SEATTLE —— For a team that has been struggling to stop the run and make tackles, it couldn’t be a worse time for Washington to play Oregon on Saturday.
In addition to mobile quarterback Dennis Dixon, Oregon features one of the Pac-10’s top running backs in Jonathan Stewart, a 5-foot-11, 230-pound combination of speed and power. Over the winter, Stewart power cleaned 402 pounds, five pounds short of the school record set by former lineman Haloti Ngata. He also bench pressed 410 pounds, and ran a 4.34 40-yard dash.
“I’ve never seen anyone like that,” said Dixon. “And thank God he’s on my team, because I wouldn’t want to tackle him at all. Just having that dude in the backfield, it makes your life easy.”
Stewart, a graduate of Lacey’s Timberline High School, upset a number of Husky fans by choosing Oregon, but he insists his first—and only—trip to Husky Stadium will be just another game.
“Every week is an important week for us,” said Stewart, who is second in the Pac-10 with 114.8 rushing yards per game. “My approach is not going to be any different than it has been the last few weeks. It’s a business trip when it all comes down to it. I can’t let any other emotions get involved. The only difference about this game is that my mom doesn’t have to travel three hours to get there. She can go 45 minutes up north.”
Stewart is averaging a ridiculous 7.0 yards per carry, and also leads the Pac-10 with a kick return average of 29.5 yards. Last season, he rushed for 159 yards and two touchdowns against the Huskies. Just as important as his improved numbers has been Stewart’s ability to avoid injuries, which were a problem during his first two seasons.
“Jonathan is becoming a more complete player,” said Oregon coach Mike Bellotti. “He’s always been a physical specimen. He’s 5-11, 230, he can run and jump out of the building and knock down walls, but he’s learning to run with his eyes and be a patient back. He’s being a more intelligent back about setting up blocks and seeing where seams in the defense are. He’s becoming a more accomplished receiver, he’s a better blocker.”
Halftime happenings: Much has been made of Washington’s second-half struggles this week, and on Wednesday, Tyrone Willingham was asked to outline what he and his coaches do during the break.
“In a very general sense, what we try to do with the time we have at halftime, is first, collect the thoughts of the players and the coaches, make sure that everybody is on the same page with what you saw in the first half,” he said. “Then once you have those thoughts, you put together your plan and outline it for what you need to attack and do for the second half. Then from there, usually we break up, have our coaches talk to our players about their individual responsibilities… Then I will gather the whole team together, give them their final marching orders, then we come out of the locker room.”
Injury update: Willingham said that Quintin Daniels’ knee sprain will keep him out two or three weeks, including this week. Safety Jason Wells, who suffered a season-ending knee injury against USC, will likely have surgery this week, possibly today.
Full pads: The Huskies practiced in full pads, as is the norm for Wednesday, but they also wore full pads Tuesday, which is not something they have been doing of late. Willingham said the team went full pads both days to better prepare for Oregon.
“The things we needed to work on against their scheme dictated that we needed to wear pads,” he said.
Defensive tackle Jordan Reffett added that Oregon’s propensity for cut blocking, and Washington’s need to prepare for that, was the reason for Tuesday’s full-pad practice.
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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