SEATTLE — While nothing has been announced about Jake Locker’s availability for Saturday’s game against California, it seems increasingly unlikely — he didn’t suit up for practice again Wednesday, though he was on the field and threw a few passes in warm ups — that he will start at quarterback this weekend.
And if Locker is out, this weekend’s game will have an eerily familiar feel to last October’s meeting between Washington and Cal. When the two teams met last year, the Huskies had just lost their starting quarterback. Isaiah Stanback, an athletic dual threat who was also praised for his leadership, was injured on a running play against Oregon State the previous week.
The injury moved Carl Bonnell into the starting role for the first time all season, while bringing up questions about possibly having to play a freshman quarterback. Last year, even though the Huskies also had Johnny DuRocher, some fans wondered if Locker might be ready to play.
This season, the Huskies have only three scholarship quarterbacks, meaning Bonnell’s backup is now freshman Ronnie Fouch if Locker is unable to play.
“Yeah, I’m on higher alert, but all I’ve got to do is just be ready to go if something happens to Carl,” said Fouch. “But I’m praying that he plays his best and does whatever he can to make this team win, and hopefully I won’t have to go in this year.”
If it comes down to Fouch using a year of eligibility this season, he would be OK with that.
“I’ll do whatever it takes for these seniors,” he said. “If I were to go in, I wouldn’t think about that, I’d just be thinking about what I can do to help this team win, and just leaving it all out there on the field for these seniors.”
Meanwhile, Tyrone Willingham continued to say that no decision has been made about Locker. He said that getting back to practice may not be a requirement for Locker to play.
“He has a lot of experience this year,” Willingham said. “He has taken about every snap we’ve had, so that gives him a base of experience that you might not have at some other positions.”
Injury update, non-Jake Locker division: Anthony Russo said that the injury he suffered on the last play of the game was to his ribs, but that it was nothing significant. He plans play Saturday in his roles as both a receiver and punt returner.
Freshman safety Nate Williams has been practicing this week after missing the Oregon State game with a hamstring injury, and Willingham said he expects to get Williams back against Cal. Linebacker Donald Butler, who has been out for several weeks with a knee injury, has done limited work in practice, but is unlikely to play.
O’Dea connection: Four players — two on each team — from Seattle’s O’Dea High School will be in Husky stadium this week. Washington has defensive back Quinton Richardson and walk-on linebacker Fred Wiggs, while Cal brings defensive back Brandon Johnson and linebacker Anthony Felder.
Wiggs is looking forward to seeing a couple of former teammates.
“It’s like a brotherhood,” Wiggs said of O’Dea. “It’s a real special school and a real special environment, so it will be nice to have those guys back up here playing again.”
More high school teammates: Washington cornerback Byron Davenport is also looking forward to running into an old high school teammate this weekend. He and Cal receiver DeSean Jackson played together at Long Beach Poly High School.
Davenport was one year ahead of Jackson at Poly, but said the two spent two years lining up against one another in practice.
Suspension for replay crew: The Pac-10 announced Wednesday that the replay crew working the Oregon State game will get a one-game suspension after blowing the Yvenson Bernard fourth-quarter “fumble.”
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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