Someone's hijacking the Best Defensive Player Poll. MKristo Bruce has skyrocketed over the last few minutes. (8:22am)

Sean,

Pretty good with the reference to Dave "You're defending and indefensible position, hence I'm right" Cameron. Getting Lee in a contract year is a great deal for the M's. He'll pitch great trying to get Sabathia-like money in 2011, and if the M's aren't in it by July, trade him to a contender for a bunch of prospects. Jack Z is proving to be a damn good GM for the M's.

You have a problem with that?

The Mkristo supporters are out in full force! We love MKB. But something is up though, no doubt. We've had almost 500 page views alone in the last hour, and believe you me, that NEVER happens around here. And we're up over 900 total votes in a day+? When we only had in the 300's for the last poll? I guess it's my mistake in letting people vote multiple times. It is, as they say, what it is.

Not that it matters, but I think he's paying his own way right now thanks to the Los Angeles Angels? So, "unofficially" the $900/month scholarship isn't a selling point of staying on campus.

In one year he went from being a future Safety or Tailback in the NFL to a legit QB prospect.

I think the only question Jake had to answer to make his decision was... Is Sark going to teach him and give him experiences that will be worth, LONGTERM, more than the potential money he's missing along with being a rookie.

While the UW have made a push to be more competitive in the Pac10 I don't see any big championship rings being a possibility for Jake so that shouldn't ever have been a reason to consider staying.

Open up the current standings and look at the bottom 2 teams in each division. The only 2 that don't have a billion dollars wrapped up in QB futures are the NFC West's Seahawks and Rams.
This leads me to believe it is very likely that he would not have seen any significant playing time (ala Sanchez) as a rookie NFL player.
So again... the likelihood of him being thrown to the wolves in his first year is minimal... the calculation is simple with a LONG TERM perspective.

(almost assuredly...) Last year to make retirement money on first year contract, learning Pro-System in NFL (mostly not playing) behind another QB < Staying one more year with Sark... PLAYING...

I would have LOVED to have been a fly on the wall for what essentially was another recruiting conversation to Locker. With the rumors that he was the number 1 QB on most people's boards and almost a lock at top 15 draftee.. It's hard to imagine that he has anything else to improve as far as drafting value.

Depending on the system your NFL team plays I have McCoy and Locker tied for first - interchangeably.

Thoughts?

anyone look at U-dumb's schedule next year?

@LSU = loss
@AZ = loss
@Oregon = loss
@USC = loss
@Cal = loss

Does anyone think they will beat the Beavers? They haven't lost by an average of over 20 pts per game vs the Beavers in the last six years. That is a loss at home for certain. If Locker wants to shun NFL riches and come back and go 6-6 then who cares.

UW doesn't travel to LSU until 2011 my friend. However, I do love to hear they have already ramped up a Locker 4 Heisman media campaign. Maybe they should set their sites on First Team All Pac 10, before the most prestigious award in all of college sports. Maybe they should focus on getting his career wins into double digits, I mean 8-20 isn't anything to shout about.

Then Softy had a quote from Woodward saying that "he thinks it would be best for Jake to stick around another year." The only people this is good for is Sark and Woodward.

And the kicker is fans say he isn't developed for the NFL yet. Well, do you think he is going to get better coaching from Sark or from an NFL coach? Passing on $30M guaranteed is completely foolish. I would say that a lifetime's supply of cash and the chance to develop your skills under NFL tutteledge is a far better option than maybe having a chance to compete for 2nd or 3rd in the Pac 10. I would have to imagine Oregon, USC, Stanford and Arizona will all be just as good if not better than UW next year.

One word sums it up, foolish!

Portland Coug,

We don't play LSU next year. We play them in 2012.

You are all missing the point about Locker. He's coming back to grow as a quarterback to give himself the best chance to succeed at the next level.

Last year was his first real season under a coach that knows the position. And seriously, who wants to play for the Rams?

This decision appears to be great for the Husky program, and Husky fans. But for Locker, it's a bad financial move, and it's not as if he has been injury free. Another injury could really diminish his draft prospects in 2011.

Wow...the only people this is bad for are the fans of the palouse.

