UW Puts Its Trust In Huard Eligible For Bowl, Huskies Want Senior Qb To Produce

With Napoleon Kaufman in the NFL, the Washington Huskies are Damon Huard’s team now and Huard would like to take that team to the Rose Bowl.

“That’s why we play in the Pac-10,” Huard said. “You want to shoot for the roses.”

Eligible to go to a bowl again after coming off a two-year postseason probation, the Huskies will be quarterbacked by Huard, a senior, for the third year in a row.

This time will be different because the Huskies are in the bowl chase again, Huard promised.

“Everything will be perfect if I leave this school on a high note by going to the Rose Bowl,” he said.

It will be a more confident and a more experienced Huard in 1995, a Huard the Huskies need to play at his best in order for their offense to be successful.

He’s bulked up from 205 to 223 pounds and is stronger, too. He’s worked hard running stairs and skipping rope to improve his foot quickness.

“We look for him to be quite a bit better,” offensive coordinator Bill Diedrick said. “I think the biggest thing is that now it’s his team. A year ago, for all practical purposes, it was Napoleon’s team.”

Kaufman, Washington’s all-time rushing leader, was a first-round draft choice and will be playing for the Raiders in Oakland this season.

The 6-foot-4 Huard can become the Huskies’ career passing leader if he passes for 2,220 yards this season. He had 1,887 passing yards last season when he completed 153-of-275 passes - 56 percent - with 13 touchdowns and a dozen interceptions.

The Huskies coaching staff spent a lot of time this spring telling Huard how good he was and how good they expect him to be this season. If he has a fault, he has a fragile ego and pays too much attention to his critics.

He’s worked on that part of his game, too.

“That’s just life,” he said. “That’s just the way it is. Not everybody is going to like you. Not everybody is going to like your game.”

Shane Fortney, a sophomore, will be Huard’s backup and the coaches want to get him some playing time, too. That’s going to be a tricky one because the super-sensitive Huard needs to know he’s No. 1.

“The most important thing that I can do as a head coach is just over and over again emphasize the fact that Damon Huard is going to have a great senior year,” Jim Lambright said. “He’s our leader and he’s going to go out and establish his dominance. Shane’s going to complement him.”

Huard was recruited to Washington by Don James and redshirted in 1991, when the Huskies went 12-0.

But, after taking UW to its third straight Rose Bowl following the ‘92 season, James announced his retirement the same Aug. 22, 1994, day on which the Pac-10 said it was banning the Huskies from bowl games for two years for violating NCAA rules.

Huard chose to stay at Washington.

“I’ve been through a lot,” he said. “I had a couple of bowls taken away from me. I’ve been through a coaching change. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’ve experienced so many things that a lot of other quarterbacks who played here didn’t.”

Like Huard’s junior season.

In Week 3 at Miami, a game the Huskies weren’t supposed to have a chance at winning, Huard completed 14-of-26 passes for 217 yards, including a 75-yard touchdown to Richard Thomas, in a 38-20 victory. The loss ended Miami’s 58-game Orange Bowl winning streak.

In Week 7 at Oregon, freshman Kenny Wheaton intercepted a Huard pass and returned it 97 yards for a touchdown to spoil the Huskies’ comeback bid in a 31-20 loss.

It all adds up, Huard said.

“I’ve been through everything,” he said. “There’s nothing you can throw at me that I haven’t been through. I do have the experience.”

Huard, 22, will be joined on the sidelined this fall by his little brother, Brock, also from Puyallup High School, near Seattle. The 6-5, 220-pound highly prized quarterback prospect will be redshirted this season, if the Huskies don’t need him, but will make all the Washington trips.

UCLA tried to persuade Brock to leave the state to play quarterback for the Bruins.

“He almost went to UCLA,” brother Damon said. “I told him, ‘Brock, you’re from Puyallup, not Hollywood.”’

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: WASHINGTON HUSKIES Starters and backups Offense QB 7 Damon Huard 6-4 215 Sr. 15 Shane Fortney 6-3 215 So. SE 19 Dave Janoski 5-10 180 Jr. 24 Jerome Pathon 5-11 170 So. WT 72 Bob Sapp 6-5 285 Jr. 67 Tony Coats 6-7 300 Fr. WG 79 Trevor Highfield 6-4 285 Sr. 78 Mostafa Sobhi 6-5 285 So. C 57 Lynn Johnson 6-3 270 Jr. 55 Petrocelli Kesi 6-4 305 So. SG 54 Patrick Kesi 6-3 315 Sr. 76 Benji Olson 6-4 300 Fr. ST 70 Eric Battle 6-3 290 Sr. 75 Aaron Dalan 6-7 300 Fr. TE 82 Ernie Conwell 6-3 240 Jr. 85 Cameron Cleeland 6-4 265 So. FB 30 Richard Thomas 5-9 220 Sr. 36 Mike Reed 6-0 205 So. TB 12 Leon Neal 5-9 185 Sr. 6 Terry Hollimon 5-9 200 So. FL 22 Fred Coleman 6-1 180 So. 3 Andre deSaussure 6-2 200 Fr. PK 18 John Wales 5-9 190 Jr. 14 Geoff Prince 5-10 185 Jr.

Defense SLB 43 Deke Devers 6-0 245 Sr. 99 Josh Smith 6-4 245 Fr. DE 46 Jason Chorak 6-4 250 So. 56 Darius Jones 6-3 240 So. DT 91 Stephen Hoffmann 6-6 270 Sr. 67 Sekou Wiggs 6-4 270 So. NT 97 David Richie 6-4 270 Jr. 88 Mike Ewaliko 6-4 260 Sr. WLB 20 Ikaika Malloe 5-11 200 Jr. 45 Tom Matijacic 6-0 225 Fr. ILB 54 Ink Aleaga 6-2 225 Jr. 57 John Fiala 6-3 225 Jr. ILB 40 Jerry Jensen 6-2 225 So. 14 Jesse Binkley 6-3 230 Jr. CB 10 Scott Greenlaw 6-0 195 Sr. 18 Alex Lacson 5-9 170 Jr. ROV 7 Tony Parrish 5-11 205 So. 27 Aaron Nettles 6-0 210 Sr. FS 9 Lawyer Milloy 6-2 205 Jr. 21 Chad Wolfe 6-3 195 Fr. CB 4 Reggie Reser 5-10 185 Sr. 8 Jovan McCoy 5-9 180 Sr. P 14 Geoff Prince 5-10 185 Jr. 18 John Wales 5-9 190 Jr.

Schedule Sept. 2 Arizona State at Husky Stadium* Sept. 16 at Ohio State Sept. 23 Army at Husky Stadium Sept. 30 at Oregon State* Oct. 7 Notre Dame at Husky Stadium Oct. 14 at Stanford* Oct. 21 at Arizona* Oct. 28 USC at Husky Stadium* Nov. 4 Oregon at Husky Stadium* Nov. 11 at UCLA* Nov. 18 Washington St. at Husky Stadium* *Conference game

Ticket information Reserved seat tickets for the Notre Dame and WSU games are sold out. The only remaining reserved seats for other home games are in the bottom five rows of the stadium and are considered view-obstructed. General admission tickets go on sale the Monday before each game. Phone: (206) 543-2200. Reserved seat cost $26 General admission seat cost $13

TV/Radio Only four Huskies games may be televised this season as a result of NCAA sanctions. The Arizona State, Ohio State and USC games are slated for regional telecast, while the Notre Dame game will be ABC’s national game of the week. All Huskies games will be carried live on station KTRW (970 AM) in Spokane and KVNI (1080 AM) in Coeur d’Alene and on five other stations in Eastern Washington.