The key word here is *was*. Jake Locker was strictly a running quarterback running a wing-T coming out of high school. He has been an unbelievable runner the last couple of years, even with defenses completely stacking up against the only weapon we had. You only got a glimpse of his running abilities because Sarkisian is trying to get him to think pass first.
At 6-3 230lbs, Locker runs a legit 4.39. He has been the fastest player on our team since he got here. He leaves fast linebackers and safeties in the dust. It's like they are standing still. I have never seen any college QB do that -- not Tebow, not even the triple-option QBs of the 80s and early 90s. If he was a running back, he'd be the best white running back in a long, long time. Again, you only got a glimpse last night.
Attitude and leadership wise, you can't find anyone better. Even though the local team was terrible, he stayed loyal and never considered any other college. He's always been totally positive, a ray of hope shining through the huge negativity surrounding the Husky teams of the past few years. He's about the only person who always speaks positively of his former coach, Tyrone Willingham. He has carried his team as few players in college football ever have, with no complaints whatsoever. He has never regretted his choice of playing for UW.
The best thing that ever happened to Jake Locker was Steve Sarkisian showing up and putting him into a pro-set offensive scheme and making him a pocket passer.
A good argument can be made that Steve Sarkisian is now the best QB coach in football. A disciple of Norm Chow, Sarkisian is credited with turning Carson Palmer around his senior year. Sarkisian has almost a perfect record of developing NFL-ready quarterbacks: Carson Palmer (#1 in 2002), Matt Leinart (dropped to #10 in 2004), John David Booty (5th round in 2008) and Mark Sanchez (#5 in 2009). And now Jake Locker. I watched spring practices, player drills over the summer, and many of the fall practices and scrimmages. Sarkisian's quarterback training is superb.
Last year, at least for four games, Locker could hit the short passes okay, but was not very good at the intermediate passes and completely hopeless on the long ones. It wasn't clear that a running QB who did not get the thousands of passing reps in his early years could ever become a great passer, but the improvement has been dramatic. He actually looked better in practices than in yesterday's game. I thought he would do better, but given the tremendous opposition and that this was his first time in anything close to that type of offensive scheme where he was expected to be almost a pure passer, it wasn't too bad. (Although Sarkisian wants him to concentrate on pocket passing, I hope he puts in more play-action with Locker rolling out into the open field where he can outrun most linebackers.)
Jake Locker *was* a running quarterback, but because of Sarkisian, he is now a dual threat quarterback. Given Sarkisian's record of developing NFL-ready quarterbacks, Locker's prospects in the NFL draft, hopefully after two seasons, in 2011, are good.
Can we compare Jake Locker to Tim Tebow? Locker has the talent and he has the perfect coach to develop his passing, but we have to respect Tebow's accomplishments on the big stage, and we haven't seen enough of Locker's passing. We cannot put Locker in the same class -- at least not yet.
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