Jake made his own choice, not Woodward, not Sark. He listed three factors. Staying close to his friends, his family, and the success rate for NFL quarterbacks is significantly higher for those that stay all four years.

I love how Sean writes that he's "going to take a step back and give it a "whatever" reaction" but then continues with an essay about the topic. Stop obsessing about, Jake. We all knew he was coming back.

Let's focus on bigger things. Like Cliff Lee and the Big10 potentially expanding to 12 (Press Conference this afternoon).

Jason, are you predicting a win against WSU next year, but not against anyone else in the Pac-10? Is that why Palouse fans are the only ones for which this is bad?

No, I'm saying that the rest of the Pac-10 is happy that an individual decided to finish his four years of playing instead of leaving early for money.

Even the annoying oregon fans on the espn boards are applauding the decision.

And a win against wazzu? Seriously? That's a given.

I actually applaud Locker for staying too. I think it's great to see a kid do this. But if I were his financial advisor, I'd quit. It's not a smart move, financially. Especially considering, as Sean points out, that the new NFL CBA will most likely limit rookie salaries in 2011.

I'll remember your prediction about the Apple Cup next year. Either you or I will eat crow.

Regarding the money, Jake said that he wants to ensure that he gets that SECOND contract. The extension for 6-years, $150M. The rookie contract is nice, but wouldn't you rather put yourself in the best place to succeed instead of taking a lump sum and potentially failing out of the gate?

While Hugh Millen's article in the Times was rather biased, it has some great information about the decision.

You are all missing the point about Locker. He's coming back to grow as a quarterback to give himself the best chance to succeed at the next level.

Wouldn't actually getting his feet wet in the NFL, being coached and possibly playing be better for his long term development? What if he gets hurt next year and never winds up playing in the NFL? Well then all he has is a small insurance policy (not enough to live the rest of your life on) and his tiny baseball contract (if he is hurt, maybe he couldn't even play baseball again.)

But on the other hand, he could go to the Seahawks or Rams, and receive guaranteed life changing money. He wouldn't ever have to play a down, and he would have enough money to live on without ever acquiring a day job.

And he sacrifices all of that for the chance to play in the Holiday Bowl next year? And to be close to friends and family? No offense, but the UW will likely lose to BYU, Nebraska, USC, Oregon, Arizona and maybe Cal next year. You still don't have enough defense. Jake won't even be a Heisman Finalist if the UW loses more than 4 games...

All I am trying to say is that outside of Montlake, this is viewed as a terrible financial decision. And at the end of the day, that is what it's all about. Don't get me wrong I love to watch the kid play, but to anybody that doesn't have a direct stake in UW Athletics, this is seen as completely moronic...

Jason,
Locker was guaranteed to make a huge amount of money by going pro this year. He's now guaranteed not to by staying, and as for the second NFL contract, a lot of things have to go right for that to happen - they're going pretty well for Matt Lienhart, aren't they? I'm not saying things won't go Locker's way, but you can't possibly think that the path you described is less or equal risk compared to going pro this year.

BTW - I can't speak for anyone else Jason, but I do appreciate that you've moved past the "troll" level on this blog.

You do need to perform on a rookie contract, before getting that second pay day. Leinart is a prime example. The guy who backed him up all of college, Matt Cassel, is having a better professional career. And I do second the nod to you for not being a troll.

I guess I paid the troll toll.

Financially, why wouldn't you want money now as opposed to in 12 months. Makes sense. But, there are more important things than money. Maybe he really cares about leaving a strong legacy at UW?

Regarding injuries, these guys play football. People get hurt. And the percentage of lottery QB's that suffered injuries that were career-threatening came back 87% of the time to succeed in the NFL.

Lastly Lucas, yes. I feel that tutelage under Sark/Nussmeier he will have a greater potential to succeed than either holding a clipboard or getting rocked under a poor O-line in STL or SEA. Look how much he's improved already.

He also has $300k in his bank account thanks to our division rival.

I hope more quarterbacks choose this path. Who knows, maybe Jeff will be in this position in two years.

A lot of guys say they want all those other things, and that they are more important than money. Some end up backing that up by their actions, others don't. I can't say one way or another about Jake Locker. I'm inclined to believe him, since he's a stand-up guy, IMO. But who really knows? I'm pretty sure you don't either. Let's see what happens.

