UW Football Notes | Stanback runs his way under a microscope

They are building up Isaiah Stanback in Oklahoma this week, all in the hope of tearing him down Saturday.

The Washington quarterback rushed for 102 yards against San Jose State last Saturday, which particularly caught the eye of the Sooners after they allowed Alabama-Birmingham backup quarterback Sam Hunt to rush for 65 last week, one of several times in recent seasons running quarterbacks have hurt Oklahoma.

"We're going to see a lot better, more athletic guy [this week than last week]," Sooners defensive coordinator Brent Venables told The Oklahoman newspaper.

Sooners coach Bob Stoops said defending the quarterback run would be a key.

"We've got to put ourselves in position in a better way," Stoops said. "Our discipline in some of the run schemes wasn't what it needed to be [against UAB]. And our tackling wasn't what it needed to be. It needs to be a major focus this week."

Said Stanback: "I'm sure their coach is going to go back and make sure they are ready for it."

Stanback, meanwhile, will have to make sure he's ready, too.

He took a lot of punishment against San Jose State on a career-high 17 carries out of UW's new-look spread option offense, including a bruised left hand, which was wrapped much of the week, and a bruised lip.

The hits figure to come even harder this week, something that might require Stanback to be just a bit more cautious.

"I like contact," Stanback said. "But coach [Tyrone Willingham] is always telling me not to hit people. But that's part of football, it should be fun. But I've got to be smarter about certain situations. I've got to know when I need to initiate contact and when I need to protect myself."

White-Frisbee out

Willingham said sophomore defensive tackle Jordan White-Frisbee is unlikely to play Saturday. He suffered another flare-up this week in his surgically repaired foot, an injury that caused him to miss all of last season, and he has not been practicing. Willingham said the team should know more when test results come back next week.

White-Frisbee didn't play last week but that was said to be because UW rarely ran its base defense against San Jose State. If healthy, he was expected to be a key member of UW's defensive front this season after starting eight games as a true freshman in 2004.

Notes

• The Huskies are expected to go through a brief walk-through at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium today. The stadium has a grass surface, something UW played on only three times last season. "You want to get them as acclimated as possible with the new surroundings," Willingham said.

• OU has only one significant injury — receiver Manuel Johnson, out the last two weeks with an ankle injury.