Locker can run as well as Crouch?? I find that very, very hard to believe.
He cannot, and it's not even close. Locker is a pocket passer with just-above-average scrambling ability. He's not anywhere near Crouch's running ability - different in every way. Locker's first step is lumbering, not explosive. He's got in-line speed but nothing remotely close to Crouch's elusiveness. It's an absurd comparison.
Actually, it is the opposite. He is a runner, and only under Steve Sarkisian has he started to stay in the pocket. Locker runs between a 4.4 and 4.6 40 time, very explosive, and can lay a hit. Unfortunately, I have had to watch UW games way too much.
Actually, I'm right on. Locker isn't a true runner. He
can run, but there's a huge difference between a running QB and a QB who can run. Locker and Crouch are exact opposites - Crouch was a runner who could pass, Locker is a passer who can run. Locker is probably a better runner than Crouch was a passer, but the forte of each is the run (Crouch) and the pass (Locker).
Maybe it's a matter of who you're comparing Locker to. If you're comparing him to pocket passers, he's definitely to be considered a runner. Like I've said, he has better-than-average scrambling ability. However, it's clear that Locker is never, and I mean never ever, going to be confused with a running QB like Steve Taylor, Turner Gill, Tommie Frazier, Eric Crouch, etc. He's not in the same running class as Tyrod Taylor or Colin Kaepernick, but he's ahead of guys like Case Keenum and Joey Elliott.
To put it in Big XII terms, I'd rate Locker somewhere around Blaine Gabbert, but below Todd Reesing and Colt McCoy. Again, if they think they're going to beat Nebraska running Jake Locker, more power to them. Sarkesian runs a pro-style offense similar to USC's, so I doubt this, but if they want to pull a fast one they're welcome to try. Locker will get the hell knocked out of him and be rather wounded by the end of the game, but whatever. Colt McCoy is a more dynamic runner than Locker by far, and we bottled him and his WRs up pretty good. I haven't looked into Washington's O Line yet, but I'm guessing they're not better than the Texas O Line we demolished in the Big XII CCG. Put Cam Meredith, Baker Steinkuhler, Jared Crick and Pierre Allen up there with backups like Jason Ankrah, Terrence Moore, Thad Randle and Josh Williams that will come in and have zero dropofff in production.... all I can say is, that Washington Line had better be ready for a four-quarter war, and Locker had best get rid of that ball quick.
Locker returns all of his WRs from last year and I think his top RB, so he's not without weapons. Thing is, Arizona had weapons, too. What they didn't have was time. I don't care how big your six-shooter is, but if you can't get it out of the holster fast enough, caliber doesn't matter one bit.
