Janoski Springs Into Top Form Junior Receiver Makes Plays Once Again At UW Scrimmage
Dave Janoski returned to his superstar spring form Saturday, making big plays, little plays and all the in-between plays that came his way in a University of Washington football scrimmage.
The junior from Corona, Calif., has long been recognized as an outstanding practice player, and he indicated Saturday that he’s ready to take his newfound confidence into the fall and become the Huskies’ key receiver. Janoski caught five passes from Damon Huard for 165 yards, including a 78-yard touchdown.
“One, sixty-five … that’s about what I had all last year, wasn’t it?” Janoski said, grinning after the scrimmage, in which the No. 1 offense generally had its way with the backup defensive unit.
“I feel like I’m ready to step up a little bit. I started and played a lot last year, and I feel like I made the plays, made some key blocks downfield, but like anybody else, I’d like to get the ball more.”
He can pretty much count on that. The Washington offense has little choice but to spread the ball around, since the top three receivers from last year are gone.
Janoski caught only 14 passes for 215 yards, despite starting all 11 games in 1994.
“He catches everything,” UW coach Jim Lambright said. “He always has. But now he’s gone through his year as a starter and he has the experience of a guy coming back.”
Janoski said he felt it was important to get a quick start in the spring to establish a good starting point to improve upon through the 15 spring practices, into the summer, and right up to the Sept. 2 seasonopener against Arizona State.
“You don’t expect the first scrimmage to be your best, and this won’t be our best,” said the 5-foot-10, 190-pound Janoski. “This helps our confidence.”
And confidence is something the Huskies must develop in the passing game, which was inconsistent last season.
Huard, spurred by the 78-yard TD to Janoski on the second play of the scrimmage, enjoyed an outstanding day Saturday: 13 for 17 for 236 yards with no interceptions. Two of Huard’s passes were dropped.
Lambright called Huard “a typical example of a senior quarterback. It’s like, ‘Here’s your offense, step up and go with it.”’
Saturday, Huard went with it very well.
He has been coached by three offensive coordinators in his four seasons at Washington, - Keith Gilbertson in 1991-92, Jeff Woodruff in 1993 and Bill Diedrick in 1994 - and Huard says the stability of having Diedrick back for a second year should help the offense.
And without All-America tailback Napoleon Kaufman, who is expecting to be a late first- or early secondround selection in the April 22 NFL draft, the Huskies will be counting on Huard and the receivers for increased production.
“We’re going to the shotgun a little bit, we’re spreading things more and we’re looking at more diversity on offense,” he said.
Janoski and sophomore Fred Coleman line up as the top receivers. Coleman caught three passes for 32 yards, making a leaping catch on one.
Leon Neal gained 118 yards on 13 carries, including a 45-yard burst on a simple pitchout in which he split the defense and won the race to the end zone.
Extra points
Shane Fortney, who appears to hold an edge in the backup quarterback competition, showed elusiveness, running five times for 22 yards and a touchdown. … Redshirt freshman receiver Andre deSaussure caught four passes for 35 yards and showed great speed on some deep patterns. He also dropped a few passes. … Of 53 passes thrown by four quarterbacks, redshirt freshman cornerback Brendan Jones made the only interception, foiling a TD. … Inside linebacker John Fiala missed the scrimmage after breaking his thumb in practice Wednesday. … Lambright said tight end Ernie Conwell will probably return to practice next week after suffering a cracked rib in a weight-lifting accident last month. … The Huskies have an abundance of walk-on kickers, as usual. Among them is Stefano Rampazzo, a senior from Bormio, Italy. Rampazzo is a letterman on the UW tennis team.