‘Plenty of options’

SEATTLE — After two seasons at the University of Washington that saw his role gradually decrease toward gameday inactivity, wide receiver James Johnson returned to school for his junior year to find that playing time might be at an all-time premium.

If Johnson thought it was hard getting on the field last season, when he caught just one pass as a sophomore, then the 2011 season might be his biggest challenge yet.

“We’re deep,” said Johnson, who has fluctuated between the first-, second-, and third-teams at UW practices this camp. “I believe we have one of the best receiving corps in the country. It’s going to be really fun to see what we do.”

It just might not be fun for those UW receivers who get lost in the shuffle.

With two returning starters — seniors Jermaine Kearse and Devin Aguilar — to go along with experienced wideout Cody Bruns, 2010 late bloomer Kevin Smith, Parade All-America freshman Kasen Williams and recent camp star DiAndre Campbell, who redshirted last season, the Huskies go at least six deep at the wide receiver position. While head coach Steve Sarkisian says all of them will play, it’s pretty clear that not every UW wideout will get the attention he expects in 2011.

“I’m not going to say there’s pressure, but in the back of everyone’s mind you know that if you don’t make plays, they’re going to play the best people,” Johnson said. “We love that, though. It allows everyone to really tap in and give their all every single play. It makes everybody better.”

It’s safe to say that Kearse, Aguilar, Smith, Williams and Johnson are still battling hard for three starting spots, and no one feels safe.

“I don’t think of it as me being set” as a starter, said Kearse, who has started 17 of the past 18 games while leading the Huskies in receiving two years in a row. “I’m trying to get better every day.”

The wealth of able hands amplifies every mistake — as evidenced by Aguilar’s three dropped passes at a weekend intrasquad scrimmage and several others by teammates during a rainy Monday practice. If one player runs a bad route, there are two others waiting to show the coaches how it’s done.

“We’ve got great receivers all throughout our receiving corps,” Kearse said. “We’ve got big guys, and we’ve got guys who can run. We’ve got a lot of playmakers.”

Even Kearse admits that the stable of eager receivers could be problematic for a coach, but Sarkisian doesn’t seem too concerned about managing egos. He said there will be plenty of balls to go around, and he’s not afraid to cut back the workload on some of his veteran stars like Kearse and Aguilar.

“What I did notice from Saturday, in the scrimmage, and I think I noticed last year, is we have a tendency at times to get a little big fatigued at receiver,” Sarkisian said Monday evening. “And I think that might be lending to some of the reasons of why we might not be catching the ball great at times.

“So hopefully, we can use a pretty good rotation here where we’re fresh and playing fast football and cohesive as a group to where they’re all making their plays — not just in the first quarter but all the way through the game in the fourth quarter.”

The rotation seems to get more unsettled with each passing day. While Kearse has continued to run with the first team, his position has changed from split end to flanker to slot receiver, depending on the day. Aguilar has been in and out of the first-team rotation, while the same could be said for Johnson and Williams.

For what it’s worth, the Huskies opened the team portion of Monday afternoon’s practice with Kearse on one side, Aguilar on the other, and Johnson in the slot.

But just as quickly, Smith was running with the No. 1 offense. Then Williams was there. Campbell worked into the mix as well.

As Sarkisian said after the session: “We’ve got plenty of options.”

Quarterback Keith Price said he’s glad he doesn’t have to figure out how to divvy up the playing time, but he’ll be satisfied with whatever combination the coaches give him. He said UW’s wealth of receivers can only help him as Price enters his first full season as starter.

“It’s a lot easier knowing that you could just throw a simple one-yard route, and it could possibly be a house call,” he said, meaning UW has plenty of receivers who are capable of scoring at any time.

Under former quarterback Jake Locker, the Huskies had somewhat of a similar situation last season in that Kearse, Aguilar and then-senior D’Andre Goodwin played prominent roles in the passing offense while Smith came on strong near the end of his freshman season. That left Johnson, who caught 39 passes as a true freshman in 2009, without a role and mostly watching from the sideline.

This year, the Huskies have even more talent at the receiver position. So if Johnson is going to find his way back onto the field, he’s certainly going to have to earn his way.

“In the offense that we have, everybody gets opportunites,” the junior receiver said. “So whoever makes the best of them, we know they’re the people who will play.”

Notes

Sarkisian said Monday that the punting competition between seniors Will Mahan and Kiel Rasp is still such a dead heat that he might consider using both of them this season. “I think in some situational things, they’re both going to have some opportunities to punt the ball,” he said. … The defensive shuffle continued Monday, with cornerback Greg Ducre and linebacker Princeton Fuimaono moving back to the first team. Ducre and junior Anthony Gobern are battling for the right to fill in for injured starter Quinton Richardson, while Fuimaono is trying to hold off fellow sophomore Garret Gilliland as the starter at weakside linebacker. … Wide receiver Cody Bruns, who missed time last week to attend to a personal issue, was back at practice Monday. But William Chandler continues to handle his duties as placeholder on field goals and extra points.