Analyst sees some Jake Plummer in UW’s Keith Price
Oct 14, 2011, 1:56 PM | Updated: 4:51 pm
By Brady Henderson
Keith Price’s succession of Jake Locker as Washington’s quarterback will inevitably generate comparisons between the two.
But Jason Stiles, an analyst for Root Sports who played quarterback at Western Washington University, has a different name in mind when thinking of a player whose game was similar to that of Price.
 Price’s mobility has been limited by knee and ankle sprains. “This is the best I felt all season,” he said Monday following the Huskies’ bye. (AP) |
“I almost liken him to Jake Plummer a little bit,” Stiles told “Brock and Salk” on Friday, referring to the former Arizona State quarterback who earned the nickname “Jake the Snake” for his elusiveness.
“I think he probably makes a little bit better decisions with the football than Jake Plummer, but you talk about a guy that can keep plays alive, extend plays, allow maybe a little bit of sandlot football to go on, which is when a lot of those big plays happen. I think Keith Price has got a little bit of that in him. I’m anxious to see him really develop that as that ankle gets a little better.”
With Price healthy, Stiles said, Washington could expand its playbook and utilize his mobility, specifically with zone read plays and rollouts on play-action passes. Sprains to both knees and an ankle have kept Price mostly confined to the pocket this season. He has netted just four yards rushing after losing 66 on 11 sacks.
Stiles agreed with Brock Huard’s contention that the decreased mobility caused by those injuries has, in some ways, been beneficial to Price’s development. Through five games the redshirt sophomore has completed over 68 percent of his passes, throwing 17 touchdowns and only four interceptions.
“You learn to truly become a quarterback there in the pocket,” Stiles said. “You know that you’re limited in being able to get away, or you feel a guy coming on your backside and you know that you don’t have the explosion to get away. I know that feeling very well. You have to sit in there and you’ve got to make the throw and I think there’s definitely something to be said for that.”
Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon shared that opinion during a conversation with Dave Grosby and Dave Wyman on Friday, calling Price’s injuries a blessing in disguise.
Price said Monday that he’s feeling as good as he has all season after Washington’s bye week.
