SEATTLE Tyrone Willingham stood on the field Tuesday afternoon and watched the player many are dubbing “the savior of Husky football” zip a pass to Quintin Daniels for the first completion of his Washington career.
Willingham smiled and said simply, “Not bad.”
The play may been just another small part of the first day of fall camp, but because it was done by Jake Locker, it was elevated beyond just a completion. And it will likely be that way for the next four or five years for the guy being looked at as the key to turning around the Washington football program.
But Locker, the Huskies’ prized quarterback recruit from Ferndale, says this season is all about learning for him.
“It’s a lot different from high school,” the 6-foot-3, 210-pounder said. “Especially the guys in the secondary. They get to their spots a lot faster. The window of opportunity to throw the ball is a lot smaller. You’ve got to anticipate a little more and know where your guys are going to be. …There’s a lot of things I have to think about before and after the snap that I never had to think about.”
To expect Locker to come in and take over the Washington offense right away is probably a bit unrealistic, regardless of how talented he is. Locker ran Ferndale’s Wing-T offense flawlessly, guiding the Golden Eagles to a 14-0 record and the Class 3A state title. But the Wing-T is vastly different from the offense Washington runs, and Locker realizes it could take the entire year just to learn the UW play book.
“It was overwhelming when I got my play book,” Locker said. “It’s not just the plays, it’s protections, blitzes, things you’ll see. There’s a lot of other things you have to consider. I knew I needed to expect more than high school but I had no idea it would be this much more.”
But if the mental part of playing in the Pacific-10 will take awhile, physically, Locker shouldn’t have too tough of a time adjusting. He is similar to UW starter Isaiah Stanback in that he has an extremely strong arm and runs just as well as he throws the ball. Last season, Locker passed for 1,603 yards and 27 touchdowns and ran for 1,338 yards and 24 touchdowns in being named a Parade Magazine first-team All-American.
When Locker committed to Washington, he was one of the most highly regarded recruits that the Huskies have secured recently. PrepStar ranked him as the No. 1 quarterback in the West, he was the No. 85-ranked player in the nation by Scout.com and No. 68 by Rivals.com. In his three years as Ferndale’s starter, he passed for 3,630 yards and 53 touchdowns and ran for 2,803 yards and 42 touchdowns. He was also a standout safety and kick returner, leading to some speculation that he might be moved this season to take advantage of his ability.
Locker, though, said he’d rather just spend the year learning to play quarterback, and coach Tyrone Willingham said that’s what would likely happen.
“Playing time is definitely the goal but I’m not going to be upset if I don’t get a chance to play,” Locker said. “If the coaches decide it’s better for me to sit out a year and be able to understand all those plays and everything they put in front of me now, I’ll understand that. Then I’ll get another year and I’ll feel comfortable going into next year.”
Though he is still learning everything and is only a few days into his college career, Locker is already showing the leadership abilities that Willingham lauded when he announced that Locker had signed with the team. Locker has organized workouts for the freshmen and said that while he’s not a vocal leader, he hopes that his work ethic will lead to others following his example.
“He’s definitely showing that he’s going to be a good leader,” Stanback said. “He’s come in and shown that he’s ready to learn and work hard and other guys see that and want to do the same thing.”
For now, Locker is simply trying to figure out everything that is being thrown at him. While he may carry the mantle of “Future of the Program,” for now he’s just a freshman trying to catch up. He said he hopes by the end of the year, if nothing else, that massive play book at least makes some sense.
“Right now so much stuff is running through my head,” Locker said. “Hopefully when I start to understand it better, things will start to slow down and I’ll be more comfortable. …Just have it be second nature to me so that I don’t have to think as much when I get to the line of scrimmage, I’ll just know what I’m doing.”
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