Washington

Washington
Skinny - Washington is an absolute disgrace right now in terms of football and thats not referring to the University of Washington, rather the state of Washington football. Washington State is even more abysmal than Washington and will contend for honors of worst BCS school in the country. There biggest opponent could be their in state rivals, the Huskers, who successfully went defeated last season at 0-12. Washington has one bright spot and that is the return of dual athlete Jake Locker. Locker has put a possible baseball career on hold as he returns from an injury last season. Locker is the face of the program and was expected to be Tebow-west season last season before a season-ending thumb injury. Chris Polk flashed signs of potential before he got injured to last season and should surprise some people as a redshirt freshman this season. If he doesn't play well, the rest of the options are very weak. The rest of the offense is bad and the defense isn't much better, despite a good DE in Te'o-Nesheim and a solid linebacking corps. Washington should beat Idaho and Washington State, but any more is a stretch.

Strength- Jake Locker
The most given on the team. Locker had over 2000 yards as a freshman passing in addition to being 14 yards short of 1000 on the ground. Locker has good size and is a true dual threat and athlete. Locker lacks the weapons a Tebow or Bradford has, but he creates for himself. D'Andre Goodwin caught 60 passes last season and the best of the receiving corps returns only aiding Locker in his recovery comeback season. Locker will get his yards both on the ground and through the air, but he needs to improve on his passing percentage. He's not as good a passer as Tebow, but he's pretty close in the running game. It should be interesting to see how this year plays out and what Locker does in terms of his career (football and baseball).

Weakness - The rest of the team
Yes. there are bright spots. Te'o-Nesheim is one of the better ends in the conference and the linebacking corps is solid led by Mason Foster, a TFL machine, but the rest of the team lacks playmakers and overall just talent. Steve Sarkisian has one heck of a job to do at Washington, but his specialty is recruiting and offense and that's where the biggest holes are on the team. Washington had 11 wins as recently as 2000, but spiraled quickly from there. Sarkisian must start building from the bottom up. There won't be many senior starters on the team this season and the focus will be on the future and not the present. The 2010 recruiting class will be of great importance.

Key Game - 10/10/09 Arizona
Yes, Arizona will be a heavy favorite in this game and rightly so. Washington has a daunting schedule for a team that needs a morale and confidence boost. They face a lot of the middle of the pack type Pac 10 teams on the road. Washington State and Idaho will be wins for Washington unless they screw up, which is entirely possible. Notre Dame and LSU provide very difficult OOC games for the Huskies and UCLA, Stanford, and Arizona State are all away games in conference play. Beating Arizona would give a little excitement to a state that is already looking forward to basketball season despite a 0-0 record for both BCS schools.

Key Player- Chris Polk
Polk was the starter before he took a medical redshirt last season. Polk was recruited to play wide receiver, but at 200 pounds he isn't a bad size for a running back. Polk needs to give Locker a viable second option in the offense. He needs to prove he is durable enough for a 12 game season and he just needs to prove his worth overall. The running back situation was miserable last season. Terrance Dailey was the leading rusher on the team with a big 338 yards and a touchdown. The co-leaders in rushing touchdowns had 3, while the team sported a big 5 TDs through the aerial game in Locker's absence.

Predicted Pac-10 finish - 9th

Impact Freshman - James Johnson

Top 5 Players
1. QB Jake Locker
2. DE Daniel Te'o-Nesheim
3. LB Mason Foster
4. S Nate Williams
5. WR D'Andre Goodwin

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