Call it the Malamute Miracle: Washington senior center Juan Garcia believed his career was over after suffering a Lisfranc fracture in his left foot toward the end of the spring. This week, head coach Tyrone Willingham penciled him in as the starter against Oregon, and Garcia has stated to the media his intentions to play the entire game. Garcia’s return will strengthen the offense and may provide a shot in the arm for Willingham (11-25 in three seasons), whose grip on the Huskies coaching job is tenuous at best.
Offensively, any conversation about the Huskies starts and ends with stopping the West Coast’s Tim Tebow – or is Florida’s Tebow the East Coast’s Jake Locker? Locker, a sophomore from Ferndale, Wash., is an explosive dual-threat quarterback who threw for 2,062 yards and rushing for 986 more as a freshman. At 6-foot-3 and 222 pounds, Locker is able to use his physicality to his advantage, helping rush for nearly as many touchdowns (13) as he threw for (14) in 2007. The next step for Locker is to learn the nuances of the passing game; his completion rate of 47.3 percent must improve.
A major question heading into Saturday will be identifying Locker’s top passing targets. Washington’s top returning receiver is senior tight end Michael Gottlieb, who has battled with injuries in fall camp; Willingham may be motivated to insert highly touted freshman Kavario Middleton into Saturday’s game at certain intervals. Of the wide receivers, graduations and defections have left the Huskies with a single player – sophomore D’Andre Goodwin – who caught a pass in a game last year.
The Huskies’ replacement for top rusher Louis Rankin is true freshman Chris Polk, who has been turning heads and wowing coaches in practice. Polk will have the benefit of running behind an offensive line with four returning starters (though left guard Ryan Tolar lost his starting job to senior Jordan White-Frisbee in fall camp) and the disadvantage of beginning his college career on the road in a hostile environment.
Against Oregon last year, Locker completed 12 of 31 passes for 257 yards and four touchdowns, rushing for 78 more yards. Washington entered the fourth quarter tied, but the Ducks piled on the points, outscoring the Huskies 24-3 to solidify the final margin at 55-34. The story of the night was the Huskies’ utter inability to stop the run, yielding 465 yards on the ground and 661 yards overall. New defensive coordinator Ed Donatell has NFL experience and is expected to mix schemes up frequently in order to stymie offenses.
Compounding the issue of run defense is the fact that Washington linebacker E.J. Savannah, the team’s top tackler in 2007, has been deemed academically ineligible, leaving the Huskies with just two starters from last year’s front seven, defensive end Daniel Te’o-Nesheim and linebacker Donald Butler. The impetus of Oregon offensive tackle Fenuki Tupou’s assignment Saturday will be to stop Te’o-Nesheim, who recorded 8.5 sacks and 15 tackles for loss in 2007, leading the Huskies in both categories.
Safety Darin Harris and cornerback Mesphin Forrester (who saw time at safety in 2007 as injuries ravaged Washington’s secondary) will be joined by redshirt freshman Quinton Richardson and sophomore Nate Williams in the starting defensive backfield. Backup cornerback Tripper Johnson may not have much overall impact Saturday, but his presence will be notable. Johnson, a 26-year-old freshman, was drafted 32nd overall by the Baltimore Orioles in 2000 and opted to turn professional over playing baseball at Washington. He played minor league baseball for eight years but was never called up to the Orioles.
Washington has a commanding lead in the overall series against Oregon (58-37-5), but the current senior class has yet to defeat the Ducks. Willingham is 4-4 all-time against Oregon but has lost both of his games against the Ducks as coach of the Huskies.
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