SEATTLE — Jake Locker hasn’t completely recovered from the hamstring injury that caused him to miss more than a week of practice.
He hasn’t sprinted yet, and he’s still limited in practice. But asked if he would be 100 percent when Washington kicks off its season against Oregon on Aug. 30, Locker’s answer was definitive.
“Oh yeah,” the Huskies quarterback answered. “I don’t expect to be anything less.”
That answer, along with Locker’s return to practice Monday, serves as good news for the Huskies as they move closer to their season-opening showdown with the Ducks.
Both Locker and Washington coach Tyrone Willingham admitted that Locker is still easing back into things, however.
“He’s still limited,” Willingham said. “We’ll be day-to-day with him, but very cautions with what we do. We know hamstrings can take some time, but we’ve said all along, it’ll be day-to-day, steady progress with him. And I thought for what he did [Monday], he did pretty good.”
Locker was back on the field again Tuesday, happy to be participating instead of watching. He added that his time watching from the sideline wasn’t all bad, however.
“It’s tough to watch, but I think you’re able to take a lot in from there, being able to stand back and look at it,” he said. “As hard as it was, I was able to take a lot from it. And Ronnie [Fouch] did a really good job in that time filling in and working with those guys. I felt like he did really well.”
Locker said that he has been pain-free in his recovery, and that there have been no setbacks so far.
“I’m not really allowed to open up and sprint yet,” he said, adding that he felt like he could sprint if he needed to.
As for when he’ll get to that point, Locker is in no hurry, so long as he’s ready to run when he gets to Eugene.
“I don’t want to do anything that’s going to possibly re-injure it or push me back any, so when I feel comfortable with it, I will [go full speed],” he said. “If that’s Saturday the 30th, then that’s when it’ll be.”
The biggest concern with having a quarterback out, offensive coordinator Tim Lappano said last week, is a potential loss of timing with receivers. That is an issue even more for this team because of the inexperience and youth at receiver.
But Locker said that wasn’t too much of an issue when he returned to practice Monday, noting that he was able to do some throwing last week, and that he is able to do all of the seven-on-seven passing drills now that he’s back in a limited capacity.
“It’s not a thing where having a week off is going to kill us with that,” he said. “We did it all summer and all spring, so it’s just going to kind of be refreshing that and making sure we’re on the same page going into next week.”
Elisara out again: Defensive tackle Cameron Elisara missed his second straight practice while tending to academic issues, Willingham said. Willingham indicated that Elisara shouldn’t be out long.
Injury updates: TE Michael Gottlieb (hamstring), CB Byron Davenport (ankle), RB Brandon Johnson (calf) and RB Brandon Yakaboski (hip flexor) weren’t at the portion of practice open to the media, presumably rehabbing their injuries.
In some better news for the Huskies on the injury front, center Matt Sedillo was at practice, and did not appear to have any limitations placed on him Tuesday. Sedillo suffered a concussion last week, and had been out of practice before Monday, when he returned wearing a red (no contact) jersey.
Contact Herald Writer John Boyle at jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more on University of Washington sports, check out the Huskies blog at heraldnet.com /huskiesblog
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