Sarkisian: Price to start in Apple Cup

It appears at least one team’s starting quarterback will be playing in the 2011 Apple Cup at CenturyLink Field.

Washington coach Steve Sarkisian said Monday that sophomore Keith Price will start against Washington State on Saturday.

“Keith will start,” Sarkisian said. “He came back, looked good (Sunday), just got knocked down a couple times there.”

Price has battled myriad injuries, the most recent being a second sprain of his left knee that kept him from starting last week’s 38-21 loss to Oregon State in Corvallis.

While redshirt freshman Nick Montana started, Price played two series in the fourth quarter, leading UW on a late touchdown and throwing an interception in the other.

“He looked pretty good moving around Saturday, and he looked pretty good yesterday rehabbing it,” Sarkisian said. “Hopefully he can have a good week of work and really play and keep the stamina and strength of the knee to where he needs it to be to really play well into the second half.’’

There was some debate among Huskies fans why Price was healthy enough to play late in the game, but not healthy enough to start. Sarkisian tried to give an answer.

“One of the keys for Keith is the longevity of the game,” he said. “That was one of the reasons we decided not to start him last week, just to be able to hold up for 70 to 80 plays. When he has gone in and played banged up, it’s the wear and tear of the game into the third and fourth quarters. And so we were trying to get him as healthy as we could.”

The difference with Price at quarterback is noticeable. Even with his recent struggles against Oregon and USC, Price’s numbers still rank high in Huskies history.

He’s completed 198 of 296 passes for 2,334 yards for 26 touchdowns with 11 interceptions. Price’s touchdown total is two shy of the single season record held by Cody Pickett. If he were to maintain his current completion percentage of 66.9, it would eclipse Steve Pelluer’s single-season record of 65 percent.

Beyond the numbers, the Huskies value Price’s leadership.

“Keith is a competitive young man,” Sarkisian said. “He is tough physically. He is tough mentally. He can endure anything that gets thrown a quarterback’s way.”

It’s been a rough season for Price physically. At 6-foot-1 and generally listed at 195 pounds, he doesn’t have the size to take much abuse.

Price suffered a sprained left knee in the first game of the season, followed by a sprained right knee the next week.

He also battled a sprained left ankle and a sprained shoulder before suffering injuries to both knees again in a loss to USC.

But Sarkisian likes what he’s seen from Price of late.

“I thought he looked great yesterday in his rehab session,” Sarkisian said. “As we move into this week’s game, I would imagine that without the wear and tear of banging on that thing, the swelling is back to normal and back to where his knee should look normal. I think he will feel fresh.”

Montana’s first start was uneven – about what you would expect from a freshman. He completed 11 of 21 passes for 79 yards and two touchdowns, but also threw an interception and lost a fumble.

“I thought Nick played OK,” Sarkisian said. “There are plays where he did some nice things and some plays that were uncharacteristic of him, from what we’d seen in practice. But that stuff, for a guy making his first career start on the road for a redshirt freshman, that’s understand(able).”

INJURY UPDATES

Redshirt freshman left guard Colin Tanigawa is out for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. Senior Nick Wood will step in and fill the spot. Wood started one game in 2009 against LSU.

“I thought he played admirably the other night against Oregon State,” Sarkisian said. “But there are some other opportunities for guys that could step in and play.”

Another option would be to have starting right tackle Erik Kohler move to left guard, where the sophomore started a few games last year, and move redshirt freshman Micah Hatchie to right tackle.

“That’s definitely something we could do and we have to look at this week,” Sarkisian said. “We’ve just got to take a look at our options and how it looks and what it feels like.”

The Huskies listed junior Nate Fellner as the starter at free safety because of the injuries to Justin Glenn (concussion) and Will Shamburger (stinger). Sarkisian said he hopes both Glenn and Shamburger will be ready to play Saturday. Outside linebacker Garret Gilliland, also out with a stinger, should also be able to play.

Ryan Divish: 253-597-8483 ryan.divish@thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/uwsports/