Johnson a stand-up guy

SEATTLE – While most of Washington’s football players apparently didn’t want to relive last week’s Apple Cup loss – almost every player requested for interviews Tuesday declined to show up – safety Tripper Johnson, a player who took a lot of heat after the loss, was available to discuss his role in one of the game’s biggest plays.

Johnson was on the field on the fateful fourth-quarter play when Washington State’s Kevin Lopina connected with Jared Karstetter (Ferris High) for a 48-yard pass that set up the game-tying field goal.

Johnson tried to make a play after Karstetter got past cornerback Quinton Richardson, but misplayed the ball and watched it sail over his head and into Karstetter’s hands.

“I thought I was there; I thought I made the right read, and I came up short on the read,” Johnson said. “It’s pretty disappointing. I’m pretty disappointed in myself. I feel partly responsible for that loss.”

Johnson, the only player aside from a few redshirting freshmen who talked to the media Tuesday, added, “I’ve been sick to my stomach ever since.”

The 26-year old walk-on, who played eight years of minor league baseball before enrolling at Washington last spring, thought he was in position to intercept the Cougars’ pass.

“At first I thought I was going to have an easy interception,” he said. “When I broke on the ball I thought I was going to pick it off, and running over there I just remember the ball kept sailing and sailing and just got over my head. It’s frustrating. I’m embarrassed and frustrated and disappointed that that happened.”

He said, “As a safety, you’ve got to be able to help out in that situation and I didn’t do it.”

Defensive coordinator Ed Donatell reiterated what he said after the game, that it was just a case of a big play happening at an inopportune time.

“It just comes down to, we had a big situation in the game, it was a drive to close the game and we didn’t get that done,” he said. “We didn’t execute like we wanted to and the biggest thing is to learn from that and do it better the next time.”

In addition to talking about the Apple Cup, Johnson spoke briefly about the attitude of the team.

“The one thing I’ve noticed just being around sports my whole life is that I’ve been around teams where we have a winning attitude and a losing attitude, and it seems like now we kind of expect to lose,” he said.

“I’ve been on teams like that in the minor leagues … and we just had the attitude that we expected to lose and we’d have to play perfect to win a game. I just feel like kind of right now if something bad happens, it just kind of waterfalls. Just to be able to believe that we can win is the main step.”

Tuiasosopo petitions

Linebacker Trenton Tuiasosopo may be back next season even though he is on the roster as a fifth-year senior.

Tuiasosopo missed almost all of his freshman year with a knee injury, then sat out the next year after suffering a head injury in a bike accident in March of 2005. Donatell said Tuiasosopo is seeking a sixth year.