BYU football: Huskies' Locker to test Y. defense

PROVO — For the second straight year, BYU opens the season against one of the top quarterbacks in the nation — a Heisman Trophy candidate and the projected No. 1 overall pick in the National Football League draft.

Last year, it was Oklahoma's Sam Bradford, who ended up being the top selection of the 2010 draft despite suffering a serious shoulder injury in the Sooners' setback to the Cougars.

This year, on Saturday, it's Washington senior Jake Locker, who passed for 2,800 yards, rushed for 388 yards and was responsible for 28 touchdowns a year ago.

"Anytime you face a player of that caliber, you get excited," BYU defensive end Vic So'oto said of Locker. "You want to play against the best, and he's obviously one of the best in college football. It's fun and exciting to have a measuring stick to see where you are as an athlete and as a defense."

"It's just like last year," said Cougar safety Andrew Rich. "We were able to play against a guy like Sam Bradford. We accept the challenge, and we're excited for it. We know we're going to have to play extremely well."

This isn't the first time the Cougars have faced Locker. In 2008, in the second game of Locker's sophomore year, BYU edged the Huskies 28-27, thanks in part to an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty called on Locker after he scored a touchdown on Washington's final drive. The Cougars blocked a long extra point in the waning seconds to preserve the victory.

"I don't remember much of the game other than the last drive," said coach Bronco Mendenhall. "That just showed that when (Locker) had to make plays when he could create and had to do different things, he's capable. I was very impressed with him then, and I think he's a better player now."

This time around, the 6-foot-3, 230-pound Locker is a senior. He's benefited from one season under the tutelage of coach Steve Sarkisian, a former BYU All-American quarterback who was instrumental in the development of two Heisman Trophy winners at USC: Carson Palmer and Matt Leinert.

In that 2008 BYU-Washington meeting, Locker rushed 18 times for 62 yards and completed only 17 of 35 passes for 204 yards. After completing 53.8 percent of all of his passes in 2008, his completion percentage jumped to 58.2 percent last season.