(Pac-12) The Huskies play on an artificial field (FieldTurf) at Husky Stadium (seats 72,500)
- Steve Sarkisian is in his third year as head coach at Washington. Last year the team’s 7-6 record was their first winning season since 2002. Sarkisian was the offensive coordinator at USC prior to taking over at Washington.
- The biggest news for this team is the fact that quarterback Jake Locker is gone and off to the NFL. He was selected 8th overall in the first round of April’s NFL Draft (at one point it was thought he would be 1st overall if he had come out early in 2010). Locker leaves U-dub as the 2nd overall career passer.
QB Keith Price (courtesy AP)
His 55% completion percentage and 17-9 TD to INT ratio had to be disappointing though.
- This year sophomore Keith Price teas over at quarterback and did so well in the spring that Sarkisian declared him a starter right away.Locker is a tough act to follow so fans will need to be patient, but with an offensive line that’s in pretty decent shape and is slowly improving under Sarkisian it will be interesting to watch Price develop.
- The top two running backs return this year, including Chris Polk who rushed for over 1400 yards and 9 touchdowns. Wide receiver Jermaine Kearse, who had over 1000 yards receiving also returns.
- Defense would be in good shape with the return of so many starters if the middle line of defense weren’t taking such a big hit. The linebacker unit returns just one player and loses the top tackler on the team (Mason Foster who has already been fined $20,000 in the NFL for a tackle on a defenseless receiver, Ochocinco, also happened to be the #2 tackler in the nation).
- Overall Washington is in good shape to continue to improve its record and look for its first 8-win season since 2001. The schedule includes Nebraska, Stanford, Oregon and USC which will all be bought to beat, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they got the upper hand on one of them.
