Hobert Well Above Average : Huskies Haven’t Missed a Beat With Former Back-Up Quarterback

Of the top 15 teams in the Associated Press preseason poll, only Washington opened the season with a quarterback who had never started a game.

But the Huskies have sailed along behind Billy Joe Hobert, who was considered only the second-best quarterback at the school until Rose Bowl star Mark Brunell was felled by a knee injury last spring.

In helping the Huskies post an 8-0 record and tie for the nation’s No. 2 ranking, Hobert has passed for more touchdowns and for only six fewer yards than Brunell did all last season.

Hobert is the leader of an offense that ranks first in the Pacific 10 Conference and fourth nationally. He has completed 60% of his passes for 1,726 yards and 15 touchdowns, with seven interceptions, and has accounted for more touchdowns by rushing and passing than any other quarterback in the Pac-10.

And yet, the 6-foot-3, 225-pound sophomore from Puyallup, Wash., rates his performance as only slightly above average.

“I think I’ve played maybe a C-plus (for) the year, compared to what I think I should be doing,” said Hobert, who will lead the Huskies against USC Saturday at the Coliseum. “Maybe that sounds a little bit conceited because a lot of people think I’m having a great year.

“But I know what I can do and I know what I want to do, and I don’t feel like I’m doing what I should be doing. I know I can get better, and maybe that’s a good sign.”

For the Huskies, maybe, but not for the rest of the Pac-10.

After losing out to Brunell in a battle for the starting quarterback job in the summer of 1990, Hobert attempted only six passes last season, completing four.

He mainly watched as Brunell led the Huskies to a 10-2 record, the Pac-10 championship, a 46-34 victory over Iowa in the Rose Bowl and a No. 5 national ranking.

“It was difficult just because I like to play,” Hobert said. “It’s hard to really feel like you’re part of a team when you’re sitting on the sidelines.”

He got his chance after Brunell, player of the game in the Rose Bowl, injured his right knee during a spring scrimmage.

Not all has gone right for the rookie quarterback.

Hobert suffered a pinched nerve against Arizona in the Huskies’ fourth game and completed only five of 15 passes for a season-low 72 yards.

Hobert turned a few heads, including Coach Don James’, when he said the Huskies should find a way to play the teams ranked ahead of them in the polls.

“Personally, I hate this (bowl) system,” Hobert said. “If it was me, I’d dog the Rose Bowl. I’d find some way to kill that obligation, and I’d go find Florida State, or Miami, and play for the national championship. I wouldn’t even care if we went on probation for it.”

James asked him to consider his words more carefully before he spoke, and Hobert then declined interview requests for a week.

“I realize what I said was a jerky statement, but it was something I believed in at the time,” Hobert said this week. “It’s something I totally withdraw right now.”

His own worst critic, Hobert said: “I can improve on my decision-making. I make a lot of stupid, stupid plays (mistakes) that people in junior high don’t make.

“I nicknamed myself ‘the Scud’ during spring practice because I knew where I wanted to throw it, but it just didn’t get there.”

Said Brunell: “I think he has played great. For a sophomore, he has really stepped in and moved the ball. He’s got some great statistics. The best stat of all, of course, is his won-loss record.”

It’s second to none.