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WASHINGTON2003 Outlook 2003 OutlookHuskies Look to Get Back into Pac-10 RaceWith Explosive Offense and Veteran DefenseConsidered one of the favorites to contendfor the 2003 Pac-10 championship, the Washingtonfootball team will attempt to meet those expectationswith 14 returning starters and 46lettermen as the foundation for the team.The Huskies will feature a pair of the topplayers in the nation in quarterback Cody Pickettand wide receiver Reggie Williams. That duo,combined with the majority of the offensive line,wide receiver Charles Frederick and tailbackRich Alexis, could make the Huskies hard to stopon offense. Improving the running game to balanceout the attack will be the chief area ofimprovement for the offense.The Husky defense, while lacking a marqueestar, features seven returning starters. Headliningthat group is senior linebacker MarquisCooper, who led the team in tackles last season.The Huskies were among the nation’s top teamsagainst the run last year and should be considerablybetter in the secondary with the return of RocAlexander at cornerback and a healthy JimmyNewell at safety.The Huskies face a tremendous challengeto start the 2003 season when they travel to facedefending national champion Ohio State for anationally televised game. The Buckeyes couldcertainly serve as an example to the Huskies ofwhat type of improvement a team can make in asingle year. After going 7-6 in 2001, Ohio Stateposted a perfect 13-0 mark last year. Coming offtheir own 7-6 season that included a 34-24 loss toPurdue in the Sun Bowl, the Huskies have theirsights set on a similar turnaround.OffenseThe Huskies would like to strike a betterbalance between running and passing the ballduring the 2003 season. Last year, Washingtonbroke various school passing standards whenthey threw the ball 621 times during the season.Only Texas Tech (770) and Hawaii (731) threwthe ball more, both playing 14-game seasons.While the passing game was stellar, therushing game produced just 74.5 yards per game.An emphasis on improved line play and a coupleof talented redshirt freshmen at tailback couldhelp add more productivity to the ground attack.QuarterbackThe old adage in the Pac-10 is that it takesa senior quarterback to lead a team to the RoseBowl. That has been the case for nine of the last11 teams to win the conferencechampionship. Washington isfortunate to have veteransignalcaller Cody Pickett in thatrole.The fifth-year senior will bea top preseason candidate forboth the Davey O’Brien Awardand the Johnny Unitas GoldenArm Award, which are presentedto the nation’s top quarterback.He’s also considered one of thetop players to watch for theHeisman Trophy. WhileWashington’s more balanced approachmay mean that Pickettwill not duplicate the record numberof passing feats he accomplishedlast season, his ability tolead the Huskies to victoriescould mean much more in termsof individual awards.Pickett took full advantageof Washington’s game plan tothrow the ball in 2002. He passedfor more yards than any player inPac-10 history, including USCquarterback Carson Palmer, the Heisman Trophywinner. In the expanded 12-game season,Pickett threw for 4,458 yards, becoming the firstWide Receiver Reggie WilliamsQuarterback Cody PickettPac-10 signalcaller to pass for more than 4,000yards in a season. He also benefited by theNCAA’s decision to count postseason results inseason statistics for the first time.As it turned out, Pickett did not need theextra games to eclipse the existing Pac-10 passingrecord set by Washington State’s Ryan Leafin 1997. He blew by Leaf’s mark of 3,637 yardsduring the 11th game of the season.Pickett finished the year ranked secondnationally with 28.08 completions per game andwas third in total offense at 328.7 yards per game.He is the leading returning player for the 2003campaign in both categories. Only Hawaii’s TimmyChang returns with more total passing yards(4,474) than Pickett (4,458), but he racked up hisimpressive total in 14 games, one more than hisHusky counterpart.Already a four-time letterwinner, having beengranted a medical redshirt for the 1999 season inwhich played in just one game, Pickett enters hisfinal season at UW with 6,783 career passingyards. He needs to average 261 yards per gameas a senior to join the exclusive 10,000-yardpassing club.An extremely competitive athlete, Pickett30
2003 Outlook 2003 OutlookHUSKIESTailback Rich Alexishas demonstrated that he has a vast array ofpasses in his repertoire. He can throw the deepball — he has six pass completions of more than70 yards in his career — and has the touch to leadrunning backs as they run screen patterns.Pickett’s size and speed gives him great mobilityin the pocket and he has been called on to run theoption in the past. With 26 game appearancesand 23 career starts, he has the game savvy andleadership to guide a veteran offense that includes26 letterwinners.Pickett impressed Husky fans during hissophomore campaign when he suffered a painfulshoulder separation at midseason. He only allowedthe injury to keep him out of one gamebefore returning to his starting role, where hepromptly set the school single-game passingrecord with 455 yards against Arizona.Aside from Pickett, there are no other quarterbackson the roster that have played in a game.Sophomore Casey Paus and redshirt freshmanIsaiah Stanback will battle for the backup spot.The duo gives the Husky coaches some variety atthe position.The 6-foot-5 Paus is more of a classicdropback thrower while Stanback could be usedas a conventional passer or an option quarterback.Stanback is considered an outstandingathlete who presents Washington with the abilityto run the option.Running BackThe Huskies return two veterans at tailbackand will look to a pair of redshirt freshmen toimprove the productivity of the position. SeniorRich Alexis, the most veteran player at the position,missed spring drills while recuperating fromoff-season shoulder surgery.Alexis has appeared in 35 games, includingeight starts last season. He has rushed for 1,805yards and 24 touchdowns during his career.Alexis has also proven to be an effective passreceiver. Twenty-seven of his 44 career receptionscame last year, including seven catches ina game against Wyoming.Junior Chris Singleton was third on the teamin rushing in 2002 with 224 yards on 64 carries.His top outing came against UCLA when herushed 20 times for 92 yards. Singleton startedagainst the Bruins and Oregon State and hascarried the ball a total of 78 times during hiscareer.Two highly-touted redshirt freshmen, KennyJames and Shelton Sampson, bring additionalspeed to the position. James was regarded asone of the top prep running backs coming out ofthe high school ranks in 2001, having rushed for2,900 yards and 49 touchdowns during his senioryear. He missed most of spring practice due to asprained knee.Sampson won three-consecutive state 110-meter high-hurdle titles as a standout prep athlete.During the winter he competed for the Huskytrack team and ran a NCAA indoor qualifying timein the 200 meters.The Huskies return all of their fullbacks fromlast season. Heading that group is junior ZachOffensive tackle Khalif Barnes31Wide receiver Charles FrederickTuiasosopo, who moved to offense last springafter starting his career at outside linebacker. Hecarried the ball 15 times last season, the onlyplayer at the position to run the ball.Also returning to the position are sophomoreTy Eriks and senior Adam Seery. LikeTuiasosopo, Eriks started at UW as an outside
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