The Washington Huskies have yet to finalize who's playing and who's not playing in Saturday's contest with Eastern Washington. The biggest concern is whether tailback Chris Polk will be the main man on Saturday; although it's probably not necessary he plays max minutes, a healthy Polk is better than an unhealthy Polk going forward.
Steve Sarkisian seems encouraged based on what he saw on Monday's practice during the Pac-12 conference call. Both Polk and Johri Ferguson (currently listed as the third string tailback) could both still play on Saturday if all goes according to plan. Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times with more.
Sarkisian said that he is "not going to rule out'' that Chris Polk and Johri Fogerson could play Saturday. He said each "looked good running yesterday and I'm excited to see them today.'' He reiterated that if a decision is made to play Bishop Sankey that he will then play substantially the rest of the season. "If we do that this Saturday you are going to see Bishop Sankey the rest of the year. You'll see him be a factor on this football team not just a one-hit wonder on Saturday.''
Sarkisian is probably hesitant to burn the redshirt year of true freshman Bishop Sankey, who would almost certainly see playing time in the season opener if both Polk and Ferguson are ruled out. But if Sankey has to be used in the opener, using him all season long might not be the worst thing--if he's going to lose his redshirt, might as well give him as many opportunities as possible to produce.
Sarkisian also has some words about Keith Price.
He said what has helped Keith Price's progress is that he has "grown up in this system and hadn't known anything else before, so in some ways he's almost a little bit more comfortable in that aspect because he's never known anything different.''
Price's familiarity with the system could lead to better starts and better efficiency for the Washington offense. But will he be as adaptable as Locker was when he had to deal with pressure circumstances?
That much is unknown, but it looks like Washington football could be trending up in 2011.
For more on Washington football, head over to UW Dawg Pound.