JasonUW, where in the world did you get 6-year, 150M for an extension? That would make him the highest paid player in the history of the NFL by a very large margin.

I applaud this decision. If Bledsoe, or Leif or Rosenbach had done this we all would have a ticker tape parade through downtown Pullman. The young man is not hurting for money and he will have his shot at one of 2 professional sports, but this isn't all about the money for him and I am pretty dismayed at how few commenters here and elsewhere don't respect that. He is loyal to his school, to his fans, to his coaches and teammates. He is living his dream right now, for one more year. He will have the rest of his life to make millions toiling away in a soulless league, switching teams, fans, teammates, coaches, and cities umpteen times. Its a shame when a young man turns down getting rich quick, for deeper and more meaningful loyalties and gets criticized for it.

Soze,

Rivers just signed a seven-year, $183 million contract extension with $71 million guaranteed.

i'm totally not pass the troll thing though...montlake jake is coming back one more year just to beat you pullman pussies!!!!! hahaha haters!!!!

love,your favorite husky troll

I guess if he goes out and gets hurt next fall, everyone can wring their hands about what a bad decision it was to come back. The thing is Longball, and you know I respect your opinion greatly, but Leaf and Bledsoe were both #1 or #2 draft picks, and all the guaranteed dough that goes with it. When both of them declared, it wasn't like people were thinking they were going to sneak into the first round of the draft, or even be a mid-first rounder. Everyone was saying they are in the top one or two QB's, if not players, in the whole draft. While at the time I was disappointed that they were going pro, I never once doubted that it was the right thing.

There is only so much tread on the tires and when you are being told you are going to go in the top handful of picks, and in the last year of rookie guaranteed money, why not take the sure thing? The 300k in the bank account is nice from the Angels, sure, but that isn't even in the same solar system as to what he coudl have made in his rookie NFL contract.

Here's the other thing everyone is missing. WHAT IF LOCKER DOESN'T IMPROVE!?! Everyone simply assumes he will be a hell of a lot better, just because he is coming back. And yes, no question about it, he took a major step forward in his development in just one year in the Sarkisian/Nussmeier system. But what if he, oh, I don't know, stays about the same next year? What if he ends up giving the NFL too much to look at, so to speak, where they drill down and pick him apart with more miles of tape to study? And who's to say UW's o-line will be any better? They were better this year, but are they going to take a huge step forward and protect him even better? That is certainly not a championship-level O-line, and you aren't going to hear that from a Coug-only point of view. I heard Ed Cunningham say that on KIRO earlier today, that the o-line was the biggest reason that Sam Bradford got his clock cleaned this year, and it has to be a concern for Jake Locker going into next year.

I guess what I'm saying is when you are staring at a payday that can set up your future, your kids future, and maybe even your kids' kids future, you jump while you still can. Tomorrow is guaranteed to no man!

JasonUW, you know that $183 million number is a complete joke in NFL contract terms. The NFL contracts are only as good as the guaranteed money. Not that $71 million is anything to sneeze at, but what he'll actually get on that deal is less than half of the $183 million on paper.

Meant to post this in this thread:

I was in Blockbuster on Stadium Way during Christmas break of his senior year. At the time, everyone was thinking that he was a lock to be drafted and make an NFL team. Anyways, I'm walking around and I hear this really loud voice talking into a cell phone. There was only a couple people in the store at the time so you could hear him throughout the whole place. I look over and sure enough it's MKB. Being the nosy person I am, and feeling as though he's just asking for someone to listen to his conversation, I start eavesdropping. He must has been talking to an agent of some sort, or a business manager, I dunno for sure. But what I do know is that he was talking about the Escalade he just purchased, and furthermore about the "half-a-million-dollar-house" that he was going to be looking at in a couple of weeks (not sure the location). This guy thought he was the king-sh!t, that's for sure. We all know how that turned out. I think he's on a UFL roster in Florida or something, he never stuck in the NFL. I wonder if he's still driving around in that Escalade pretending to be some huge baller, LMAO!

