UW Football
Huskies notes: Injury takes down RB Alexis

By Bob Condotta
Seattle Times staff reporter

	DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES Washington's Charles Frederick finds some open field and returns a punt 86 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter last night against Oregon State in Corvallis, Ore.
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CORVALLIS, Ore. — The roller-coaster career of UW running back Rich Alexis took another big dip last night.

Alexis, a senior who was having his best season since his freshman year, suffered a deep thigh bruise when he was tackled out of bounds late in the second quarter. There was no immediate word on how long Alexis would be out.

Alexis, however, was confident he could return to the lineup soon and maybe even next week against USC. "I'm doing all right, I'll be back," he said as he walked off the field after UW's 38-17 win over Oregon State. "I have a deep thigh bruise but I should have a shot to get back (next week). That's my goal."

Alexis was near the UW sideline on a play in which he was held to no gain when he was hit from behind by Oregon State's Mitch Meeuwsen and linebacker Richard Seigler.

Alexis was down for about 10 minutes before he was taken off on a cart and it initially was feared he had suffered a broken leg or torn muscle.

UW coach Keith Gilbertson said Alexis' leg popped before he was hit and said OSU's artificial turf — the only one of its kind in the Pac-10 — might have contributed. "It's a little grabby," Gilbertson said. "We had a lot of twisted ankles and things like that."

Alexis had gained 26 yards on 12 carries in the game before being hurt.

With Alexis out, redshirt freshmen Kenny James and Shelton Sampson took over the running-back duties. James had earlier scored the first touchdown of his career on a 2-yard run that put UW ahead 14-0 early in the second quarter. James finished as UW's leading rusher with 42 yards on 14 carries.

UW was already thin at running back as junior Chris Singleton — slated to be Alexis' backup heading into the season — suffered a broken foot in training camp.

Alexis has 2,363 yards in his four seasons and passed Robin Earl during the game to move into sixth on UW's all-time rushing list. His 582 attempts rank third in UW history behind Napoleon Kaufman and Joe Steele, and his 28 rushing touchdowns tie him for third on the UW list with Hugh McElhenny behind Kaufman and Steele.

He holds the UW record for rushing yards by a freshman with 726, the year the Huskies went 11-1 and beat Purdue in the Rose Bowl. Alexis struggled the last two seasons, however, before having a rebirth this year. Alexis entered the game ranked third in the Pac-10 in rushing with 540 yards, an average of 90 per game. He had topped 100 in three of UW's last four games.

Pickett settles down

Among the changes the Huskies made this week was taking offensive coordinator John Pettas out of the coaches' box and having him coach from the field. Pettas is also the team's quarterbacks coach. Steve Axman was the team's quarterbacks coach the last two years and always worked on the sideline.

Gilbertson said he thought Pickett missed having someone to talk to on the sideline during the game.

"I just thought 'what the heck,' " Gilbertson said. "Cody was much more settled down tonight. He was a lot steadier."

Pickett finished 19 for 40 for 285 yards and three touchdowns in what was his best game of the season.

Huskies reshuffle line

In an effort to get more of a pass rush and slow running back Steven Jackson, Washington shook up its defensive line, moving Terry Johnson to end and starting redshirt freshman Donny Mateaki at Johnson's tackle spot.

The Huskies worked on the new alignment all week in practice. Washington has had trouble getting a pass rush all season and entered the game with only 16 sacks in six games.

Washington coaches also used the alignment because the Beavers' Jackson likes to run outside, and they wanted to get Johnson — their best defensive lineman — on him.

The new alignment also seemed to give UW a better pass rush early in the game as Mateaki teamed with safety Jimmy Newell to get a sack on Oregon State quarterback Derek Anderson early in the first quarter.

The start was the first for Mateaki, one of the UW's more touted recruits in its class of 2002 out of Iolani High School in Honolulu.

Washington also had a different look in its secondary as cornerback Roc Alexander did not make the trip to rest his ailing shoulder. In something of a surprise, little-used junior Sam Cunningham started in place of Alexander ahead of senior Chris Massey, who had gotten the start one week earlier. It was the second career start for Cunningham.

Pickett makes history

Pickett apparently set one of the more interesting of his myriad Washington records merely by stepping on the field last night.

Pickett played in his third game at Oregon State, which is likely a record for any Washington player — and certainly a quarterback. The Huskies and Beavers have played virtually every year since World War II, usually meeting in Seattle one year and Corvallis the other.

Pickett was able to make his third appearance in Corvallis, however, because of a quirk that saw him play a series in Washington's win in 1999, then be granted a redshirt year after he suffered a back injury. Pickett went 0 for 4 with an interception in what was the only game he played in 1999 as a true freshman. Had Pickett not suffered a back injury later, that game would have counted for a year of eligibility.

"I was thrown on the spot," Pickett remembered earlier this year. "We were up by a lot and we mostly ran the ball. I threw a couple of bad balls and basically that was it. That was my year."

OSU in the red

The Oregonian reported yesterday that the Oregon State athletic department posted a $5.8 million deficit for the 2002-03 fiscal year which ended June 30. That despite the football program having one of its most successful seasons in years — its eight wins were the second-most since 1962.

Oregon State has a budget of $26 million to 28 million and while revenues increased $2.6 million, expenses increased $4.5 million, including $1.4 million related to OSU's trip to the Insight Bowl.

Notes

• Tusi Sa'au got the start at strong guard after sitting out last week's game with a back injury. Sophomore Clay Walker had been listed as the starter but Sa'au showed enough in practice this week to reclaim his spot.

• UW's 14-0 second quarter lead was its largest first-half lead of the season.

• Scouts for the Bears, Giants and Patriots were in attendance.

• Oregon State RB Steven Jackson had a string of 11 consecutive 100-yard regular-season games snapped.

• Oregon State had won seven in a row at home. OSU has won 26 of its last 30 home games, with two of the losses coming against UW.

Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company