UW warms up
SEATTLE – Early on, the 1,800 or so Husky fans who braved a blustery day on the shore of Lake Washington had little to get excited about.
During the early moments of Washington’s first scrimmage of the spring, the defense was dominating and the only scores came on field goals by Erik Folk.
Eventually, Jake Locker connected with Jermaine Kearse for a 10-yard touchdown, giving fans something to cheer about. A few more big plays provided enough entertainment to send fans home happy, and new UW coach Steve Sarkisian seemed pleased with Saturday’s scrimmage.
“We obviously have things to clean up on both sides of the ball, but we were able to get a lot of areas of special situations done,” Sarkisian said. “Whether it was special teams, or 2-minute situations, some goal-line stuff, some short-yardage stuff, I thought we got a lot accomplished and now we can go back to the film and clean stuff up.”
After a sluggish start by both the first- and second-team offenses, the No. 1 offense began moving the ball against the No. 1 defense later in the scrimmage. In addition to Locker’s touchdown pass, the No. 1 offense also scored on a pair of 1-yard carries by Demitrius Bronson.
The No. 2 offense couldn’t find the end zone against the No. 2 defense, in part because of turnovers. Justin Glenn forced a fumble with a hard hit on receiver Anthony Boyles early in the scrimmage, and Trenton Tuiasosopo picked off a Ronnie Fouch pass that went off the hands of tight end Kavario Middleton. Linebacker Kurt Mangum also intercepted a pass thrown by third-string quarterback Taylor Bean.
Sarkisian wasn’t surprised that the offense struggled early.
“What happens is, when you get into settings like this when there are no scripts and guys can’t study and prepare for it, it takes the offensive guys a little time to click into that mode of really listening to the play call and snapping and going and playing,” Sarkisian said. “I thought they got going there in the second quarter.”
Unofficially, Locker completed 10 of 18 passes for 142 yards and a touchdown, while Fouch was 11 for 21 for 146 and an interception. Players said it was good to get back into a game-like environment for the first time since last season.
“It felt very much like a game,” Kearse said. “It was up-tempo, the plays were coming in fast. You had to be on your feet and read the coverages.”
Another highlight was an 80-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Jordan Polk. Another encouraging element of special teams play was the kicking of Folk, who made all three of his field-goal attempts.
“It’s definitely improving,” he said of his kicking. “I’m getting a lot more comfortable with the snap and hold and rush and everything. It’s definitely getting a lot better.”
Tailback Curtis Shaw suffered the only noticeable injury during the practice, taking a helmet to the knee that sent him to the sideline for the rest of the day. The same thing happened to Shaw during Wednesday’s practice, and Sarkisian said the injury is nothing major. Tailbacks Chris Polk (lower leg bruise) and Brandon Johnson (concussion) were held out of the scrimmage, as was receiver D’Andre Goodwin, who has a hamstring injury. The Huskies were also thin at cornerback without Vonzell McDowell and Matt Mosley.
For Locker, the scrimmage was the closest thing to game action since he suffered a season-ending thumb injury in the fourth game of the 2008 season.
“You’ve got to get back into it and get used to it,” he said. “It’s been a while since I’ve done this, but these things will help make that transition a little easier.”