The win came with costs. Like all hard-hitting, physical football games, there’s a level of attrition suffered by each team in the form of injuries.
But for the Washington Huskies, their 31-23 win over California on Saturday at Husky Stadium cost them one of their best defensive players.
On Monday, the school announced that sophomore defensive end Hau’oli Jamora would be lost for the season after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in the second quarter of the game.
The injury occurred when Jamora was chasing down Cal quarterback Zach Maynard and landed awkwardly on the turf. He wasn’t hit on the play.
“He was trying to really avoid a hit,” coach Steve Sarkisian said. “It’s the way our body is structured at times. You turn the wrong way and the knee goes the other way and that kind of stuff can happen.”
The fluke play leaves Washington without its best pass rusher and a team leader.
Sarkisian had no trouble listing all that he likes about Jamora.
“Unbelievable character, great kid, tremendous work ethic, good student,” Sarkisain gushed. “For being such a young guy, he’s a tremendous leader on and off the field. He’s going to be missed in more ways than one – not just rushing the passer, but what he brings on a day-to-day basis for our football team. It’s going to be a good challenge for us to step up and replace him not only on the field but in the meeting rooms, the locker room and things of that nature.”
On the field, the Huskies won’t use any one person to fill the spot. Instead, they will use a combination of players to rotate in at defensive end, which will affect the overall defensive line rotation.
When Jamora went out, the Huskies rotated in redshirt freshmen Josh Shirley and Andrew Hudson. Senior defensive tackle Everrette Thompson also played a few snaps at end, having played there earlier in his career. The Huskies have enough depth at tackle with sophomore Sione Potoa’e and freshman Danny Shelton to offset Thompson moving to end.
“We’ll use a number of guys,” Sarkisian said. “You’ll obviously see Josh Shirley, who I thought had a nice ballgame last week. You’ll see Talia Crichton back over at that spot, which is what Talia played initially here his first year and a half, before he got injured. He’s comfortable at that position. And then we’ll move Everrette outside. You’ll see Everrette more at end, and obviously Andrew Hudson at that end spot. It will give us a chance to elevate Sione and give Danny Shelton more opportunities. It won’t just be one guy. It will be somewhat of a re-shuffling, but guys re-shuffling to positions they are accustomed to playing.”
Thompson was more than willing to move to defensive end if needed.
“It doesn’t matter to me,” he said. “When Coach gives me the game plan, I just do what I’m supposed to do.”
Of all the players, Shirley has the natural ability to be the most disruptive as a pass rusher. The one-time linebacker has moved to defensive end and shown glimpses of being a real threat. But the 225-pound player has sometimes been slow in is transition because his size and his understanding of the demands of the position. Yet, Sarkisian said he thinks that Shirley has shown enough to be capable of being more than just a specialist.
“Pass rushing is his strength, but without a doubt he can play every down,” Sarkisian said. “He did it in the ballgame Saturday. As much as he doesn’t look as big in stature, he’s one of our strongest players on the team. So he’s able to take on blocks and big tackles because of his overall strength that he can play with.”
While the news about Jamora was disheartening for the Huskies, there was some encouraging news on Monday. Freshman linebacker John Timu, who was taken off the field in an ambulance after suffering what appeared to be a serious neck injury, was back at practice. A day and a half after being released from Harborview Hospital, Timu was back running around and participating in individual drills, but wearing a red no-contact jersey.
“Obviously, Johnny Timu is sore from his injury on Saturday, but nothing serious along the lines of deterring him from playing the rest of the season or career-wise or anything of that sort,” Sarkisian said. “It’s just a matter of the soreness reducing so that he can play.”
Sarkisian compared it to getting whiplash from being in a car wreck.
“It’s going to be how his body responds to that,” he said. “There’s nothing structurally wrong. There’s nothing neurologically wrong, which is obviously a great sign.”
EXTRA POINTS
Cornerback Greg Ducre suffered a mild concussion but should be cleared for practice by Wednesday. … Runnning back Johri Fogerson had a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) exam Monday on his left knee after taking a helmet to the outside of it and suffering an apparent bruise on top of a nerve. … Quarterback Keith Price remains tied with Bowling Green’s Matt Schilz for most major college touchdown passes in the country with 14. … Former Huskies defensive back J.C. Pearson will serve as TV color analyst along with former Colorado receiver Jeremy Bloom and announcer Ron Thulin on the Root Sports broadcast of Saturday’s game at Utah.
Ryan Divish: 253-597-8483 ryan.divish@thenewstribune.com
http://blog.thenewstribune.com/uwsports/
Huskies’ opponent this week
UTAH (2-1 OVERALL, 0-1 PAC-12)
When: 4 p.m., Rice-Eccles Stadium TV: Root Sports Radio: 950-AM
Coach: Kyle Whittingham (60-21 in his 8th season)
Against the Huskies: The teams have played just six times – all of them in Seattle and all of them victories for Washington. The most recent came in 1979, when the 14th ranked Huskies prevailed, 41-7.
Wash ington connections: UW linebacker Cort Dennison attended Judge Memorial High School in Salt Lake City, a block from Rice-Eccles Stadium, and grew up going to Utah games. But he wasn’t heavily recruited by the Utes. Utah offensive coordinator Norm Chow has worked with several UW staff members, including Steve Sarkisian, who was his starting QB when Chow was OC at BYU in 1995-96. Sarkisian coached under Chow at USC, while UW defensive coordinator Nick Holt was also a staff member.
Scouting report: The Utes had a bye week after pounding arch-rival BYU, 54-10, on Sept. 17. Under Whittingham, Utah is 6-0 after regular-season byes. Offensively, Utah struggled early with Chow’s system, particularly QB Jordan Wynn after offseason surgery on his throwing arm. Wynn has completed nearly 55 percent of his passes and has made big throws when Utah needed them. RB John White, a juco transfer, is averaging 6.4 yards per carry. He carried for 174 yards and three TDs against BYU. The Utes lead the nation in recovered fumbles (8) and lead the Pac-12 (and rank third in the country) in turnover margin at plus 9, with four interceptions.
Did you know: Utah receivers coach Aaron Roderick was hired by former BYU teammate Sarkisian to coach receivers at UW, but he decided after a week or two to return to Utah.
STATISTICAL LEADERS
PassingAttCompPct.YardsTDsINT
J. Wynn995454.557851
RushingAttYardsAvg.TD
John White613806.25
ReceivingRecYardsAvg.TD
DeVonte Christopher1620512.82
Dallin Rogers10878.70
Dres Anderson915817.61
PuntingPuntsAvgBlk
Nick Marsh841.60
Sean Sellwood741.10
Field goalsAttMadeLg
Colem Peterson6444
2011 schedule
Sept. 1def. Montana State, 27-10Sept. 10lost at USC, 23-14
Sept. 17won at BYU, 54-10SaturdayWashington
Oct. 8Arizona StateOct. 15at Pittsburgh
Oct. 22at CaliforniaOct. 29Oregon State
Nov. 5at ArizonaNov. 12UCLA
Nov. 19at Washington StateNov. 25Colorado
*Home games in bold.
Ryan Divish, staff writer
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