Jake Locker Signs with the Angels, but Sticking with the Dawgs

Jake Locker signed a contract with the Angels this past weekend, but don’t worry, he’s still focusing purely on football:

“It was just an opportunity that presented itself and it was something I didn’t believe would take away from me as a football player here, I want to play football and that’s what I’m going to put my focus into, and the Angels have been great with me, worked with me, and they understand that and we’ll go from there.”

Jake Locker was the Angels’ 10th-round pick in the June draft. The Angels will hold the baseball rights to Jake Locker for 6 years. It’s a gamble, especially considering his football potential. Angels Director of scouting, Eddie Bane, commented: “He’s going to play football, but he’s an incredible baseball talent. He has Kirk Gibson-type skills with a good arm.”

Jake received a $150-$300k signing bonus which will easily pay for his in-state tuition for the next two years and frees up a scholarship for the UW football team. Smart move by Jake and interesting gamble by the Angels. More proof that Jake is an immense physical talent, but I still think football is his true calling. Hopefully the next two years will land Jake a NFL job instead of the MLB job that is now his solid backup plan.

Sneak preview of the 2009 Lineup as reported by Bob Condotta

OFFENSE
QB Jake Locker/Ronnie Fouch.
TB Chris Polk or Willie Griffin/Demetruis Bronson
FB Paul Homer/Austin Sylvester
TE Chris Izbicki/Kavario Middleton
WR D’Andre Goodwin/Jordan Polk
WR Jermaine Kearse/Anthony Boyles
WR Devin Aguilar/Cody Bruns
LT Cody Habben/Mark Armelin
LG Ben Ossai or Ryan Tolar
C Ryan Tolar or Mykenna Ikehara
RG Senio Kelemete/Morgan Rosborough
RT Drew Schaefer/Skyler Fancher

DEFENSE
DE Daniel Te’o-Nesheim/Everrette Thompson
DT Alameda Ta’amu/Tyrone Duncan
DT Cameron Elisara/De’Shon Matthews
DE Darrion Jones/Kalani Aldrich
OLB E.J. Savannah/Josh Gage/Cort Dennison
MLB Donald Butler/Trenton Tuiasosopo
OLB Mason Foster/Fred Wiggs/Matt Houston
CB Justin Glenn or Matt Mosley or Anthony Gobern or Vonzell McDowell
CB Quinton Richardson/Adam Long
SS Nate Williams/Victor Aiyewa
FS Greg Walker or Johri Fogerson/Alvin Logan

SPECIALISTS
PK — Erik Folk/Eric Guttrop
P Kiel Rasp/Andrew Lutton
SNP Danny Morovick
HOLDER Ronnie Fouch
KO RETURNER Jordan Polk and Quinton Richardson
PUNT RETURNER Devin Aguilar/Cody Bruns

Sadly, Jake Locker broke his thumb in a freak accident when setting a block during a reverse during the Huskies game vs. Stanford. What was more broken than Jake’s thumb was the Husky defense. Fouch is a decent backup - he’s a good thrower who might not have the running abilities or decision making skills Jake has, but Jake Locker & Fouch are clearly not the reason the Huskies lost against Stanford.

Unfortunately, we won’t be seeing Jake Locker until around the last two games of the season (first return to action will likely be the Apple Cup). Only one question remains: can Jake play safety with a taped up thumb? The Huskies could certainly use someone back there with his athletic ability & knowledge of offensive schemes to defend against.

One of the most impressive things about Jake Locker isn’t a physical skill, though we know he is talented in that department. I’m constantly impressed with his character and so is his previous coach (from Ferndale HS) after one embarrassing loss (Oregon) and one heart-breaker (BYU) with another scary one looming (Oklahoma) :

From the Seattle Times:

Jamie Plenkovich thought this might be one time he would finally catch his former star pupil, Jake Locker, feeling a little sorry for himself.

The one time he’d have to buck up the quarterback who led a Ferndale High School team coached by Plenkovich to the state title in 2005.

Instead, when the two talked earlier this week on the phone, Plenkovich found no need for consolation despite a difficult loss Saturday to Brigham Young.

“I said ‘hello,’ and it’s the same old Jake on the other end,” Plenkovich said. “I told him at the end of our conversation that adversity shows character, and that his character never ceases to amaze me. I thought he might be pretty down after that game. But he was upbeat. He’d already moved on. He was excited to play Oklahoma.

Read more here: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/huskies/2008176830_uwfb13.html

I rarely believe what anyone says about an opposing team’s players pre-game as all the coaches and players have been taught to compliment their opponents. But post-game comments are much more trustworthy. Here’s what the papers had to say about Jake Locker (from a Salt Lake Tribune Article titled, “UW Locker as Good as Advertised“:

They sacked Locker four times and caught him for another loss on an option play, but the sophomore otherwise tormented the Cougars. That was especially true on the Huskies’ final drive, as Locker scrambled for 13 yards on fourth-and-10, then ran 15 yards to the BYU 3-yard line to set up his TD run with two seconds remaining.

