in my opinion, a legendary one — at least in these parts.”
Locker admitted that he felt looser in the USC game, which had as much to do with Sarkisian’s mental exercise as it did a game plan that was designed to spread out the Trojans’ defense and allow Locker to attack it with both legs and arm. Locker did less thinking and more reacting, which brought him back to his natural game as a runner.
“I think that’s something Coach Sark and Coach Nuss (offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier) always tell me: ‘Let the game come to you. Don’t try and make something happen, let it happen … and the big plays and the explosive plays will come,’” Locker said Monday.
Sarkisian would not go as far as to say that Locker would be running more from here on out. But it was clear to anyone who watched the Huskies’ Saturday win that the quarterback’s mobility can change the scope of a game.
“Duel-threat quarterbacks are the hot topic these days, and they’re hard to stop — especially a guy as big as Jake,” Huskies linebacker Mason Foster said. “As a linebacker and defensive player, you’ve got a different responsibility, and it makes it harder on the D.”
And easier for the rest of the Huskies’ offense.
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