Washington Huskies

SEATTLE -- When Erik Kohler walked into practice Tuesday he was greeted by Sheena, a 300-pound Bengal tiger.

When he takes the Tiger Stadium turf Saturday in Baton Rouge, La., the 6-foot-4, 299-pound offensive lineman will be greeted by two more Tigers -- dynamic defensive ends Sam Montgomery and Barkevious Mingo.

“It’s definitely kind of shock and awe when you first see it,” Kohler said.

The junior was talking about the caged tiger that spent the afternoon chewing on its black plastic water bowl, but he just as easily could have been talking about the Tigers he will be trying to keep away from quarterback Keith Price this weekend.

“They’re athletic,” senior center Drew Schaefer said. “They’re big. They’re fast. Those guys are some of the best recruits in the country coming out of high school. They’ve got a lot of speed out there and we’ve just got to communicate, hold onto our blocks and keep Keith healthy."

The Huskies went into their season opener feeling good about the line. Things went well early against San Diego State, until right tackle Ben Riva suffered a forearm fracture that will sideline him for some time.

Washington’s ability to shuffle its linemen and hopefully keep Mingo and Montgomery away from Price will go a long way toward determining how well the Huskies hang with the nation’s third-ranked program.

“What we’ve seen is that they’re an amazing team,” Kohler said. “They’re a really good team. We have a lot of respect for them. It’s going to be an exciting challenge to go to Baton Rouge and play them.”

When Riva left last week’s game, sophomore Mike Criste stepped in at right tackle. This week, though, the Huskies have options, moving Kohler out to tackle, while inserting James Atoe at right guard.

“At tackle, you’re on an island more than anything,” Kohler said. “You’re out there by yourself. You don’t have a whole lot of help. When you're down at guard, there’s a lot more stuff going on, you have the center with you, sometimes you have the tackle helping with you, so it’s more of a physical difference and a little bit of a mental difference than being down inside.”

Kohler started all 13 games at tackle as a junior, so this isn’t a sudden shift. In fact, throughout the fall Washington coach Steve Sarkisian praised the line’s versatility, which will be tested against the Tigers.

“That’s good for us, because we’re going to need those guys during the season and we need depth,” Schaefer said. “As the season goes on, you never know what you can predict or what injuries do come up. The fact that guys can step in and pick up where other guys left off is really good for us.

“I don’t think there’s a sense of panic at all for us right now.”

Kohler agreed with the line’s senior leader. When asked if there was any reason for Washington’s fan base to be worried about the line, Kohler laughed.

“A lot of us are very versatile,” Kohler said. “A lot of us know multiple positions and all of us can excel at those positions. We’re college football players.”

Whether it’s Sheena, Mingo or Montgomery, Kohler isn’t concerned about “shock and awe.”

BATON ROUGE, La. -- In many preseason projections, LSU's defensive line was rated among the two best in college football, along with Florida State.

With FSU losing its best defensive lineman, Brandon Jenkins, for the season, the Tigers' front four looks to now be considered the nation's best without question.

So that makes the Tigers' lack of defensive line production in a season-opening 41-14 win over North Texas Saturday that much more puzzling. LSU had no sacks on Mean Green quarterback Derek Thompson, the result of a UNT game-planning and things LSU wants to improve on.

"I felt like we had a good pass rush against [North Texas], but sometimes they were getting rid of it very quickly and under duress," LSU head coach Les Miles said.

On North Texas' two touchdowns, however, the Tigers blitzed and did not get to Thompson, who threw touchdown passes with the aid of mistakes in the secondary.

"Frankly, on the two [touchdown] completions, we would have enjoyed a little more pass rush," Miles said. "I think what we are doing is correct. We just need to improve on our technique and get to the passer. We need pressure."

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BATON ROUGE, La. -- In a 41-14 win over North Texas to open the season Saturday, LSU defensive end Barkevious Mingo was chipped, double-teamed and generally frustrated by a Mean Green offense whose first order of business seemed to be to avoid the vaunted Tigers pass rush.

“There was a running back and a tight end back there (blocking) most of the time,” Mingo said. “They’d release three (receivers) and got them out on routes.

“But they kept a couple (of blockers) in. They didn’t want any of that.”

Mingo said he does not expect that to be the case this weekend when Washington’s wide-open offense, led by 3,000-yard passer Keith Price, visits Tiger Stadium. Mingo and other Tigers defenders expect the 1-0 Huskies to try to spread the field and attack LSU’s young secondary with as many as five receivers.

“That’s their offense,” Mingo said. “I would assume they would do it.”

That’s good news for Mingo’s desire to get to the quarterback, but a challenge to a secondary that was somewhat protected in the opener by UNT’s preoccupation with getting the LSU front four blocked.

“I think we are going to see a lot of action this week,” cornerback Tharold Simon said. “It’s going to be fun.”

That’s a striking difference from last week, when UNT would usually send out only two or three receivers on pass plays.

“It was kind of boring,” said Simon, who said there were two passes thrown his way, one batted at the line of scrimmage, the other so far off the mark, neither he nor the receiver had a chance to make a play on it.

Thompson completed just 8 of 21 passes for 143 yards, two for touchdowns against what free safety Eric Reid said were blown coverages.

The challenge will be greater against Price, who set Huskies single-season records last season for touchdown passes (33), completion percentage (.669), and pass efficiency (161.09) while throwing for the second-most yards (3,063) in school history.

“He’s a guy who can make plays with his feet,” Mingo said. “He has a strong arm, he keeps his eyes downfield and makes plays. I’ve seen a couple of times where he gets guys jumping (with pump fakes) and then throw a pass and complete it. It’s just something he does.”

Price completed 25 of 35 passes for 222 yards and a touchdown in UW’s 21-12 season-opening win over San Diego State, a game where UW sometimes sputtered offensively. But LSU is expecting a better effort from Price and the Huskies this week.

“I like their quarterback,” LSU coach Les Miles said. “Keith Price is a very good passer.”

Price has high-level talent to throw to.

Receiver Kasen Williams, a former ESPN 150 prospect in high school, caught 36 passes as a freshman and followed that with six catches for 75 yards in the opener, including a touchdown.

He’s one of several receivers Tigers said they’ll have to contend with this week.

“They are a very good route-running team,” Simon said. “They are going to do what they have to do to get open. They run great combinations together. They have a great quarterback, a great receiving corps.”

The Huskies also have a great receiving tight end.

Austin Seferian-Jenkins, the Huskies’ 6-foot-6, 266-pound sophomore, presents LSU’s defense with another prime-time talent to contend with. Another ESPN150 member coming out of high school, Seferian-Jenkins is blessed with tremendous size, yet is nimble and has good enough hands to make all-Pac 12 as a freshman in 2011 after catching 41 passes for 538 yards, the second-most prolific receiving season for a freshman in school history.

He followed that with nine catches for 82 yards against San Diego State.

“He’s the type of player you don’t see that often, so you want to make sure you can get a body on him who can cover him,” said Reid, who, at 6-2, 212, will often get the task of having to cover the big tight end.

“We know he’s a guy they look to in passing situations, so we are going to have to know where he is on the field.”

By “we,” Reid means himself as the lone returning starter and three others who are in their first season as starters. That includes true freshman cornerback Jalen Mills, who will get his first major test as Tyrann Mathieu’s replacement.

“He played a good game,” Simon said of Mills’ debut against UNT. “As we watched film, I saw a couple of things he could have done better.”

He might have to do better against a potentially powerful Huskies pass attack.