Published: Sunday, April 22, 2012, 12:01 a.m.
Huskies' offense falters in scrimmage
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SEATTLE -- Asked to name his biggest concerns heading into spring ball, University of Washington football coach Steve Sarkisian included the need to replace offensive playmakers like Chris Polk, Jermaine Kearse and Devin Aguilar.
Three weeks into spring practice, the search goes on.
That much was evident to the thousand or so UW fans who showed up for the team's first open practice of the spring Saturday at Memorial Stadium in downtown Seattle. The Huskies struggled to generate much offensive firepower for most of the afternoon during a two-hour practice that was highlighted by several situational scrimmage sessions.
During the non-goal-line sessions, the UW offense scored just two touchdowns in 17 possessions. Running back Jesse Callier had one of the few highlights when he broke a 26-yard touchdown run to cap off a 97-yard drive, but otherwise the UW run defense controlled the line of scrimmage. Quarterback Keith Price was the most effective ball carrier -- quarterbacks are not allowed to be hit -- and threw a few nice passes, including a pinpoint accurate 31-yard touchdown pass to Cody Bruns after the UW offense got just two first downs on its first two possessions.
But mostly, the defense carried the day.
"We always want to come out and have a good showing, whenever the fans are out here," said senior safety Justin Glenn, who stripped tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins for a drive-ending fumble early in practice and then added a pass breakup on the 6-foot-7 tight end in the end zone a few minutes later. "It's just having fun, playing football.
"(New defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox) talks about flying to the ball. We're going to make mistakes, but if you make them, make them at 100 miles per hour. ... If we keep building on this and keep working hard in the offseason, we could have a special defense this year."
Price said he wasn't overly concerned with the Huskies' offensive performance, nor with the lack of playmakers stepping up.
"We have some new things that we wanted to try out today," Price said after Saturday's session, in which he completed 12 of 18 passes for 137 yards. "We weren't trying to light up the scoreboard or anything. We understand that it's practice, so we were just trying to go over the little things, the situational stuff. There weren't a whole lot of deep plays being called in the first place."
UW's ground game, which is without Polk for the first time since the spring of 2008, has been particularly slow to emerge. Callier and Bishop Sankey each broke off one good run Saturday, but mostly they struggled to find holes and make things happen behind a band-aid offensive line.
"We're not really focused on trying to compete with Chris," said Callier, who had six carries for 47 yards during Saturday's scrimmage. "Chris is gone, and he did what he did here. We're just trying to make a name for ourselves out here."
Callier and Sankey are likely to split the load in the fall, but the Huskies were hoping to get a boost from converted quarterback Antavius Sims as well. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound Sims has struggled to make the transition thus far.
"It's just like a foreign language," running backs coach Joel Thomas said when asked last week about Sims's transition to the position. "We're speaking Spanish, they speak Japanese -- and I speak English. So it's different. We're all trying to get on the same page. But to his credit, he's trying to get better."
UW saw some good things out of freshman fullback Dezden Petty in Saturday's scrimmage, but most of that came against the second- and third-team defense.
Overall, UW's offense still has a ways to go.
"We're definitely not satisfied," Callier said. "We're not satisfied at all. We want to go out and get better every day, and there's a lot of stuff we can work on. We're confident we can do that as the season goes on."
Notes
Junior wide receiver James Johnson (concussion) was held out of Saturday's practice. ... The musical chairs on UW's first-team offensive line has stopped, at least for now, and Stanwood High School product Dexter Charles appears to be the odd man out. Charles is working as the No. 2 left tackle, behind Micah Hatchie, while Erik Kohler and James Atoe take almost all the snaps as first-team guards. UW is currently practicing without starting center Drew Schaefer (sprained knee) and starting guard Colin Tanigawa (coming off knee surgery). ... The Huskies will hold four more practices this week, including a Saturday spring game at CenturyLink Field in Seattle. ... Senior Nate Fellner has made the full transition from safety to linebacker, where he was working at the starting strongside position Saturday while Taz Stevenson was out due to illness.
Three weeks into spring practice, the search goes on.
That much was evident to the thousand or so UW fans who showed up for the team's first open practice of the spring Saturday at Memorial Stadium in downtown Seattle. The Huskies struggled to generate much offensive firepower for most of the afternoon during a two-hour practice that was highlighted by several situational scrimmage sessions.
During the non-goal-line sessions, the UW offense scored just two touchdowns in 17 possessions. Running back Jesse Callier had one of the few highlights when he broke a 26-yard touchdown run to cap off a 97-yard drive, but otherwise the UW run defense controlled the line of scrimmage. Quarterback Keith Price was the most effective ball carrier -- quarterbacks are not allowed to be hit -- and threw a few nice passes, including a pinpoint accurate 31-yard touchdown pass to Cody Bruns after the UW offense got just two first downs on its first two possessions.
But mostly, the defense carried the day.
"We always want to come out and have a good showing, whenever the fans are out here," said senior safety Justin Glenn, who stripped tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins for a drive-ending fumble early in practice and then added a pass breakup on the 6-foot-7 tight end in the end zone a few minutes later. "It's just having fun, playing football.
"(New defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox) talks about flying to the ball. We're going to make mistakes, but if you make them, make them at 100 miles per hour. ... If we keep building on this and keep working hard in the offseason, we could have a special defense this year."
Price said he wasn't overly concerned with the Huskies' offensive performance, nor with the lack of playmakers stepping up.
"We have some new things that we wanted to try out today," Price said after Saturday's session, in which he completed 12 of 18 passes for 137 yards. "We weren't trying to light up the scoreboard or anything. We understand that it's practice, so we were just trying to go over the little things, the situational stuff. There weren't a whole lot of deep plays being called in the first place."
UW's ground game, which is without Polk for the first time since the spring of 2008, has been particularly slow to emerge. Callier and Bishop Sankey each broke off one good run Saturday, but mostly they struggled to find holes and make things happen behind a band-aid offensive line.
"We're not really focused on trying to compete with Chris," said Callier, who had six carries for 47 yards during Saturday's scrimmage. "Chris is gone, and he did what he did here. We're just trying to make a name for ourselves out here."
Callier and Sankey are likely to split the load in the fall, but the Huskies were hoping to get a boost from converted quarterback Antavius Sims as well. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound Sims has struggled to make the transition thus far.
"It's just like a foreign language," running backs coach Joel Thomas said when asked last week about Sims's transition to the position. "We're speaking Spanish, they speak Japanese -- and I speak English. So it's different. We're all trying to get on the same page. But to his credit, he's trying to get better."
UW saw some good things out of freshman fullback Dezden Petty in Saturday's scrimmage, but most of that came against the second- and third-team defense.
Overall, UW's offense still has a ways to go.
"We're definitely not satisfied," Callier said. "We're not satisfied at all. We want to go out and get better every day, and there's a lot of stuff we can work on. We're confident we can do that as the season goes on."
Notes
Junior wide receiver James Johnson (concussion) was held out of Saturday's practice. ... The musical chairs on UW's first-team offensive line has stopped, at least for now, and Stanwood High School product Dexter Charles appears to be the odd man out. Charles is working as the No. 2 left tackle, behind Micah Hatchie, while Erik Kohler and James Atoe take almost all the snaps as first-team guards. UW is currently practicing without starting center Drew Schaefer (sprained knee) and starting guard Colin Tanigawa (coming off knee surgery). ... The Huskies will hold four more practices this week, including a Saturday spring game at CenturyLink Field in Seattle. ... Senior Nate Fellner has made the full transition from safety to linebacker, where he was working at the starting strongside position Saturday while Taz Stevenson was out due to illness.
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