Washington QB Jake Locker Will Start Saturday Against UCLA

Despite the effects of an injury suffered against Oregon, Jake Locker will start for the Huskies this weekend against UCLA, according to head coach Steve Sarkisian.

After having his activity held back in practice early this week, coach Steve Sarkisian took the reins off his quarterback Thursday to test and see how his right thigh injury would respond. Locker passed.

“I wanted to see him run full speed. I wanted to see him really open up and go full speed, and he was able to do that,” Sarkisian said.

Asked if the Huskies’ playcalling would be handcuffed in any way, Sarkisian said, “We won’t hold back.”

Keep an eye on UW Dawg Pound for more updates on Locker and the Huskies.

Although the injury hasn’t made life easy for Jake Locker, the time off the practice field has been beneficial:

In fact, while his coach, Steve Sarkisian, said he doubted Locker could have played this weekend, Locker insisted otherwise.

“I would have been OK,” he said.

He said, though, that a brief bit of rest isn’t so bad after the eight-week stretch the Huskies just concluded — every team UW has played has a winning record, and four games were undecided until the final minute.

“In a sense he’s kind of embraced it, the opportunity to just kind of rest, not only physically but mentally,” Sarkisian said. “I think this has been a good week for him.”

Locker described how the injury felt throughout the game:

“It just felt like it was a Charley Horse through the course of the game,” Locker said. “Once I was warm it was no big deal. … I had a little bit of a limp. It was just tight. I felt it, obviously, but I didn’t think it altered the way I played the game at all.”