Shirley shines against Illinois, poised for comeback year

Josh Shirley has seen his fair share of ups and downs. A highly touted prospect from Fontana, Calif., Shirley signed with UCLA in February 2010, but was kicked off the team after being arrested on suspicion of stealing a purse. He came to Washington, redshirted a year, and then played in all 13 games in 2011, notching a team-high 8.5 sacks. But last season was another low for Shirley. He became a specialized pass rusher and saw less and less action in non-passing situations, eventually becoming something between a role player and a starter for the UW. While Shirley’s primary role is still that of a pass rush extraordinaire, his all around game has significantly improved, and people are taking notice. Last weekend, Shirley had seven tackles, three of which went for sacks, and bothered Illinois quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase all night in the UW’s 34-24 win. “What Josh does best is a speed rusher,” defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox said. “He’s going to continue to hone his craft and the better and better he plays against the run, we’ll allow him to play more run-down situations. In this day and age, with the number of snaps that we see, [the number that] we’re going to see again this week, you have to be able to roll some guys. In a perfect world, you’ll be able to get them in the right situations and we were able to do that a couple times with Josh this past week and he did a good job.” Shirley earned praise from up and down the sidelines following the victory, and it was easy to see why. He was in the backfield repeatedly, making life difficult for Scheelhaase and the Illini, which was exactly his game plan heading into the matchup. “The key was just to be able to get off the ball and play fast as a defense,” Shirley said. “We wanted to make the quarterback uncomfortable.” Uncomfortable is a word that could have been use to describe Shirley last season. After starting the first three games of the year, Shirley’s playing time steadily decreased, and he eventually settled in as a rush end used almost exclusively in passing situations. Even with the decreased action, Shirley was still somewhat effective when he was on the field, with 6.5 sacks to go with 33 total tackles. But Shirley’s progression has taken a major step forward early in the 2013 season. After struggling in the opener against Boise State, when the Huskies did not collect a sack, Shirley busted out of his slump against the Illini in a big way. Head coach Steve Sarkisian said that Shirley’s mindset allows him to be very effective when he is on the field. “I like his maturity,” Sarkisian said. “Josh, like a lot of our team, is growing up. This hasn’t been easy for Josh, I think he thought he’d be the starting defensive end and play every down. Now that he’s got a role as a pass rusher, I thought he came into the game Saturday with a really good mindset, that he was going to affect the quarterback when he got his chances, and he did.” Another high-tempo, pass heavy offense comes to Seattle this week in Idaho State, which means that Shirley will likely get his fair share of snaps. And, while most of these will be as a rusher, expect to see Shirley on the field in some different situations as the Huskies try to get a lot of players significant time on the field Saturday. “We can’t necessarily slow [Idaho State] down,” Shirley said. “It’s who lasts for four quarters. We go against an up-tempo team every week, and they pass the ball 75 percent of the time. We have to get to the quarterback and keep that pass rush going into the fourth quarter.” Reach reporter Daniel Rubens at sports@dailyuw.com. Twitter: @drubens12

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