Jake "Hurt" Locker

As everyone knows, when Jake Locker's name came up as a possible #1 overall pick for last year's draft (had he entered), I was completely flabbergasted. At no time did I ever see Locker as a #1 worthy type of player. People said, "It's because he's a QB." Fair enough. But after watching today's Nebraska/Washington game, my impression of Locker is "MAJOR DEVELOPMENT PROJECT."

The dude is not a QB. He's an athlete playing QB. When it comes to running with the ball, Locker is in his element. No problemo. But when it comes to passing the ball... OMG, hide the women and children and close your eyes cuz it is UGLY. Much like last year, Locker continues to struggle with reading defenses and throwing accurately. If he wasn't throwing into double coverage today, he was throwing an errant pass that his receiver had little chance of catching.

Locker is a gifted physical specimen with a strong arm. He threw a beautiful 45 yard TD pass to Jermaine Kearse. Problem was, that play accounted for more than half of Locker's aerial output today as he threw for only 71 yards (on 4 of 20 attempts) the entire game. Plus, Locker had all day to throw the TD pass cuz Kearse got behind the secondary and was wide open. Though the stats showed 2 INTs, Locker could've easily had two more.

I'm sure he'll have better days, especially given how poor the Pac-10 conference is (see: Nebraska 52, Cal 31). Nebraska was the test to see how Locker would perform against tougher competition and Jake failed miserably. People like to offer the excuse that Locker's still trying to learn Sarkisian's offense. If that's the case, slap that Nate Davis tag on him right now. Locker's in his SECOND YEAR of Sarkisian's offense. Even guys like Pat Barnes and Kyle Boller were able to adapt to a totally new offense within one spring/offseason.

If I had to make an NFL comparison for Locker, it'd be Kevin O'Connell.