PULLMAN – In his young life, James Sims has played safety and fullback for the Washington Huskies.
On Saturday, in Washington’s 28-25 loss to Washington State in the Apple Cup, Sims made his debut at tailback.
It wasn’t a complete shock. Because the Huskies are thin at the position, plus the fact that backup Shelton Sampson has suffered from breakout of fumbles, Sims took some repetitions at tailback last week in practice.
So when starter Kenny James went down in the first quarter with a rib injury, Sims was ready, sort of.
“I hadn’t done that in a long time,” said Sims, a junior. “When Kenny went down, (the coaching staff) had a little confidence in me. I just tried to do my best.”
Sims finished with 85 yards on 23 carries, with a long run of 11 yards. He also caught three passes for 23 yards.
Not bad for someone who hadn’t played tailback since high school.
As a senior at Valley High School in Las Vegas, Sims ran for 1,756 yards on 207 carries and scored 17 touchdowns. Recruited as a running back, Sims was moved to safety in 2003, then moved to fullback before last spring drills when the Huskies recruited Dashon Goldson.
At the time, UW coach Keith Gilbertson said he always had the feeling Sims was more suited to offense than defense. He was one of the more pleasant surprises in the spring and he began the season as Zach Tuiasosopo’s backup.
When Tuiasosopo broke his ankle against Notre Dame, Sims took a more prominent role in carrying the ball. That came to a roadblock, though, in the Huskies’ 29-14 loss to Oregon State, when he fumbled twice deep in OSU territory.
An inconsolable Sims blamed himself for the loss.
“This one is on me,” he said, red-eyed.
Lately, the Huskies have had trouble running the ball. And when James went down, Sims took advantage.
“James has done a nice job of hanging onto the ball,” Gilbertson said. “We’ve had such problems fumbling the darn thing in the last three games. We felt we wanted to give James a chance. I thought, for the most part, he did a nice job. He made some good runs and got the ball up the field.”
Missing Huskies: UW linebacker Scott White, the sixth-leading tackler in the Pac-10 was left in Seattle Friday after having missed a team meeting. True freshman Dan Howell played in White’s absence. The Huskies lost linebacker, co-captain and leading tackler Joe Lobendahn to a fractured wrist against Cal a week before, so the Huskies went into Saturday’s game without their two best defensive players.
“I really wasn’t in the mood to listen to an excuse,” Gilbertson said. “Everybody has their itinerary on Thursday. We go over the itinerary in a meeting. There are no excuses. Sixty-eight or 69 of our guys made it.”
Fullback Dan Foafoa, who plays on special teams, also missed the Friday meeting and was left home.
Short bursts: UW wideout Charles Frederick didn’t play in the Apple Cup, missing most of the last nine weeks with a hamstring pull … Washington lost its 10th game of the season for the first time in school history. The Huskies lost nine in 1969 … Washington punter Sean Douglas kicked a 78-yard punt, the second-longest punt in school history … WSU wideout Jason Hill broke the school record for touchdown receptions in a season with 12 late in the third quarter … WSU tailback Jerome Harrison topped the 100-yard mark (150 yards on 29 carries) for the third consecutive week … WSU quarterback Alex Brink recorded his first rushing touchdown of his career in the first quarter Saturday.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
