Happy returns for C. Polk

Oct 13, 2009, 12:00 AM

This probably wasn't what most people thought Steve Sarkisian had in mind when he said he wanted to decrease Chris Polk's work load at tailback. On Saturday, Sarkisian had Polk returning kicks against Arizona in an effort to give the Huskies some longer kick returns, an area that has been sorely lacking the past couple of seasons. UW has tried Quinton Richardson, Jordan Polk, Curtis Shaw and Johri Fogerson as kick returners this season, none of whom have consistently given the UW any kind of stellar field position. Chris Polk returned three kicks for a total of 58 yards with a long of 24 against the Wildcats. He also had to leave the game for a while after suffering an injury to his shoulder, the same one he had season-ending surgery on last year. But he returned, and will be ready to go again this week. And expect him to be back there with the kick-return team again, Sarkisian said. "I think he's going to stay there for now because no one else has seized the opportunity, or taken advantage of it, unfortunately," Sarkisian said. "In the perfect world, you don't want your starting tailback returning kickoffs for you, but we just haven't had another guy step up and seize an opportunity to take that role." The Huskies haven't had a kickoff returned for a touchdown since Louis Rankin took the opening kick of the 2007 Apple Cup for a score. CHRISTINE DONE FOR SEASON The impressive story of former walk-on Gregory Christine earning a starting job and a scholarship is going to have a frustrating ending, as Sarkisian confirmed on Monday that Christine will miss the rest of the year with a broken right fibula. He also did some more damage to a nagging ankle injury. Sarkisian said Nick Wood, who has been getting a large chunk of the snaps at left guard recently, will take over for Christine as the starter. "It's unfortunate to lose Greg Christine for the year, but it's obviously an opportunity for other guys to step up to take advantage of," Sarkisian said. Sarkisian named Mykenne Ikehara and Drew Schaefer as other players who could add depth at that position. DEAN SAYS BALL HIT THE GROUND Arizona receiver Delashaun Dean, he of the fortuitous foot, says the ball that deflected off his shoe to Mason Foster for the game-winning interception on Saturday should have been ruled an incomplete pass. The ball hit the ground, Dean told reporters yesterday. "I definitely know it hit the ground," Dean was quoted in a story by The Associated Press. "The ball clearly hit the ground. I felt it graze my foot and, after seeing the pictures, you could definitely see the little black beads from the turf jump up when it hit the ground. I don't know how it got missed, but it did." Replays and stop-action photos are being posted all over the Internet, though none of them really seem to provide a definitive angle that proves whether or not it grazed the turf. Call it payback for that Ortege Jenkins flip 11 years ago. Reach Sports Editor Christian Caple at sports@dailyuw.com.

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