So Much For Practice Restless Huskies Eager To Open Season At Byu

Finally.

After two weeks of watching other teams play, Washington and Brigham Young strap it on tonight in front of 65,000 fans at Cougar Stadium.

“I’m sick of practicing,” Washington kick returner Joe Jarzynka said. “You practice, and then you don’t have a game at the end of the week, and that’s a killer. You watch other teams play, and you get the itch.”

The Huskies will get their fill against a BYU team that appears to be getting back to its roots. Because its two top rushers, Ronney Jenkins and Junior Mahe, have been tossed out of the program because of honor code violations, the Cougars will open up the attack.

Jenkins, especially, will be missed, having run for 1,307 yards last season. And BYU coach LaVelle Edwards isn’t performing a happy dance after replacing Jenkins and Mahe with two freshmen, Fahi Tahi and Luke Staley.

“That put a damper on us,” Edwards admitted.

Quarterback Kevin Feterik will be in a shotgun formation most of the time. And he has talented targets in wideouts Margin Hooks and Ben Horton. Feterik may throw 40 times a game, which is going to test a revamped UW secondary.

“We have a tall order in front of us,” UW coach Rick Neuheisel said. “I see a lot of traps set, and hopefully, we can find a way to avoid most of them and eke out a win.”

Offensively, UW sophomore Willie Hurst, who led the team with 538 rushing yards last year, will get the start over sophomore Braxton Cleman and freshman Paul Arnold. Neuheisel said all three will play, although a committee isn’t ideal.

“If we can get a guy to break a gain for more than four yards, he gets to stay in the game,” Neuheisel said.

Most intriguing will be Arnold’s debut. The most highly sought recruit to come out of Washington, Arnold has shown flashes that he could be a star.

“Obviously, I’d love him to have a Herschel Walker opening,” Neuheisel said, “just run over a lot of guys, and we just look at each other and say, `He ought to stay in.’ But whether or not that happens, we’ll just wait and see. I’m also really excited to see Willie Hurst and Braxton Cleman. I think they both had good camps.”

All three figure to run into Rob Morris, BYU’s standout middle linebacker. The Cougars’ defensive scheme is designed to funnel plays to him, to keep blockers off him.

Neuheisel doesn’t expect a flawless performance from his team. He has said that Washington isn’t talented enough to survive turnovers, penalties and mental errors. The Huskies can afford none against the Cougars in Provo.

“We’ve got to play really smart,” he said. “It’s not going to be perfect as you get under way in a college football season. But if we can keep from hurting ourselves, via turnovers and penalties, then we’ll have a chance to hang in there and smooth things out as the game goes along.

“We’re going to have mistakes. We’ll get through those. But let’s not have any mental mistakes like turning the ball over and/or penalties.”