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And yet for much of the 2011 season, Price will be compared to his much-lauded predecessor. It won’t matter how well or poorly he plays as Washington’s starting quarterback, the shadow of Locker’s legacy will linger over Price on every snap. It’s the inevitability of following Locker – a player who at times reached mythical status as the Huskies’ signal caller.
“At the quarterback position, I don’t care what school or what level, when you become the starter, there’s always a natural comparison to the player before you,” Washington offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Doug Nussmeier said. “It’s especially true if the player is good before you, or exceptional like Jake was. If you try to be like Jake Locker, you are doing yourself a disservice and you are doing your team a disservice.”
Huskies coach Steve Sarkisian was blunt when he was asked before fall camp about the numerous comparisons to Locker that Price would endure and any advice he would give his recently named sophomore starter.
“Not to try to be Jake Locker. To be Keith Price,” Sarkisian said. “That’s the challenge, because so many times … each and every one of you guys are going to ask him what’s it like to replace Jake Locker, and Jake did this, and Jake did that. Well, at this point, I love Jake to death, I hope he goes on and does great things in the NFL, but he doesn’t get to play for us anymore. This is about Keith Price. It’s not about Jake Locker anymore.”
What Nussmeier and Sarkisian understand is that Price never needed that advice. He didn’t need to be told to be himself. It’s never been a problem from his days as a kid growing up in Compton, Calif., to his high school career at St. John Bosco in Bellflower. The kid who carried a football nearly everywhere he went and owned every NFL jersey he could find didn’t spend his days dreaming of being like someone else. No, he dreamed of playing football in college and then the NFL.
“It was my dream to be a quarterback at the next level, and here I am,” Price said.
But what does being Keith Price mean?
“You have to have fun to play this game,” he said. “I have fun playing.”
Price is a football junkie. The sport is always on his mind. A football is rarely from his reach. He admittedly slept with one as a child. Want fun? Watch some game film.
“This has been my dream since I was 7-years-old,” Price said. “I can’t get enough of it.”
He was heralded recruit coming out of St. John Bosco, which played in the powerful Trinity League in Southern California. Sure, he was overshadowed by fellow quarterback and future USC recruit Matt Barkley at Mater Dei, who was named league MVP. But Price still put up huge numbers, throwing for 2,260 yards and 24 touchdowns and rushing for 579 yards and 10 touchdowns as a senior, and was named co-offensive player of the year.
But Price was humbled a little when he got to Washington and saw how difficult it is to play quarterback at the Division I level.
“It was harder than I thought,” he said. “There’s just so much to learn. There were times I didn’t know what I was doing.”
Washington’s offense is so multiple in its formations and route adjustments. And there are the multiple defenses and coverage looks to learn to read in a moment’s notice.
“Sometimes all the information that is being thrown at you, it becomes almost paralysis by analysis,” Nussmeier said. “It forces guys to really work through the mental side of the game and gather it as they continue to play. You want it so they don’t freeze up as a player.”
Price tried to process and play. It wasn’t easy, but he never threw up his hands and gave up. You don’t quit on dreams.
“Keith went through his first season and into his first spring and I wasn’t quite sure when he would make the next step as a player,” Nussmeier said. “And all sudden we came back to fall camp and it was like the light switched on. He really got it and he really emerged as a player.”
Price was forced into his first college start last year against Oregon after Locker went down with a broken rib. Price wasn’t stellar, but he was solid, completing 14 of 28 passes for 127 yards and a touchdown. He didn’t look overwhelmed.
“I still left a lot of throws and a lot points out there,” he said. “But it showed me that I could play at this level.”
When he won the starting job this past spring, Price didn’t rest on the accomplishment. He studied more, worked out harder, and threw passes as much as he could.
“It’s a real credit to Doug Nussmeier,” Sarkisian said. “From where he was the first day of training camp his freshman year to where he his now, he’s been fantastic.”
Price has taken on the role of a leader.
“Leadership has many definitions,” he said “To me, it’s being someone people can rally behind, people look up to and truly respect. Leadership has a lot to do with respect, and I want people to respect me.”
Price has earned that respect by being himself – smiling, joking and working harder than everyone else.
“There’s a presence about him,” Nussmeier said. “Whenever you are around him, you feel his natural energy and charisma. All good leaders have that presence.”
Keith Price doesn’t have to be like anyone else to do that.
“I’ve waited my whole life for this moment,” he said. “This is what I’ve wanted. I just love playing this game and I’m going to enjoy this moment.”
Ryan Divish: 253-597-8483 ryan.divish@thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/uwsports