Apparently, he's spending all his free time jacking up his poll results on this website BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

I haven’t felt the need to comment here for awhile (still read the blog every day…keep up the good work, fellas!), but this whole Locker decision and the comments pertaining to it here have me taking to my keyboard.

Let me preface my comments by saying that I admire Locker for making the decision that was best for him in his mind. That being said, whoever is advising him financially is either not well-versed in the time-value of money and maximum earning potential, or doesn’t truly have his best interest at heart. That, or Locker would rather leave a “legacy” (of a losing record as a starter and perhaps one middling bowl appearance/victory) at his alma mater than immediately cash in the opportunity of a lifetime.

While Jason UW may be correct that Locker may realize an even bigger 2nd contract as a result of staying one more year, that’s a very big gamble at best. At worst, he never recovers from the loss of potential income. What nobody here has pointed out yet is that one can never get earning years back, which is compounded by the fact that the earning years of a professional athlete is a very small amount of time.

Additionally, the local honks on sports radio in my neck of the woods were talking about this very subject this morning and Eric Wilhelm (former Oregon State and NFL QB) pointed out, and I quote, “I learned more in 30 minutes with Sam Wyche (his first NFL head coach) than I did in 4 years at Oregon State.” Granted, OSU was terrible when he was there, but the point was, you’ll learn more about being an NFL QB by being in the NFL, even if you’re just holding a clip board as opposed to staying an extra year in college. Which leads me to believe that Locker would have a better chance at the big 2nd contract if he jumped now, too.

But, that's his choice, I guess.

Hawk,

I don't disagree that financially Locker has been handed a winning lottery ticket and decided to double down. He is by all accounts a lock to be in the first 3 QBs taken (likely #1) and there isn't anything he can do at the college level to make him better than going to the NFL would. I don't think there is any disputing that.

What I'm saying is that his decision shows integrity. As fans of the college game we should all be applauding him and holding him up as an example, rather than ridculing his financial sense (or cents?). I don't blame kids for leaving early when there is a huge payday luring them away. IT's totally understandable, and i waste no breath critisizing them for it. However, when a kid makes the opposite decision, to forgo the guarenteed cash for a different set of principles and in this case, because he genuinely loves his team and wants to be part of their success, I have nothing but admiration for that. Not too long ago we were all fed a line (or was it 5 lines?) about "servitude" and we lapped it up like feel-good gravy. When it turned out to be a bunch of BS, a lot of people just shrugged it off because, well, there was lots of $$$ involved. There are too many examples of people abandoning their principles for money these days, and for the trend to be bucked by a 20-some year old kid speaks volumes to the kind of guy he is.

Money. Come on, folks. In the comments above people are honestly parsing the difference between 183 million and 71 million dollars. Umm, either way you are stinking filthy rich. At some point what the hell is the difference? How much of a price do you put on leading the team you love to a bowl game? Neither Jake, nor his future family are going to be on a street corner begging for alms any time in the future, so don't worry, he didn't throw his life away with this decision.

Hope to see more of these...

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/huskies/2010516701_uwfb16.html

really guys if the decision was only about money, he would be gone. i'll give him just a bit of credit that there are things more important than money. (and ok it's hard to give a dawg credit for anything!!)

it's not really a bad decision on locker's part. wise??? well not really, but that's a different matter.

I agree with Longball. It is completely stupid to leave money on the table like Locker has done. Way too many factors outside of his control that will jeopardize big money. So please no Husky defend this decision as a smart one financially because it is not.
BUT, again this guy loved his school so much that he chose to stay. If I was a UW fan that is what I would be proud of.
The problem is that everyone wants a happy ending when someone decides to stay so they defend as so wise, such as time to mature, time to further develop and then we will get more money in the future. Hogwash. For every Jr. that bombed I got a ton of Sr. that flopped.
Foolish decision moneywise, but great decision for any college football fan.

Well said, and you too, longball.

It's impossible to know what might happen. Two extremes come to mind:

Sam Bradford - should have gone pro
Peyton Manning - stayed and it worked out pretty damn well

came to mind - Ryan Leaf - left and it didn't work out at all.

Hawk - you should do the current poll over - it's obviously been manipulated.