Washington Quarterback Keith Price Still In Infancy Stage
Since Steve Sarkisian replaced Tyrone Willingham as Washington’s head football coach there have been two starting quarterbacks. Jake Locker and Keith Price. Locker, who headlined a weak 2006 recruiting class went on to become one of Washington’s best quarterbacks to ever dawn Purple and Gold. He came into Washington as “Montlake Jake” and four years, two coaches and a bowl win later Locker is known as “Mr. Washington”.
Along with Sarkisian, the two saved the Washington football program. Now that Jake has moved onto the NFL 2011 is Sark’s time to prove what he can do with his own quarterback. Keith Price, who remained committed to Washington as apart of the 2009 class when Sarkisian was hired is now the starting quarterback.
Price, at 6-1 174 was recruited as an athlete out of Saint John Bosco High School and was known as a spread type quarterback.. Now in his second season at Washington Price is well acquainted with Sarkisian’s pro style system. Vice versa Sarkisian has a feel for what Price’s strengths and weaknesses are and it’s helped propel Washington’s offense to the top in college football.
While Price hasn’t racked up the yards of an elite quarterback he’s made up for it in passing touchdowns and efficiency. Price is currently ranked tied for second in passing touchdowns (21), fifth in quarterback rating (177.9) and eleventh in completion percentage (69.4).
Impressive numbers for any college quarterback let alone a true sophomore. However Steve Sarkisian said after the Huskies 52-24 win over Colorado that Price is still in the infancy stage in his college career.
“He’s just in the infancy stage right now, he’s got a long way to go”.
With Price’s performance through six games it’s a delightfully scary thought that he’s still in the “infancy” stage in his career as a quarterback. Granted as a redshirt sophomore you have at least one if not two more years to grow but with Price’s success this season it’s amazing to picture what’s to come.
In his first full season as Washington’s starting quarterback Price could break a school record for passing touchdowns before the Oregon game on November 5th. Cody Pickett holds the record with 28, followed by Brock Huard (25), Billy Joe Hobert (24 and “Montlake” Jake Locker (21).
Price is currently on pace to shatter Pickett’s record and in doing so lead Washington to its second consecutive bowl game for the first time since the Rick Neuheisel era (01-02). This season also marks the first time Washington has been nationally ranked this late in the season since 2002 when the Huskies were ranked 19th on October 19th before losing to USC 41-21.
After their blowout win against Colorado Washington hit the trifecta in the polls going from not-ranked in either poll to being ranked 22nd in the Associated Press (AP), 24th in the USA Today/Coaches Poll and 25th in the first BCS rankings. This Saturday Washington travels to Stanford California to take on No.8 Stanford and Andrew Luck.
The infant (Price) vs the senior (Luck) will be a good matchup not only for the Pac-12 but for the BCS standings.
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