Keith Price (QB, Washington) vs Baylor

I didn’t include Keith Price among the top 40 watch-list for 2013, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t a player to monitor this year. This was a game where Price outshone Robert Griffin III. It’s also a chance to see UDFA Jermaine Kearse in his final Huskies performance before joining the Seahawks.

10 Comments

  1. Kip Earlywine

    Price is an interesting guy. I could see him going in the top 10 picks or I could see him going undrafted. He’s been a massive upgrade over the 2011 draft’s 8th overall pick Jake Locker, but Price stands only 6’1″ and is currently under 200 pounds. Price played at 185 pounds in this video.

    That said, Price is a hard working, high character guy and it appears he’s been informed that his weight will be an issue at the next level. He’s gained 10 pounds since the end of last season and is still working to get bigger. Ideally, he needs to reach the 220 range, but that might be too tall a task, especially if Price has a huge season and declares for 2013. It’s probably more realistic to see Price around 200 to 210 by this time next year.

    It should be interesting to see how much teams will be willing to overlook his weight and durability concerns. He’s also just 6’1″, and we just saw Chandler Harnish very nearly go undrafted because of height. Similar to Harnish, Price might best be compared to a more talented version of Jeff Garcia (who didn’t get drafted himself but had a solid NFL career).

    The Alamo Bowl was an amazing finish to an incredible season for Price, but like Brock Huard and others, I fear that Price might be in for a down year in 2012. Chris Polk was the true MVP of Washington’s offense the last 3 years. Not just because of his production, but because he just made the entire offense click. Sarkisian runs a pass to set up the run style of west coast offense, very similar to Pete Carroll in Seattle. We saw what happened last year when we didn’t have Lynch. It will be the same for the Huskies in 2012.

    Bishop Sankey and Jesse Callier are good change of pace backs, but neither is a featured back type. Sankey is a Leon Washington Clone, and Callier is a bit like Mo Morris. Both have NFL futures I think, but neither is a true first down back, and that’s what Chris Polk was to a tee. The Huskies offensive line appears to be getting even worse too. The end result will likely be the Huskies transforming into something similar to the 2007 Seahawks offense, where they have to pass 60% of their snaps to move the ball. That might actually be bad for Price since play action won’t sell as well and his receivers won’t be open all the time. I guess we’ll see how things shake out, but call me pessimistic for now.

    Then again, Hasselbeck made it work in 2007 and had a monster year. Maybe I shouldn’t underestimate Steve Sarkisian and his new quarterback.

    • PQLQI

      Kip,
      I have a different view of Callier – I see Ryan Mathews of the Chargers. I think Callier is a much more dynamic runner than Polk, but still has that flaw of college RBs to avoid contact in the middle of the field because he has the speed to get outside and turn the corner. It won’t work in the NFL and he needs to learn to initiate and deflect contact in the middle of the field, but Callier is so many steps above Morris to my eye…

      As for Price, I guess height and weight are concerns, but I also see a tendency to push the ball on shorter passes and when he rolls out of the pocket and throws on the run. It’s important to take pace off of short passes and account for the extra distance on a throw when running, but ideally you take the pace of by using less arm cock and body coiling while maintaining the same wrist/hand action. Price tends to push the ball which leads to floaty non spirals and inconsistent distances. It’s an easily correctable flaw, but it needs to be corrected for a QB that will rely on his mobility at the next level.

      With Price’s year of starting experience, Callier stepping out of Polk’s shadow, and Sefarian-Jenkins getting to know the playbook, it will be a very exciting offense to watch this year. It seems reasonable to me that Callier and Sankey could combine for over 2500 yards of total offense between them.

      • Kip Earlywine

        Morris was a much better college RB than Callier is, and will probably have the better pro-career as well. Honestly, I consider Morris to be a compliment. As far as Mathews, he’s 2 inches taller and 15 pounds heavier than Callier is and is much more physical, a no-doubter 3 down back who drew comparisons coming out of college to Frank Gore. Callier is nothing like that.

        I agree that Callier is more dynamic than Polk in the sense that on special plays he’s a better weapon. The reason I made the Morris comp is that like Callier, Morris was an outstanding change of pace back who wasn’t quite as great as a starter. Callier is a good back when mixed in a few times a game on 3rd downs and special plays like the wildcat or reverses.

        I’m NOT feeling the Sankey hype and I think I’ll be proven right about him. I DO like Callier, I just don’t think he’ll be more than average as a starter. Polk looked much better than either Sankey or Callier looked last year in terms of the possession oriented run game (good gains on 1st and 2nd down, getting firsts on 3rd down).

    • hawkfan

      I think Price meant more to the team than Polk and even though Polk always had good games, the games that Price had good games were the ones the dawgs had a chance to win. Price wasn’t great in the big games (stanford, usc, oregon), but when he was on he was unstoppable. I feel Price will have the same impact Luck did, when Gerhart left, and defenses started to focus on him. If the o-line guys, like tanigawa, etc. get back healthy and protect Price, Price is poised for a big year. He has all the talent in the world. As a husky fan, I think the defense will be better, but Price will have to play extremely well (heisman-level, RG3-like) for any shot at the huskies competing next year for any big bowls.

    • hawkfan

      I actually really, really, really like Sankey. I think he will be the best rb next year and I don’t think it will be close. Sankey has amazing talent and great speed, which showed last year. I know a lot of Oregon fans and in that game against Oregon they felt he was our best rb and he was also the only guy that was breaking free and gaining good yardage against that fast defense. They should have used him more last year. He has good vision and elite breakaway speed and everything you could want in a rb. I think he will have similar production to Polk, but in different ways and surprise people, in the same way Price replaced Locker and surprised people last year. I also wouldn’t compare him to Leon, because Leon is much smaller built than Sankey and even though Sankey is small, his build in the shoulders and other areas is built to take hits and be a feature back. I feel he is much more built for big hits than Callier and would be a great feature back, unlike Callier. Sankey and Callier are a good duo and they may not replace Polk’s production, with Price taking more responsibility, but I feel they will both scare defenses in different ways and explosively and keep defenses on their heels.

  2. Barry

    Huh, last I knew Washington was a stud at FSU….

    Awesome write up guys! I love price as our QB and hope he stays his full time. That said the kid needs to add weight and keep it on. If he cant show that he can at least keep his weight at the 215 mark it will really hurt his stock. At 200 he looked skinny and at 185 he looked like he might break with the next hit.

    As far as the run game goes I expect our O-line to be improved as well. Callier has better straight line speed then Polk, but not feel for the game that Polk possess lets hope that can improve with more game time.

    • hawkfan

      If Price gets bigger and plays great next year and leads UW to a great year, I’m afraid that he might bolt for the draft. I’m hoping he doesn’t, but it’s a possibility. We’ll see.

      • peter

        Icould almost see him staying, if The QB class is really going to be Jones, Wilson, Bray, Barkeley, Geno Smith, soemone that no one knows about yet, and a few others. Unless he absolutely dominates like a one loss season, and some absurd numbers every single game….I could see him staying for his senior year instead of being pushed down the draft boards. And I like Price way better then a lot of names on that list, especially Hawkfan if yo are going with the potential argument, I think he has the chops now to see what a god coach could build on, add a littel weight, and tada! someone could have a good to great QB….

  3. Curt

    How nice was it to watch this game without seeing the Husky defense!

    • Kip Earlywine

      lol.

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