Wilcox: Deng Doubtful, Crawford Likely for Washington

Head coach Justin Wilcox gave a brief injury update to start his news conference Tuesday, and the news was so-so.

“Kekoa (Crawford) likely will be back with us this weekend,” Wilcox said. “And Kuony (Deng) right now it would be doubtful. We’ll have some more definitive news on Thursday.”

Crawford, the senior wide receiver, and Deng, the outside linebacker, have both been limited to two games. As much as Crawford is valued, the Bears have enough depth at wide receiver to weather his absence. Deng, however, was projected as a leader of the defense and an honors candidate. Plus the Bears are a little thin at the position.

Wilcox also was asked about another injury affecting the team: his. Prior to the Sac State game, he aggravated an old leg injury and was on crutches during the game.  Not to worry, he said.  “A temporary inconvenience for me, other than it is not impacting anything.”

In each of the three games, the Bears have jumped off to early leads, the offense going gangbusters and the defense stopping the opposition cold. 

However, the inability to sustain that performance level has hurt the Bears. The team has been outscored in the second half in all three games, and in the two losses, it was a crucial factor.

Wilcox could offer no explanation for the latter game woes.

“I know statistically exactly what you’re talking about,” he said when asked. “I don’t know if there is any one reason we are executing early in the game. Some of that is what’s new for the game plan.

“But we’ve got to be able to sustain it for four quarters and potentially overtime as needed. It’s not a conditioning thing, the guys are in shape and feeling pretty good. We’ve got to execute better and right now we’re playing much better in the first quarter than we are the rest of the game.”

The Bears’ last visit to Seattle was memorable. The game was halted for more than two and a half hours by a lightning storm. When the storm hit in the first quarter the teams’ retreated to their respective locker rooms to wait out the storm.

The Bears were able to pull out a victory over the 14th-ranked Huskies on Greg Thomas’ field goal with eight seconds left.

What Wilcox liked most about that game, other than the ‘W’. was his team’s ability to focus on football despite what was going on around them. He would like to see the same level of concentration from his current team.

“Focusing on what makes the difference between playing good football and not playing good football,” he said. “That’s the next play, it’s the technique and not getting distracted by things that you have zero control over.

“We need to do a better job on that with our own team right now. That team did a pretty good job of it on that day, of not getting distracted and staying focused on what we were there to do.”

WIde receiver Jeremiah Hunter was also made available to the media and he discussed his touchdown catch against Sac State and his growing role in the Cal offense.