Can I have your autograph, please? By any name, a big change

They are a small number of letters that might be making a big statement about the direction Tyrone Willingham feels the University of Washington football program is taking.

When UW players greeted fans for the team's annual Picture Day on Saturday at Husky Stadium, they did so wearing jerseys with their names on the backs.

It's the first time since the 2004 season when Keith Gilbertson was coach that players had names on their jerseys.

Willingham decided to take the names off the jerseys before his first season in 2005, feeling it was something he needed to do to emphasize his overall philosophy of putting "team before self."

It was a policy that didn't go over well with a number of fans, who understandably found it harder to figure out who was who without names on the backs. Names were a fixture on UW jerseys from the Don James era until Willingham was hired.

"It was 'Who's that? What's his name?' " said Peggy Olson, a regular attendee of UW games since 1960 who was happy to hear of the change while attending Picture Day. "I think it's great."

Willingham said making life easier for fans was part of his reason for again putting the names on the jerseys, especially because Washington often has two players wearing the same number — there are 15 "double numbers" on the current roster.

"It's about helping our fans, that's one, and I couldn't eliminate double numbers, that's two," Willingham said. "I just know if you are sitting in any stadium in America and you've got double numbers, especially at certain positions, how can you tell who is who? I respect that — that's a legitimate concern I've had from day one."

Willingham said for whatever reason, it's been harder to eliminate double numbers here than at his previous stops at Stanford and Notre Dame. UW has 101 players on its current roster and players are limited to wearing certain numbers depending on the position they play. Player preference also plays a factor.

"My guys like certain numbers," Willingham said. "I'm not superstitious, but part of my job is making sure that I'm aware of other people's superstitions, so you try to help where you can."

The bigger motivator for putting names on might have been that players are apparently grasping Willingham's "team before self" mantra.

"I think we keep growing, we keep maturing, and that's an important element," Willingham said. "It is important that we understand that one of the keys to being successful is putting the team before self, and when that concept is fully embraced you have a better chance to have success."

UW athletic director Todd Turner said the decision to return the names was Willingham's, and that while he heard some complaints from fans the past few years, he also heard from many who said eliminating names was "sending the right message."

"But what it also shows is that Tyrone is a great listener and a deliberate listener who takes it all [in] and makes the right decision," Turner said.

Some players had heard rumors of the change for months — it had been speculated on message boards and in newspapers — but others said they didn't know about it until they got their jersey Saturday.

"It's awesome," said defensive tackle Jordan Reffett. "I had no idea about this ."

Reffett described his excitement to "re-releasing a bird into the wild. Everybody's jacked up about it."

Quarterback Carl Bonnell, meanwhile, said he thinks "it's an important thing in creating that connection between the program and the fans."

It also solves a practical problem for Bonnell, who is a senior. Seniors are traditionally allowed to keep the jersey from their final year and Bonnell said some players had taken to getting their name put on the back, something that will now already be there.

"I think everybody is excited about it," he said.

Something as small as putting a name back on a jersey doesn't figure to affect what happens on the field.

But Reffett agreed the gesture may be Willingham's way of showing some added faith in his players, something that could pay off later.

"I think that [team before self] is really starting to show itself," Reffett said. "There's really becoming a family atmosphere here."

Willingham, however, left one caveat — the right to change his mind.

"We'll see," he said. "We'll see how the personality [of the team] works out."

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com. Read his blogs on Washington football and basketball at www.seattletimes.com/huskies