SEATTLE — During his first two years at the University of Washington, linebacker Cort Dennison earned a haul of team awards but couldn’t crack the defensive lineup. The Salt Lake City native was named scout team special teams player of the week five times, and best defensive scout player twice.
But Dennison was determined to get on the field this season, and his hard work has paid off.
After seeing extensive action in Saturday’s loss to Stanford, Dennison could get his first career start this weekend at Notre Dame. A foot injury to senior E.J. Savannah appears likely to sideline the starting linebacker from Bellevue.
While Savannah has not been ruled out — he was scheduled to undergo an MRI on his foot Monday, and results of the test were not made available — all signs point toward Dennison being in the lineup.
Sarkisian said Monday that, if Dennison has to start, he feels confident in the redshirt sophomore.
“Cort’s a good football player,” said Sarkisian, who over the weekend said that Savannah might have plantar fasciitis but had no update as of Monday afternoon. “Cort’s played good football for us. He’s been a guy we’ve put in games in critical moments, and he’s done nothing but play really well.”
Dennison played most of the second half of Saturday’s 34-14 loss, finishing with a career-high eight tackles.
“It was fun,” Dennison said late Saturday night. “The worst part of the whole thing is that we lost. But when someone goes down, you’ve got to step up. You have to work hard to be ready to play.
“I just tried to play as hard as I could. But in the end, we still lost.”
Savannah, who sat out last season after getting suspended by UW’s former coaching staff, has not missed a game this season despite two broken bones in his left hand. He suffered the foot injury with about three minutes left in the first half of Saturday’s game, limped off the field and did not return.
Savannah did not practice Monday afternoon.
The Huskies have started 16 different players on defense this season, mostly due to an ongoing search to find the best combination. Dennison would be the 17th starter in five games.
Camcorders not necessary
During Sarkisian’s first year as a USC assistant, the Trojans traveled to South Bend, Ind., and turned the ball over three times en route to a 27-16 loss to Notre Dame.
That was the first time Sarkisian made the historic trip, and he claims to have learned a very valuable lesson.
“We went and did all the sight-seeing and the different things, and we didn’t perform great” in the game, Sarkisian recalled Monday afternoon.
He vows not to make the same mistake now that he’s coaching the Huskies. While UW plans to leave a day earlier than usual — on Thursday, to adjust to the change in time zone — the Huskies are approaching Saturday’s game against the Fighting Irish with extreme focus.
“I think you can make the mistake of going there and treating it like a vacation … going to the Grotto and the College Football Hall of Fame and Touchdown Jesus and all that stuff,” Sarkisian said. “We won’t do that. This is a business trip.”
Misdirectional kicking
Sarkisian said that, on the opening kickoff of Saturday’s game, he instructed kicker Erik Folk to kick to the left side of the field. Folk’s kick went to the right, and Stanford return man Chris Owusu returned it 91 yards for his third touchdown of the season.
“I think (Folk) just mis-hit it,” Sarkisian said on Monday.
On two subsequent kickoffs, Folk sent high, short kicks that Owusu had no chance to get his hands on. The Stanford sophomore has returned six kickoffs this season, and three of them went for touchdowns.
Short yardage
Sophomore receiver Devin Aguilar, who missed Saturday’s game with a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee, worked with trainers Monday but did not practice. Sarkisian said that Aguilar’s status for the Notre Dame game could depend on how his knee feels today. … Sarkisian said that kickoff returner Jordan Polk might be replaced by a better blocker. The most obvious candidate is running back Johri Fogerson, who was on the field in place of Polk for Stanford’s final kickoff of the Saturday loss. … Notre Dame’s coaching staff includes defensive line coach Randy Hart, who spent the past 21 years at UW. Hart was let go with the rest of Tyrone Willingham’s staff last winter.
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