Washington Quarterback Jake Locker to Return to Washington Huskies for 2010 Season

Jake Locker has announced he is returning to the Washington Huskies for one more season. The return of Jake Locker to the Huskies for his senior season immediately makes the Huskies much better in 2010, but it also seems like a big risk for Locker to stay in college for another year. Experts had been predicting that Jake Locker would be an early first round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft if he decided to pass on his senior season, and it had been thought that he would leave behind a Washington team that had been one of the worst in college football over the past two seasons.

Now with the announcement that Jake Locker will be coming back to Washington for his senior year, it puts the Huskies in a position to possibly content for the 2010 Pac-10 title. A senior quarterback in the Pac-10 is worth a lot to any team, and with the talent that Jake Locker has, this could turn out to be a really great season for him. There is also a good chance that Locker will put up numbers good enough to generate a lot of Heisman Trophy talk, with the potential that he could end up being the #1 draft pick in the 2011 NFL Draft. Those are of course the best case scenarios for both Locker and the Washington Huskies.

Coming back for his senior season doesn't come without a lot of risk for Locker though, as in football an injury can come out of nowhere to sack a player and his draft status. Sam Bradford is one of those players that came back for one more season in college after winning the Heisman Trophy last season, but now a bad injury has scouts questioning how high he is worth drafting in the 2010 NFL Draft. Locker is the perfect sized quarterback to make it in the NFL, so if he can find a lot of protection from his offensive line in 2010, he could see his draft status get even better as the season goes along.

Jake Locker put up some good statistics again in 2009, with 2,800 passing yards and 21 touchdowns. He also posted a 129.75 passer rating, but still didn't get noticed very much when Washington posted a 5-7 record. Washington was 0-13 in 2008 with Locker only seeing limited playing time, but the team seemed to improve a bit in 2009, and maybe Locker sees a lot of talent on the team that could really help him shine in 2010. Locker still has some maturing to do on the field, but there is a strong chance that he could really put it together next season, and Washington Huskies fans have to be ecstatic to have one more season of Jake Locker taking the snaps.

Sources:

2009 Jake Locker Game Log

Locker Returning for Senior Season