DuRocher ready to take the lead

Last year, while a member of the Oregon Ducks, Johnny DuRocher worked extensively over the summer with his fellow teammates getting ready for the fast-approaching football season. This year, as a member of the Washington Huskies, DuRocher is doing the same thing and trying to take advantage of an open spot under center with the Dawgs.

“We have finals this week, then we'll take a week off and then everyone will come back and hit it,” DuRocher told Dawgman.com this past weekend.

“We’re going to be doing a lot of 7-on-7’s, lots of running and getting in shape,” the third year sophomore said. “We want to get together with the wideouts doing 1-on-1’s, RVA (routes versus air) and just getting more comfortable with each other.”

One thing DuRocher wants to do is help erase the memory of the worst football season in Husky history, one that he didn’t experience as a player, but saw from a distance as a fan. “Guys are looking forward to getting back at it,” DuRocher said. “I think a lot of guys have a bad taste in their mouth. I think everyone associated with the program has a bad taste in their mouth. It goes from the coaches all the way down to the players. Everyone is looking forward to getting in there.

“We realize it is going to take a lot of work, but our guys are focused and ready to put the work in.”

Some of that work includes getting teammates like Craig Chambers to come to passing camps like the one led by Taylor Barton that was held at Beaverton High School in Oregon last Saturday.

“I think something like this just takes you back to the fundamentals,” DuRocher said. “I think that sometimes we get away from the fundamentals, especially in terms of footwork and I know when we go out we just like to go out and throw a bunch of routes and throw the ball deep and call it a day.

“Doing something like this kinda gets us back doing the stuff that got us where we are now, and that only helps us. You can tell, we come out here and you get us with our wideouts, we can complete ten balls in a row but there will be little fundamental flaws in what we’re doing and then we correct those and there will be two balls in the dirt and one over the head. We just need to get back to doing the right thing all the time.”

As the quarterback, DuRocher needs to be a leader, but he said it’s too early for him to just be THE leader. “You can’t really come in and take over a leadership role. It has to be something that is felt…you have to earn it,” he said. “I haven’t really been around long enough to really earn my spot as a team leader but hopefully over the course of the summer guys will see the way I go about my business.

“There isn’t one person who will work harder than me and hopefully when guys see that, I’ll be a guy they can follow.”

It sounds like hard work is the name of the game this summer under the DuRocher Plan.

Johnny DuRocher Scout Profile

Taylor Barton Passing Camp highlight video – Johnny DuRocher (requires subscription)

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