White rejects white flag

Just when people thought this University of Washington football team had no pulse, the heart monitor has started going crazy. At least one chest is heaving, one set of eyes is blinking rapidly and a pair of lips is moving.

Scott White says he is alive and well. Does anyone else care to join him?

With four forgettable games sending a Huskies season into a death spiral like no other since the Johnson administration, White, an animated sophomore linebacker from San Diego, has been standing at a makeshift podium since Saturday’s 27-13 loss at Stanford, making demands, if not veiled threats.

“I know a lot of other guys feel the way I do,” he said, leaning back in a chair at the Don James Center and sugarcoating nothing. “I want them to get into battle, to feel the fire. If you aren’t ready to feel the excitement of this stadium, of this tradition here, I don’t want you around.

“I want you to know how much this means to me.”

His ample credentials, if not his recent high-grade performances, grant him full license to speak freely. He picked the Huskies over Oklahoma during the recruiting process, giving him immediate marquee status. A first-time starter this season, he’s one of the few players who made anything positive happen at Notre Dame and Stanford.

It hasn’t been nearly enough. His team is still a flagging 0-4. He can hardly stand it.

“Guys haven’t been showing up,” White said. “We’ve struggled on defense, on offense, in the passing game. Until we play a complete game, we’re going to struggle. I thought the Stanford game was a tremendous opportunity, and we shot a blank. I was tremendously disappointed because that game was winnable.”

He kept his mouth shut earlier, deferring to older leaders. But with two captains unable to play last weekend, and yet another unable to finish the game in Palo Alto, Calif., concerned teammates have encouraged him to weigh in with his innermost and often blunt thoughts. No problem.

White already considers himself the most vocal guy on the team. He wanted to do something about this last year. As a freshman, he saw a rudderless UW ship, particularly during the 54-7 loss at Cal. Enough.

“In that Cal game, it’s well documented that guys folded up the tent,” he said “You’re not going to see a performance like that out of us again. If we’re going to get beat, we’re going to get beat. I thought the attitude last year reflected the leadership on this team.

“I thought some of the guys threw in the towel, trying to get some numbers, some stats for the NFL, or whatever.”

With White, there are no excuses. Against Stanford, he had a career-high 15 tackles, three for lost yardage including a sack, and knocked down two passes. He also had to leave the field for three plays and vomit behind the bench, with an obtrusive TV camera leaning in and recording the unpleasant moment.

His hotel breakfast of hash brown potatoes and bacon wouldn’t stay down. He had trouble catching his breath. He played on.

Unlike the growing legion of disgruntled program outsiders, White has no outward issues with the coaching staff or the talent level. Yes, Keith Gilbertson and his assistants are on the hot seat. Yes, this team is decidedly young and unlucky.

But what bothers White most is the collective attitude, and how fragile it has become, especially when adversity continually rears its ugly head.

“The punt block for a touchdown was a huge deflator,” he said of Stanford’s game-clinching, third-quarter turnover. “It was like the air went out of the balloon on the sideline. It was like, ‘Here we go again.’ Then we got a fumble on the goal line. It can change very fast. It’s important that people stay optimistic during the game.”

White has taken ownership of this winless team as it prepares for Saturday’s game against San Jose State, an opponent the Huskies have always defeated. Only half-jokingly the linebacker cautions, “If we lose this one, there’s going to be smoke in the city.”

Meantime, he will remind his teammates of all the things that brought him to Seattle rather than Norman, Okla. He will tell them to play for the future, yet don’t dare turn their backs on the present. Nearly everyone on the roster is going to be in the UW program together for some time, and he’s convinced there are Rose Bowls to be won again.

“We’ll be back,” White pledged, sitting up straight, his voice rising. “Let me tell everybody who loves the Huskies, that we will be back. That’s a promise. We have so many young players, and I feel our young players are our better players anyway, and now they’re getting the chance.”

There is life on this Huskies team, at least one heart beating among a month of beatings.