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Articles
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Hugh Millen critique
(Note that the dawgman article is premium content and requires a subscription in order to read it, which I highly recommend you do.) Good stuff, but wrong, Hugh. Maybe it's not fair, but I'm taking Millen literally here. ;-) In my opinion, the greatest athlete ever to come out of the state of Washington is John Elway, who was born in Port Angeles. As for Locker, who was born in Bellingham, let me say that he is the most athletic quarterback to come out of the Pac-10 since Elway graduated from Stanford in 1982. Any success Washington should enjoy this season depends on the health of Locker, who led the Pac-10 in total offense last season. I first drew a comparison between Elway and Locker after Washington's 31-23 loss to LSU last September. In that game, 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 was his fourth best at Washington over the 17 previous games he has played in. (His best, a remarkable 216.23 rating, was posted in the last game of last season, which marked a 42-10 victory over 19th ranked Cal and a sterling performance by Jake.) With Washington's running attack hitting a brick wall in the third quarter against LSU, the pace of the game degenerated after an aggressively played first half. At the end of the third quarter, the 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 that narrowed the Bengals' lead to 24-16. Locker’s touchdown drive in the final moments of the game closed the final score to 31-23. As I wrote back then, "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. In his playing days, Elway stood 6’3” and weighed 215 pounds. 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. As a starting quarterback, Locker has an 8-20 record at Washington, which is attributable to the Huskies' long lingering defensive problems and the poor quality of their offensive lines, both maladies haunting the Huskies over the past six years. Over his pro career, Elway had a passing efficiency rating (in college terms) of 123.93. (Based on 7,250 attempts, 4,123 completions, 51,475 yards, 300 touchdowns and 226 interceptions). He rushed for 3,407 yards, on 774 attempts, and 33 touchdowns, an average of 4.4 yards per attempt. See SportHaven.com for his career highlights. At Washington, Locker has a career passing efficiency of 116.82, which is based on 435 completions out of 816 attempts and 5,374 yards, 36 touchdowns, and 26 interceptions. He's rushed 340 times for 1,554 yards, on an average of 4.57 yards per attempt. Last season, his passing efficiency rating was 130.1 (Pac-10 stats=130.1; NCAA stats=129.75, which is the correct number). Table 1. Locker and Elway comparison
In 2007, Locker was named the Pac-10 freshman of the year after accounting for 3,048 yards of total offense and 27 TDs. Included were 986 yards rushing, a conference record for a quarterback. Locker’s career passing record at Washington is shown in Table 2 below. Note Locker's steady improvement in career passing efficiency during the 2009 season (Figure 1), which reflects on the excellent tutoring he has received from quarterbacks coach Doug Nussmeier and head coach Steve Sarkisian, both of them coming on board in 2009. Figure 1. Jake Locker's improvement in career passing efficiency during the 2009 season.  As I said, 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 4.39 clocking in the 40, Locker is arguably faster than Elway (4.6) 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. Up to now, Locker is best remembered for his play against USC last season, when the Huskies upset the third-ranked Trojans, 16-13. Finishing off a 10-play, 63-yard drive led by Locker, Erik Folk kicked a 22-yard field goal to give UW the victory with just three seconds left on the clock. After the game, then-USC coach Pete Carroll said, "The difference was Jake, that's a great player." (See photo above). 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. As for Hugh Millen. What does he know about kids from the state of Washington? He was born in Des Moines, Iowa. I was born in Seattle. Table 2. Locker's career record at Washington. His record in 2007 is highlighted in black; his record in 2008 is in purple; and his record in 2009 is in blue.
Richard Linde can be reached at malamute@4malamute.com |
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