Our countdown of the Pac-10's top 25 players continues.
No. 2. Jake Locker, QB, Washington
2009 numbers: The 6-foot-3, 226-pound Locker completed 58 percent of his passes for 2,800 yards and 21 touchdowns and rushed for 388 yards and seven scores.
Most recent ranking: Locker was ranked sixth in our final Pac-10 top-30 list last year.
Making the case for Locker: While this list isn't about NFL prospects, Locker's are hard to ignore. He's a certain first-round pick next spring and could go No. 1 overall. As for his standing in the Pac-10, Locker likely would be the No. 1 pick among conference coaches. Only Stanford's Jim Harbaugh, who has No. 4 on this list, would pause. The only reason Locker is not No. 1 is the guy ahead of him is so fabulously accomplished that his body of work can't be denied. Locker is the leading returning player in the conference in total offense and scoring (his 28 total TDs tied Stanford's Toby Gerhart and Oregon's Jeremiah Masoli). He accounted for 372 total yards in the 2009 opener against LSU, the ninth-best total in school history. He led the Huskies to an upset of USC with a clutch performance -- 4-for-4 for 56 yards -- on the game-winning drive. He accounted for five TDs in a season-ending win over California. The 2007 conference Freshman of the Year, his 2008 season ended after four games when he injured his thumb while trying to throw a downfield block, which tells you a lot about the Huskies captain. He enters the 2010 season with 5,374 career passing yards, which is sixth on the school's career chart, and he already is the school's all-time leading quarterback rusher. He's been picked twice in the Major League Baseball draft and is presently under contract with the Los Angeles Angels, though he has repeatedly said that football is his No. 1 sport.
No. 3. LaMichael James, RB, Oregon
No. 4. Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford
No. 5. Stephen Paea, DT, Oregon State
No. 6. James Rodgers, WR, Oregon State
No. 7. Rahim Moore, S, UCLA
No. 8. Akeem Ayers, LB, UCLA
No. 9. Mike Mohamed, LB, California
No. 10. Trevin Wade, CB, Arizona
No. 11. Mason Foster, LB, Washington
No. 12. Ricky Elmore, DE, Arizona
No. 13. Kenny Rowe, DE, Oregon
No. 14. Jurrell Casey, DT, USC
No. 15. Cameron Jordan, DE, California
No. 16. Nick Foles, QB, Arizona
No. 17. Vontaze Burfict, LB, Arizona State
No. 18: Colin Baxter, C, Arizona
No. 19: Chase Beeler, C, Stanford
No. 20. Lawrence Guy, DT, Arizona State
No. 21. Matt Barkley, QB, USC
No. 22. Owen Marecic, LB/FB, Stanford
No. 23. Kristofer O'Dowd, C, USC
No. 24: Casey Matthews, LB, Oregon
No. 25 Kai Forbath, K, UCLA