Fret not for Jake Locker, who deferred his NFL dreams a year to play one more time for his beloved Washington Huskies. Even if U-Dub doesn’t reach the Rose Bowl — or any bowl, for that matter — he will not have made a mistake by hanging in Seattle a little longer. It’s never the wrong move when you’re truly happy. And, by all accounts, Locker is having fun.

“He’s a guy’s guy,” Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian says. “He enjoys college and doesn’t isolate himself from the rest of the campus.”

This spring, while top draft prospects were busily preparing themselves for NFL scrutiny with endless workouts and enduring an investigative process that aims to find out how many times they were put in the corner as first-graders, Locker and his girlfriend were relaxing south of the border during spring break. His opportunity to submit himself to the preparatory grind will come, but this time Locker was content to head down to a friend’s timeshare in Mexico and “hang out.” It never hurts to have about a half-mil in your pocket, courtesy of the Los Angeles Angels, who wrote a check just in case Locker (a great high school ballplayer) decides to return to the diamond. But it wasn’t about the money. Locker likes where he is, and he sees no reason to hurry his move into the NFL.

“He’s a not much of a standout person living the crazy high life,” says Paul Homer, the starting fullback on last year’s team who graduated in the spring. “He’s a normal dude, doing what everybody else does.”

You can bet Sarkisian and the rest of the Husky world are happy Locker prefers the college life right now. Despite some early forecasts that the 6'3", 226-pounder might be a top-10 choice, he chose another year of development in Sarkisian’s offense, which looked to be pretty darn potent the final two games of the ’09 season, Sarkisian’s first in Seattle. Washington throttled Washington State and California by a combined 72–10 score, and Locker looked practically infallible. “It was awesome,” Homer says. In those two games, Locker completed 35-of-51 passes (68.6 percent) for 444 yards, four TDs and a pick as well as rushing for 171 yards and three more scores. Granted, the opposition wasn’t exactly Alabama, but it showed what Locker and Sarkisian’s offense were capable of. Why wouldn’t anybody want to come back to see how that plays out for a full season?

“That played a huge part in my decision,” Locker says. “One of the biggest factors in my coming back was the chance to be very successful and win a lot of football games.”

Locker is also pointed the right way. His three seasons at UW have been tumultuous and have featured injury (a broken thumb limited him to four games as a sophomore), controversy (the ridiculous excessive celebration penalty given to him against BYU in ’08), disappointment (the last, futile years of Ty Willingham’s tenure), upheaval (Sarkisian’s arrival) and criticism (run-first QB struggles to become a pocket passer). Perhaps Locker just wants a season without any drama beyond the suspense regarding each game’s outcome.

He also needs to become a more accurate quarterback and continue his development within Sarkisian’s pro-style attack. There can be no questioning Locker’s outstanding physical tools. He’s fast, has a big arm and is tough. What he has lacked is the ability to work within an offense and make the right decision almost every play. The end of last season showed that Locker is capable of that and is even more dangerous when he embraces every option available to him on the field.

“A lot of quarterbacks today are being trained at a very young age to play the position,” Washington quarterbacks coach Doug Nussmeier says. “They start early taking drops and making reads. (Locker) wasn’t that guy. He grew up as a phenomenal athlete and a phenomenal baseball player. His room for upside development is huge, and we saw that last season.”

While the need for further development may not have scared off NFL teams, there can be no questioning that another year in Sarkisian’s offense will benefit Locker, who is just beginning to master reading defenses, getting deep into his progressions and knowing how to keep plays alive with his legs, rather than abandoning them to run. Neither Nussmeier nor Sarkisian expects Locker to be a statue in the pocket, especially if protections break down quickly or he is unfamiliar with a particular coverage scheme he encounters. That’s where Locker differentiates himself from other QBs, who might get sacked or force a throw to avoid losing yardage. His ability to run can save the day, but it shouldn’t carry the day. Further, the more Locker runs, the more he exposes himself to contact, and that’s something Sarkisian doesn’t want his quarterback to endure. No matter how big Locker is and how much punishment he can administer, it’s foolish to make him a target. Take the snap. Make the read. Deliver the ball. Repeat.

“Since I’ve started playing here, one of the emphases of the coaches has been for me not to run into people,” Locker says. “Last year, I was comfortable running the football at the right time. They didn’t want to take that away from me. It’s part of my game. But it’s not the first or second option. I’ll go through my progression, and if there’s nobody open, and I see a lane, I can take it.

“They wanted me to be more of a pocket passer and look to the third or fourth read.”

That growth continues this season, as does Locker’s affection for collegiate life. A history major, he says he hasn’t “second-guessed” his decision at all. A big reason is his involvement beyond the football field. Not only does he blend naturally within the confines of the UW campus, but he is also a willing participant in community service, particularly raising funds for cancer research. He has done several events on behalf of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle — “I can only imagine what it’s like to have a loved one or yourself going through that,” he says — a carryover of the relationship he developed several years ago with Chelsey Ebert, who died of cancer in 2007. “To give some people some hope is very rewarding,” says Locker, who plays in the golf tournament that benefits the Chelsey Ebert Scholarship Fund.

It’s a full life Locker leads, one with little time for regret, whether over a choice to play football rather than baseball or to put off the NFL for another season. There’s too much still to do, and looking back is not an option. Locker needs to improve his game, help Washington continue its climb back into the Pac-10 picture and get ready for next spring, when a trip to Mexico for spring break is unlikely.

Not that Locker will be too upset about that. He’ll be busy impressing the NFL.

This feature appears in the 2010 Athlon Sports Pac-10 magazine. Click here to purchase your copy.