Well, if there’s anything that we are around here, it’s that we can be quick to point out when we’re wrong. And so today, I am here to say that I was WRONG about Jake Locker.
You see, a little over a year ago I was beside myself. Why? Because Jake Locker, projected to be a possible #1 overall draft choice by some NFL “mockers” out there, decided to stay in school. One more year, he said, to try and improve his game while leading UW to a bowl game, one of his biggest goals as a player and a big reason he even came to UW. And most of all, the kid just loved to play college football.
I thought he was INSANE. Seriously, why take the risk of injury or giving teams too much time to tear apart your game? Why not ride the hot hand and leap into the draft, and become another Mark Sanchez, the guy who shot up to a high first round draft choice as a junior? And with labor uncertainty staring everyone in the face, who knew what the rookie money was going to turn out to be for the 2011 draft? Why not take the sure thing, as there is so much uncertainty in life?? Just a terrible decision….or so I thought.
Then, the 2010 season happened. It looked bleak, as UW struggled to a 3-6 record over their first 9 games and Locker looked, well, awful against above average competition (Nebraska, Stanford, Arizona). Meanwhile he injured his ribs, to the extent that “it could be a fracture”….
But just when it all looked like the decision to come back was horrible, UW and Locker circled the wagons. They won their last three games, a couple of them in last-minute dramatic style vs. Cal and WSU, and they got to that bowl game. And then, they go down to San Diego and beat an uninterested Nebraska team, despite Locker strugga-LING mightily against the same Nebraska defense that handed him his lunch in September. But the bottom line? They won the Holiday Bowl, something that seemed preposterous just a couple of months before.
With that, Locker entered the NFL’s poke-n-prod show, where they basically broke him down piece by piece while evaluating him for the draft. And while he was reportedly “OK” at the NFL combine, he did not perform well at the Senior Bowl, so much so that some NFL’ers predicted he could drop out of the first round altogether! And even his pro day workout, while impressive, was deemed incredibly easy by NFL experts who witnessed it, with NFL Network’s Mike Mayock claiming a high school QB better ace a workout like that.
So, it was looking like the 2010 return for Locker was going to be a disaster, that he had pissed away a fortune as a sure-fire top of the first round draft choice. And then last night happened.
I guess there isn’t any other way to say it. I know I am not alone in this, but today, I can easily say that I was wrong about Jake Locker.
I thought he blew it with an injured, less-than-stellar 2010 season. But in the big picture, Locker was right. He came back to accomplish what he went to UW for in the first place, to get to and win a bowl game. And he came back to do all that while still being a high first round draft choice. It doesn’t matter what you think of Tennessee’s decision to take him that high. Maybe they reached, maybe they didn’t. But it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that he is the #8 pick in the NFL draft.
Congrats are in order, so, congratulations and good luck at the next level to #10 (and from a WSU point of view, you won’t be missed!).
All for now. GO COUGS!
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