During interviews this week, several Ducks remained cautiously optimistic about their chances against the Huskies. Even though their defense held Washington State to seven points, they’re still worried about one aspect of the Washington offense they haven’t seen before.
That’s freshmen quarterback sensation Jake Locker.
While his passing numbers aren’t going to impress many people – Locker has completed 49.1 percent of his passes for 936 yards, seven touchdowns and eight interceptions – it’s his ability as a runner that puts fear into opposing defenses. Locker leads the Huskies with 459 yards and six touchdowns, while averaging 5.4 yards per carry.
“I’m likening him to Tim Tebow. He’s a very powerful runner,” Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said. “If you watched him against Arizona State, he goes about 55 yards, drags people, breaks tackles and runs for a touchdown.
“They’re a scary team because of Jake Locker and he runs the ball very well. There’s designed running plays and there’s the opportunity for him to run every single down. He’ll do it. He’s physical.”
That type of quarterback-running style is something the Ducks haven’t faced yet this season and given the defense’s occasional trouble containing the run, they’re going to have to be on alert for Locker running on any given play. There’s going to have to be more than one person tackling him as well.
“You need to gang-tackle to wrap him up because he’s a big physical runner,” Bellotti said. “I don’t know if you can totally change your defense to account for that.”
The defense can however, try to account for it. There’s been plenty of tape-watching this week to try and recognize the specific plays that are designed to have Locker run. If the defense spots it in time, it’ll bring some extra defenders to stop the run.
“It’s a combination of trying to recognize tendencies and trying to have the extra men in the box on certain downs,” Bellotti said.
Defensive end Nick Reed already has an idea of how to get to Locker. Reed was named Pacific-10 Conference Player of the Week after sacking Cougar quarterback Alex Brink 3.5 times.
“We won’t expect a lot of five-step drop passes from Locker,” Reed said. “They’re going to try power us more than Wazzu did.”
While he’s faced Oregon quarterback Dennis Dixon plenty in practice, Locker is a different breed of running quarterback. Still, it’s not something Reed’s worried about.
“I don’t think I’ve ever played against a quarterback that’s big and mobile like Locker,” Reed said. “But we tackle Jonathan Stewart everyday so I think we’re good at chasing big, fast guys.”
Former Hawaii prep teammates face off again
One aspect to the rivalry comes from an unlikely source. For the past several years, Oregon center Max Unger and Washington defensive lineman Daniel Te’o-Nesheim have not only been lining up against each other in the annual game but squared off in practice while the two were teammates at Hawaii Prep.
The two had to go against one another last year when Unger was the left tackle and Te’o-Nesheim was one of the speed-rushing ends.
“It’s real weird, Unger said. “It’s pretty intense. I don’t have anybody else that I know too well that plays on any other team so it’s kind of cool to play against him.”
This year Te’o-Nesheim leads Washington with 4.5 sacks and is second on the team with 5.5 tackles for a loss. He’s a disruptive presence and Unger’s the one who’s most familiar with his former teammate. Although Unger’s switch to center may cause the two to grapple each other less often, Unger still expects to see Te’o-Nesheim lined up in front of him.
“Last year he played inside a bunch,” Unger said. “I really don’t know (if I’m going to face him). They’ve been doing some funky stuff. They rotate their line so I don’t know what they’re going to do.”
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