Meet Ronnie Fouch, the Washington Huskies' New Quarterback

Tyrone Willingham showed up on the Redlands East Valley High School Campus in a suit and tie.

The Washington coach was in Redlands, Calif., to see one student in particular, but met many. He walked the campus with the athletic director, Rhonda Fouch, choosing to speak to numerous kids and meet the staff.

Rhonda Fouch was impressed.

"For him to take the time to do that was huge," she said.

Dinner at the Fouches' followed, as did more good impressions of Willingham. Rhonda Fouch and her husband, John, had always raised their son, Ronnie, to be a student-athlete. No, really. If the homework wasn't done, there was no time with friends, no sports, no messing around.

Willingham's philosophy meshed with theirs. He displayed "an aura that he cares about kids," Rhonda said. That's what the Fouch family was after.

So as soon as the offer came, Ronnie committed to Washington. To Willingham, really. When the call came from Cal, a school Ronnie had always had on his mind for his college days, he stayed committed to the Huskies. He finished high school early, doubling up on classes and graduating in January 2007 to make it up to campus for spring practice.

He practiced but had to wait for his game chance. After hoping to compete with Jake Locker, Fouch was redshirted his freshman season. This fall, Fouch has received limited time, first in practice because of Locker's hamstring injury, then cameos in blowouts against Oregon and Oklahoma.

Saturday he will be at the head of the huddle in Tucson, Ariz., with 56,000 people screaming at him. At the same time, countless others will grouse about the coach who is the main reason Fouch is in Huskies' purple.

It will be the first college start for the Southern Californian who blurted out "ball" as his first word, loves Brett Favre, and carries NFL aspirations: a quiet, composed leader who will try to help a currently moribund Huskies program find a way to win.

"He's not out to run for mayor," John Fouch said. "He just wants to win games."

The Fouch family is loaded with athletes. John, a former quarterback at the University of Redlands and a backup at Arizona State to Mark Malone; Rhonda, who played volleyball and basketball at the University of Redlands and is in the school's Hall of Fame; Ed Fouch, Ronnie's uncle, an All-American at USC who went on to play with the Rams; and his grandfather John, who was a running back at USC.

The sister's an athlete, too.

That's why Ronnie Fouch's family was stuck in traffic Saturday night when he entered the game for injured Jake Locker. The Fouches were heading back from one of Johnna's volleyball matches, receiving updates via cell phone that Ronnie was in the game.

They didn't know Locker had been hurt, or that Ronnie audibled on the first play from a pass to an option run. They hurried home, able to catch the last six minutes of the game, then watch it all over again thanks to TiVo.

Upon review, they saw Ronnie go 13-for-27, throwing for a touchdown and rushing for another. They saw a more pass-laden Washington offense, a style that will be carried to this Saturday as the game plan is remolded.

More passes would suit Fouch just fine. When he was two, Ronnie started throwing a football around. He could do that whenever he wanted back then, because that was before school started. Then things changed.

"There was no practice, there was no fun no hanging out with your friends, until the homework was done, point blank," Rhonda Fouch said.

"It was kind of hard at first," Ronnie said. "But she helped instill into me what things are important in life—God and school and family."

Ronnie played a variety of sports before joining the varsity football team at Redlands East Valley. The program was still in its infantile years prior to Fouch's arrival, compiling a 2-47 record, winning one game in its first five years of existence.

When Ronnie arrived, the program had its third and newest coach, Kurt Bruich, someone Fouch knew since he was small and calls a second father. In four years, the team became a power. One-win seasons turned into one-loss seasons.

Ronnie's explanation for the turnaround was simple.

"It was just the team rallying around their coach," Ronnie said. Interesting concept.

His junior season, Ronnie separated his shoulder. The quarterback from the football family couldn't throw anymore.

"Shock," his father, John, said of his reaction to the injury, which required surgery.

The game was on TV, being aired because the opponent, Colton High School, featured an offensive and defensive force, Shareece Wright, who is now a cornerback at USC.

Despite 23 touchdowns and 2,690 passing yards his senior season, the injury and Fouch's size were enough to scare off some programs. In the end, the shoulder separation actually allowed his shoulder to get tighter, subsequently making it stronger for throwing a football.

While others hesitated, Fouch embraced Willingham and Washington.

Locker's freak thumb injury—the Huskies again finding the bullet during this season's Russian Roulette—required surgery and will put the face of the program on the sidelines for six to eight weeks.

Unlike in the past, Fouch, an avid surfer, won't have a chance this week to grab his short board and take an hour drive to get out to San Clemente, Calif., getting away from the pressures of football the way he did in high school. Now is his chance.

After redshirting, Fouch gained weight, now 6'1" and 203 pounds and a comfort at Washington. His religion, what his mom refers to as "a beacon for Ronnie," is still vital.

Fouch is still friends with the two other Huskies from the Redlands East Valley program, sophomore Chris Polk and freshman Marquis Persley. His hometown has turned into a bit of a Husky football hotbed since the three players came north. Fouch received more than 40 text messages Saturday night from folks back home.

Rhonda Fouch says others in the community are even more up to speed with the Washington program than she is. They're the reason Fouch has "909" on his game-day eye black, representing his home area code.

Speculation surrounds his coach, the person Ronnie and his parents flatly say is the reason he came to Washington. Both sides understand the issue.

"We want so much for this program to be successful," Rhonda Fouch said. "I understand the tradition Washington has in football, and I don't think anybody more than coach and these boys want to get back on track with that. I say we all need to be patient, but understand the urgency."

Willingham knows the influence he had on Fouch's decision to come to Washington. He also knows that his roster and their families are aware of the conjecture.

"We hit it head on," Willingham said of talking with parents and players about what they're reading and hearing. "You have to. You can't skirt any issues with the young men."

The issue now for Fouch is Arizona. Offensive coordinator Tim Lappano said he will need to speed up Fouch's mechanics this week. Fouch, while able to move around (he's "crafty back there," Lappano said), is more of a pocket passer than Locker.

Out will be the quarterback power play calls central to the approach with Locker at the helm. Washington will use more of a two-back offense against Arizona, the way it shifted gears when Carl Bonnell replaced Isaiah Stanback.

Fouch's parents will make the trip to Tucson, the way they made the trip to Eugene, Ore. to open the season. His mom will be wearing purple again, and trying to keep her rooting and emotions in check.

"I did stand up and yell, 'Yeah Ronnie!’ Then I sat down," Rhonda Fouch said of her participation at the Oregon game. "I just kind of wanted him to know we were rooting for him."

She'll shoot him another special pregame text, possibly sticking with her preferred two C’s message—consistency and completions.

Willingham said the quarterback is the second-most influential personality on the team, trailing only the head coach. Fouch, often mistaken for quiet or reserved but who likes to dance and is animated in the right setting—to wit, a big fist throw following his touchdown pass Saturday night—carries the makeup Willingham says he prefers in signal barkers.

"I want my quarterbacks to have many faces, but be true to their core," he said.

Being true to his, Fouch is still fighting for his embattled coach, but he has traded in a slingshot for a bazooka-level influence on the battle.

"He's the main reason I came here, and he's the main reason I want to win," Fouch said. "We can't give up now."

Todd Dybas is the editor of Seattlesportsonline.com.