SEATTLE – Stanley Daniels had visions of being a dominant defensive tackle at the University of Washington.
At 6-foot-4, 295 pounds, he dropped 25 pounds in his redshirt year last season and was learning the way the position was to be played at this level. Coaches raved about his instincts and his athletic ability. They were sure he would be at least an able replacement for Terry Johnson when Johnson, as is widely thought, leaves for the NFL after this season.
All that changed seven weeks ago. The Huskies badly needed an offensive guard because of a long list of injuries and defections.
When UW coach Keith Gilbertson asked him to switch, it came as a shock.
“My first day of practice, I was pretty upset,” Daniels said. “I know the move was for the team, but I was pretty, pretty upset. I was pretty angry. I walked out of practice kind of mad. (Gilbertson) told me that if I didn’t want to play guard, that I could move back to D-tackle. He said he didn’t want me to come out here and play if I didn’t want to play.
“I told him I decided to do it, so I’d go through with it. But initially, I was upset because it didn’t say much about me as a D-tackle.”
Why him, he wondered. He believed he was showing himself as a top prospect on the defensive line. He’d learned much from Johnson and Jerome Stevens. He couldn’t wait for next spring, when he was in line for a starting spot.
“I wanted to be a great D-tackle in the next couple of years,” Daniels said. “That was my goal. Then I had to suddenly start over.”
The transition has been understandably slow. Daniels has had to learn the plays. Then he had to learn the plays in relation to the way the defensive line lines up. Then he has had to internalize them to the extent that he doesn’t have to think about it.
Now, he’s at the thinking stage, too slow to play. Although Daniels has made two road trips as insurance in case someone else got hurt, he has not played a down.
Still, Daniels said, his progress is such that he has bought into it. He says he feels more natural at offensive guard.
“I’ve had a renewed confidence playing O-guard that I hadn’t had at D-tackle,” Daniels said. ” (Offensive line coach Dan Cozetto) came down and told me what he thought of me, what he thought I could be. He’s put a lot of O-linemen into the NFL. I think I can become a great offensive guard.”
But first, he has to actually appear in a game. The Huskies have two games left this season, and Gilbertson says he could contribute on the field in either one.
“He’s doing fine,” Gilbertson said. “We really need him.”
Erickson booming ‘em: Garth Erickson has been toiling as a walk-on punter at Washington for nearly four years. Only this season has he gotten a chance. He’s taken advantage of it.
Erickson averages an even 42 yards a punt. If the season ended today, that would be the fourth-highest average in school history.
Erickson boomed a 61-yarder against Indiana. Against Arizona, he booted a pair of 59-yarders and dropped two inside the Wildcats’ 20-yard line. In all, he’s had eight punts for better than 50 yards and had dropped 18 inside the opponents’ 20.
“He’s been really darn good,” Gilbertson said. “He’s been a real plus for us. He’s done everything we’ve asked him to do. He’s done a marvelous job for us.”
So marvelous that he’s kept the Huskies’ hired gun, scholarship freshman Sean Douglas, as the kickoff specialist. The difference has been consistency.
“At times, I thought it wasn’t meant to be,” Erickson said. “But I kept with it and kept with it. The job was open. I knew I could do it if I could get a shot.”
Tedford tastes heat: Cal coach Jeff Tedford has been taking some criticism this week from members of the media, who have said the reason the Bears lost a 10-point fourth-quarter lead to lose to Oregon 21-17 was because Tedford turned conservative.
Tedford chose to keep the ball on the ground to run out the clock, despite the fact that quarterback Aaron Rodgers was 15-for-27 passing for 181 yards, a TD and an interception.
Tedford said he was influenced by an incident that happened in 2001, when he was Oregon’s defensive coordinator.
Oregon was ahead of Stanford late in the game. On third-and-2 deep in Oregon territory, Tedford called for quarterback Joey Harrington, a future first-round NFL draft pick, to throw a play-action pass. Stanford intercepted and later scored to win the game.
“I was awake for nights and nights after that,” Tedford said.
Cal was up 10 points with nine minutes left. Three running plays yielded nothing, Cal punted and Oregon scored.
Three more Cal running plays failed to make a first down. The Golden Bears punted to Oregon with 2:15 left and the Ducks drove for the winning TD.
“I know that I’m not immune to criticism whatsoever and I’ll take any of the heat,” Tedford said. “But it doesn’t come without experience of being in those situations before and having learned the hard way.”
Bear back better: Cal tailback Adimchinobe Echemandu, the Pacific-10 Conference’s second-leading rusher at 1,074, may play against Washington after he suffered a sprained right ankle against Oregon. It was initially though that he would have to miss the game because of the severity of the injury.
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