Huard Earns His Fair Share Of Fun
To celebrate his record-setting day, Washington quarterback Brock Huard got in his car, drove 45 miles home to Puyallup and went to the county fair.
Not any old county fair.
“I think it’s one of the top six anywhere,” Huard was saying a few days after becoming the first UW freshman to throw for 300 yards, in his first start, no less. “I mean, it’s huge.
“It was fun to go back home after the game. I saw my family and they were happy for me. I brought teammate Jeff Johnson with me, got a few more buddies, went to the fair and shared the victory with a lot of high school friends. It was neat.”
What was better than neat occurred last Saturday in the Huskies’ 31-17 win over Arizona. Huard, a redshirt freshman whose brother Damon was Washington’s quarterback in 1994 and 1995, started in place of the injured Shane Fortney.
Following in big brother’s footsteps was a snap. Huard completed his first six passes, took the Huskies 85 yards for a touchdown on their first possession and went 20 of 31 for 311 yards and three TDs.
The 6-foot-5, 225-pounder has a lot going for him, especially bloodlines. Not only was his brother a twoyear starter, but his father Mike coaches football at Puyallup High School. The quarterback there? Brock’s younger brother, Luke.
Brock Huard was amazingly calm in his first start, displaying the poise of a veteran against the Wildcats, and coach Jim Lambright marveled at the first drive: “an absolutely beautiful thing to watch.”
For Brock, the best news of the week was not his exploits but his brother Damon’s new job. Cut by the Cincinnati Bengals, Damon took a “marketing job with Paul Allen’s company, something to do with the Seattle Seahawks.”
The way it works at Washington, though, Huard could end up as a one-game wonder. Since the starter, Fortney, can’t lose his job because of an injury, he’ll be back behind center next Saturday against Stanford.
“That’s the way things work around here,” said Huard, who replaced Fortney and led the Huskies to three fourth-quarter TDs in a 45-42 loss to Arizona State on Sept. 7. “There’s a lot of class and respect, and I’ve been around long enough to know how it works here.
“I know I’ll have plenty more chances. … The bottom line is who is winning. If it’s Shane, I’ll be super happy for him and if it’s me, I’m sure he’ll encourage me.”
Another ‘Husker view
Huard, who led the Huskies to three fourth-quarter TDs in a 45-42 loss to Arizona State on Sept. 7, said Nebraska wasn’t prepared for the Sun Devils.
“Going into that game, I didn’t give Arizona State a chance,” Huard said of the Cornhuskers’ 19-0 loss at ASU. “On offense, ASU is really talented, but I didn’t think the defense would play that well. They played eight and nine men in the box and stopped the run. Nebraska was not prepared enough in the passing game. After they scored 77 last year, I thought they went in a little overconfident.”