Fall Quarter Football Grades: Offense

By Brice Hamack
Sports Editor

Quarterback: A-

While most Husky fans still consider Jake Locker to be someone who can do no wrong, he did have his rough patches this season.  Locker started the season strong with big games against LSU, Idaho, and USC; but started into somewhat of a slide in the middle of the schedule.  Many observers claimed that the cause of this was that Locker wasn’t utilizing his biggest weapon, his legs, as often as he could and was trying too hard to be a professional pocket passer.  As the season came to a close, Locker turned to his running abilities more and put on a show against Washington State in the Apple Cup, and one heck of an encore against Cal.  Locker finished the season just shy of his 60% completion percentage goal, and amassed 2800 yards passing with 21 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.  On the ground he had 577 yards, and led the team with 7 rushing touchdowns.

Tail Backs: A

Being teamed up with Jake Locker in the backfield might cause most running backs to get overlooked, but Chris Polk did his best to put as much of the spotlight on him as possible.  Polk became the first freshman in Washington history to rush for over 1,000 yards, totaling up 1,113 of them by the time the clock wound down against California.  Polk was so well rounded in his catching out of the backfield and blocking duties that he rarely ever was not on the field with the offense.  Senior full back Paul Homer did a great job as lead blocker for Polk, and as with most fullbacks, the fact that you never heard his name is a good thing.  Homer quietly performed the dirty work week in and week out to make the running game click.

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends: B+

If we were just grading Jermaine Kearse, this grade would be an A+.  Kearse became Locker’s go to guy about half way through the season and gave opposing secondaries fits with his ability to go up and come down with the ball no matter where Locker placed it.  The other starting receivers on the team, Devin Aguilar and James Johnson, each showed flashes of their potential, but failed to be consistent in their production.  Johnson started the year strong and many thought he might become Locker’s go to guy, but his inexperience and a bad case of the drops caused him to sort of fall below the radar.  Tight End Kavario Middleton shows great hands and ability to get open with route running, but his blocking is poor and his athleticism is in serious question.  He seems to have no ability to maintain balance and gain yards after making receptions, and for most of the season only showed up in garbage time.

Offensive Line: D+

While hard to believe, the offensive line did improve from last season.  Still, the unit has a lot of problems and makes you realize just how impressive Polk’s 1,000 yard rushing season was.  On most of Polk’s carries he was juking defenders in the backfield that the offensive line had failed to pick up, and was encountering linebackers at the line of scrimmage.  Locker was also running for his life far too often as the line did a poor job of blocking pass rushes, especially off the edges as the tackles were letting defensive ends run circles around them.  A play that seemed to sum up the offensive line’s season as a whole came against Oregon state, when offensive guard Nick Wood flat out got shoved back five yards and pushed on his backside as an Oregon State defensive linemen waltzed his way towards Locker in the backfield.

Offensive Coaching: B-

To say that the Huskies offense improved this year over last season would be an understatement, their points per game jumped from 13.2 in 2008 to 26.1 in 2009.  This coaching staff didn’t rely on Locker to do everything as the previous staff did, and actually developed a true balanced offense.  Moving Ben Ossai from left tackle to left guard was also a good move by the coaching staff.  Ossai had tremendous strength and burst off the snap, but his footwork was poor, the move was too little too late however.  Another positive for the offensive coaching staff was identifying the outstanding abilities of Kearse, Aguilar, and even true freshman Johnson.  Last year’s coaching staff seemed way to committed to other receivers regardless of how poorly they played.

However the play calling and time management of head coach and offensive play caller Steve Sarkisian left a lot to be desired, and can be largely blamed for several losses.  Bad time management at the end of the Arizona State game left more than enough time on the clock for the Sundevils to score the game winning touchdown; and poor play calling in the Notre Dame game also very well might have cost them a victory in South Bend.

As the season wore on Sarkisian was more than willing to take blame where applicable and work to fix these issues.  In the final two home games Washington’s offense was unstoppable, and if Locker decides to stick around for his final season, will be a wrecking crew next year with almost all starters returning.

Next Week: Defensive/Special Teams Grades