TTown wrote:I think I could certainly live with Mallett. Kid looks really good.
Question regarding Locker. I don't want to step on anybody's toes if you fine folks happen to be Husky fans; however, Locker the pro prospect... thoughts? I just can't get my head around it. He's down to 55% this year. He's a physical freak of nature, but he seems like one of those kids who came in as a freshman and wow'd everybody because he looked like he had all-world potential, but four years later he's still yet to realize it.
He'll be a good pro QB, IMO. I'd be quite pleased too if we could nab him in the first round of the next draft. Then you could retain Hasselbeck for a few more years while Locker develops.
Locker's grown a lot as a QB in his time at UW. The problem was that he had a lousy head coach his first 3 years (including his redshirt freshman year), and had a former running back as his QB coach during those same 3 years. He simply just didn't have any kind of proper instruction during this time that developed his pro potential. Also, his sophomore year, he was out for almost the entire year, and the team went a dreadful 0-12 without him. The recruiting was very weak in the Willingham era.
When the new head coach came on board (coach Sarkesian, a successful college QB himself, and successful QB coach at USC), Locker's potential finally began to be unlocked his junior year, and he got better and better throughout the year, ending on a real high note. He rightfully exploded up the draft chart, and was viewed by many as a very high draft pick, perhaps even the #1 pick had he come out.
Amazingly, he turned down a potential 50 million dollar pro contract to return for his senior season. He wanted to continue to improve, and lead the Huskies back to a bowl, solidify his legacy at the school. Needless to say, the expectations were sky high for him coming into this season.
First off, it must be kept in mind that this guy has been playing with broken ribs the last series of games. Secondly, the offensive line gave this guy dreadful protection most of the year, as in he was running for his life a lot more often than not within a moment or two after the snap. You just simply could not tell how much better he might have been with proper protection. I can only imagine what his college career might have been had he attended the likes of USC, or Alabama, or some such top flight college program.
But it is true that he could have played better this year. The fact remains, however, that whenever he did play well, the team usually won.
As for his character exemplified in his commitment to improve, his attitude, his leadership...the guy's amazing, off the charts. He's certainly got the physical size to be a pro QB. He's also got more than a sufficient cannon for an arm, the foot speed of a flanker, the clear ability to look for his second and third and fourth receivers when he's had the time to, and at times has shown an almost sublime ability to turn broken plays/breakdowns in blocking into productive ones. As a few veteran watchers have noted, he can make passes under duress and off balance that only a few college QB's could even dream of successfully attempting. He's that strong, coordinated, and athletically gifted.
There is only ONE THING about Locker that might give one pause. He has shown an inconsistency this year in that hard-to-define QB X-factor, that QB moxie, or QB enzyme (for lack of a better way to put it), that ability to much more consistently than not "make the play". The "Joe Montana factor", you might say. He HAS shown it, just not consistently this year. Again, IMO this is the ONLY cause for concern with him as to whether or not he will blossom as a QB in the pro ranks. He has everything else. And I think he will blow scouts, coaches and GM's away at the pre-draft combines again, or at individual team workouts.
Locker is simply hard to evaluate this year for so many reasons, some of which I've mentioned. You simply do have to evaluate him to some degree within the context of the circumstances he's had to operate within. And therein lies the rub.
But you also have to keep in mind that when he was out his sophomore year, the Huskies were 0-12. Then the new coach came in and they went 5-7 his junior year. They are now one more win away from going 6-6 his senior year, and a return trip to a bowl after a several year hiatus from them. He might well end his senior year on a bowl winner with a 7-6 record. Quite a leap from where they were only two years before. And their recruiting classes last year and this year are night and day in comparison to what they've been in recent years.
So much of this resurgence in the Husky football program has been on Jake's shoulders, as the Huskies were just lacking in talent on both sides of the ball. I think some of this has played a role in him putting too much pressure on himself to make up for the team's deficiencies. This is not an excuse so much as a reality if you are aware of the rabid nature of "Husky Nation". And Jake NEVER gives excuses for himself, so I have to do it for him. LOL It will remain to be seen how he handles such pressures in the future, at the next level. He's certainly been battle tested in this way, though.
I'd still take Jake over Mallet or Newton. Without hesitation. Just my hunch from closely watching his career unfold here as a Husky. I'm a Jake believer, I guess.
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