Not 20 minutes after Syracuse had finished disparaging of Akron last Saturday, Chandler Jones was already thinking ahead. He knew the task at hand — well, almost.

There was, well, this quarterback. Jones knew him as a pretty good quarterback, arguably the best player in the Pac-10. He’s the Heisman Trophy frontrunner. The potential No. 1 overall pick in next year’s NFL draft.

Yeah, what was his name again?

‘Next week, you really have to focus,’ Jones said following SU’s victory over the Zips. ‘You have a good quarterback — Jake, or Chris, Locker. Whatever his name is. He’s supposed to be a first-round draft pick, but we should get ready for him and game plan.’

Whether Jones actually couldn’t remember or just didn’t want to give Jake Locker too much credit doesn’t matter much. After bending Akron quarterback Patrick Nicely to their will, Jones and the rest of the Syracuse (1-0) defense will face their first real test when they travel to Seattle to face the Heisman candidate Locker and Washington (0-1) at 7 p.m. Saturday (Fox Sports Northwest).

‘It’s a great opportunity,’ senior linebacker Doug Hogue said. ‘I can’t wait. The supposed No. 1 draft pick coming up in this draft. It’s great. I can’t wait to play him.’

Aside from containing Locker, SU will also be trying to begin the reversal of 45 years of futility on the West Coast. Syracuse is 1-11-1 in West Coast road games since 1964, a figure head coach Doug Marrone pointed out at his weekly press conference on Monday. To make the Orange’s task even more daunting, Washington is 23-2 at home since 1970 when facing an East Coast team.

Nicely never stood a chance against a dominant SU defense that forced increasing pressure as the game progressed. He was hassled, sacked and knocked down, leading to a final stat line of 12-for-35 and just 111 yards passing.

Following the Orange’s three turnovers, its defense proceeded to go out twice and force a three-and-out. The other time, backed up to its own 18-yard line, the defense didn’t allow any yards and forced the Zips to settle for a field goal. The unit didn’t allow a touchdown in the game, something it failed to do all of last season. The three points allowed were the lowest for the team since 2005.

And immediately after the win, the unit turned its attention to the cream of the crop of NCAA quarterbacks.

‘I think if you just read the press clippings and the bios,’ Marrone said, ‘they’re all true. He’s a very, very talented quarterback who can run, move and throw the ball anywhere on the field. … He’s probably the top quarterback coming out this year. No disrespect to anyone else, but you still have to go out there and play and perform, at every level, at every position, no matter who you are.’

SU has had a taste of Locker before. Last time, it was the start of something big for Locker, and it was the continuation of a long trend downward for Syracuse football under former head coach Greg Robinson.

Locker, then a redshirt freshman, torched the Orange in the first Friday night game ever in the Carrier Dome, using his wheels to open up the field. He rushed for 83 yards and two touchdowns, completing 14-of-19 passes along the way, in a 42-12 thrashing of SU.

Derrell Smith remembers. He was a redshirt freshman in 2007, and a running back at that, the last time the Orange saw Locker. Smith recalls the game vividly, admittedly because he had a numbing headache for much of the following week from cut blocking a Washington defensive end. But he also remembers standing on the sidelines and watching Locker.

‘I do remember Jake Locker’s first game,’ Smith said. ‘He was extremely fast. I just remember that. We definitely won’t take his speed lightly.’

That speed is something that sets Locker apart. It’s the reason SU defensive coordinator Scott Shafer ‘looks like he does,’ tired and coughing profusely between answers from a sleepless half-week of game planning for Locker.

What makes Locker so hard to defend, Shafer says, is his speed. Scrambling, he can turn a four-second play into an eight-second play, resulting in more ground for the line and linebackers to cover and more time for each member of the secondary to mark its man.

And so, the matchup Shafer is keying on in his preparation is, to him, an obvious one.

‘Locker on all 11 (SU defenders),’ Shafer said. ‘He’s a guy that can take a play you have defended really well and move the pocket with his feet. … There’s a reason why he’s one of the top one, two or three quarterbacks in the nation. He’s the guy that keeps me up.’

With much of the concern on Locker in the Syracuse locker room, it’s not completely one-sided.

In the early stages of watching film and preparing to rebound from a 23-17 loss to BYU last week, Locker realizes he is going up against what looks like a vastly improving defense. Last season, SU finished 37th in total defense. This year, after pummeling the Zips, the Orange stands ninth.

‘They’re fast,’ Locker said in a teleconference Monday. ‘They play hard. They get to the ball and make plays. From what I’ve seen, they’re just going to line up and play. They’re not going to do a whole lot of tricky stuff. … We’re going to have to do a good job on offense to move the ball on them.’

And while Locker familiarizes himself with the opposing squad, the Orange defense is getting to know him, too. After a week of preparation for that key matchup of one-on-11, it’s safe to say every single member of the Syracuse defense knows Jake Locker.

Even if they don’t know it’s Jake.

‘We all know Jake Locker,’ Shafer said. ‘Everybody in America does. … So I’m sure Chandler knows that (now).’

Added Shafer, smirking: ‘I know one thing. I know it’s Jake.’

bplogiur@syr.edu

Published on September 8, 2010 at 12:00 pm