The Cougars tried everything, from pressuring Locker to dropping eight defenders into coverage. They succeeded at times, but he also kept plays alive and repeatedly turned losses into gains.

“You’d think you’d have a sack on the guy, and he was able to squeeze around and go”
- Jan Jorgensen

“I’m not sure whether there is an effective plan when, basically, you don’t match up athletically. He is a phenomenal player, so we used every weapon we thought we had.”
- BYU coach Bronco Mendenhal

Every year college quarterbacks across the country are in consideration for the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award. Jake Locker may not be surrounded by an elite powerhouse team like many of the candidates, which make him an even greater candidate for the award. The award is an individual award based on: quarterback skills and athletic ability, academics, reputation as a team player, character, leadership and sportsmanship.

Right now Jake Locker is in 16th place. If you think he deserves higher placement, sign up to vote:

To vote, you need to register than wait a couple days for the confirmation email to vote. You can vote up to once daily.

There’s no question that the officials ruined Washington’s destiny: beating #15 BYU in an upset that UW players, fans, and coaches have long been waiting for.

There’s some debate as to whether Washington would have won, etc. if the call hadn’t been made, but there’s little debate about it being a bad call. Analysts, announcers, fans of both teams agree that in no way was that excessive celebration. Jake Locker tossed the ball over his shoulder while celebrating with his team. He was not taunting. It wasn’t pre-meditated. It was a horrible call.

Jake Locker is a class act and would have no intention of taunting, nor doing anything to hurt his chances of winning. The guy carried the team on his back, literally his 18th play to put his team in position to win. People analyzing the after call result, need to realize that the Huskies, being the home team with tremendous momentum, would have gone for the two point conversion instead of the tie. Going for a 2 pt conversion from the 18+ vs. the normal 3 yrd line would be a bad decision. Had there been no call and the Huskies went for two, I have no doubt locker would have converted and the Huskies would have beat BYU, earning the win that was their destiny.

For those who want to review, the original footage:

For those of you, like me, who put on their purple coated glasses, thinking the Huskies might upset Oregon last week, a dose of false hope for the BYU game is highly appreciated. Here’s what I was able to dig up:

• PI blogger, Nathan Ware picks the Huskies to win 37 to 34 based of UW’s desire to reverse last week’s embarrassment and the desperation for a win for coach Willingham.
• Ted Miller of ESPN picks the Huskies to win 33-27: “I’d rate the Cougars fifth in the Pac-10, which means they are not out of reach of a Huskies team fighting for its — and its coach’s — reputation.”
• It’s a fact that BYU hasn’t won a BYU hasn’t won a non-conference road game in 6+ years.
• UW Offensive Line Vows Improvement article where White-Frisbee says “We know how big and strong and bad we are. But we’ve got to prove it, and last week we didn’t prove it. This is our chance.”
• One analyst (Phil Steele) who nailed the Oregon game with his predictions, is expecting a much closer game this week, picking BYU by only 3 points, but says a Huskies upset wouldn’t surprise him.
• Though only slightly supportive, the Seattle Times Article: UW to Test 2nd Week Gains Theory shows that UW does improve in 2nd games in some years.

Personally, I don’t expect a win against BYU tomorrow, but I still cling onto that hope. Whatever the end result, I’m happy that we still have Jake Locker to watch all season.

Washington’s loss to Oregon this past weekend, proves how much of a team sport football is. Locker, despite looking better on the run and passing than any of the Oregon QBs, was plagued by bad blocking, no running game and receivers that dropped balls that hit them in the hands. Plus, the defense was so susceptible to big play breakdowns, the UW offense rarely had a chance to rest.

Locker and his team, won’t have the spotlight on them until some of the young players step up and the coaching staff better prepares for their opponents.

Here’s what Locker said to the media on Monday, following the loss:

“We had guys get open at times, and then get jammed at times, I’d miss guys at times. We just didn’t click as an offense and we have to have all 11 guys doing the right thing at the same time to have success.”

“I think we did expect a lot of really good things among our team…we might have gotten a little overconfident and caused us to play maybe not as well as we could have and at times it hurt us. I don’t think it was a bad thing by any means, but we need to understand that we can’t show up and just beat anybody on any given day and that we have to play our A game every time we come out on the field on Saturday…”

Here’s a list Jake Locker should be able to break into by the time his work at the UW is done:

1. Warren Moon
2. Bob Schlored
3. Marques Tuiasosopo
4. Mark Brunell
5. Don Heinrich
6. Billy Joe Hobert
7. Sonny Sixkiller
8. Chris Chandler
9. Steve Pelluer
10. Tom Flick

Also receiving votes: Damon Huard, Hugh Millen, Bob Hivner, Bill Douglas, Cody Pickett, Brock Huard, and Jake Locker (already in consideration).

Ranking source & info on each quarterback:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/huskies/2008140622_uwqblist27.html