|
Articles
|
The Locker watch:
Big, Bad John
Against highly-ranked LSU, Locker hit on 55.6% of his passes, completing 25 of 45 passes for 321 yards and two touchdowns, against one interception. His passing-efficiency rating of 125.7 against LSU was his fourth best at Washington over the 17 games he has played in. With Washington's running attack hitting a brick wall in the third quarter against LSU, the pace of the game for the Huskies took on that worn-out look we fans have grown accustomed to seeing after aggressively played first halves over the past few years. At the end of the third quarter, the then-listless Huskies trailed 24-13. However, Locker's running ability brought the Huskies’ offense to life again, his legs converting a couple of third downs into first downs on a drive in the fourth quarter that led to a field goal, which narrowed the Bengals' lead to 24-16. Locker’s touchdown scoring drive in the final moments of the game closed the final score to 31-23. At times, the strong-armed Locker looked like a young John Elway at Stanford as he executed out of the pro-set and spread formations. Locker ran for four first downs in the second half, converting a third and two, a third and four, a fourth and one, and a third and six, to keep drives alive. Like Elway, who was born in Port Angeles, Locker is from the state of Washington. Elway stood 6’3” and weighed 215 pounds in his playing days. Locker stands the same height and weighs 225 pounds. Both were drafted to play professional baseball. By the time he was drafted by the Baltimore Colts in 1983, Elway had played two summers of minor league baseball for the New York Yankees. Baltimore traded Elway to the Denver Broncos, with whom he played his entire career. Locker has been drafted by the Los Angeles Angels, who own his baseball rights for six years. If Locker's football career should stall, playing for the Angels would be an option. In his four seasons (1979–1982) at Stanford, Elway completed 774 passes for 9,349 yards and 77 touchdowns. Stanford had a 20–23 record during his tenure. Locker’s record at Washington is shown in the table below. In 2007, Locker was named the Pac-10 freshman of the year after accounting for 3,048 yards total offense and 27 TDs. Included were 986 yards rushing, a Conference record for a quarterback. Of all the quarterbacks who have played in the Pac-10 since Elway graduated, Locker’s athleticism and intangible skills match Elway’s more closely in my opinion than any other. He resembles Elway in size, speed, power, leadership and strength of arm. However, Locker has yet to demonstrate he is as accurate a long passer as Elway was in his heyday. With his 4.43 clocking in the 40, Locker is arguably faster than Elway was in the speed of foot category. Over his college career, I remember Elway the most for the shocking 31-14 defeat his 6-5 Stanford team laid on the 1980 Oklahoma team, which ended up 10-2 on the season and a winner in the 1981 Orange Bowl. Stanford’s game against the Sooners was played at Norman, Oklahoma, in a driving rain storm as I remember. At Washington, Locker is yet to produce a marquee win that fans will remember him by the most. That is certain to happen over the next two seasons. Locker's career path may never reach the dizzying heights that Elway’s took, but one thing is for certain at this point in his career, Locker is as important to the success of his team as Elway was to his team at Stanford, in 1980, say. Table 1. Jake Locker's career pass-efficiency statistics. The cumulative stats are shown on the right side of the table.
Richard Linde can be reached at malamute@4malamute.com |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Any success Washington should enjoy this
season depends on the health of its quarterback Jake Locker, who is on
track, albeit just a one-game track, for having his finest season with
the Huskies.