Chorak’s Work Is Never Done at Washington

Jason Chorak sat there stoically on a late Saturday afternoon in September, his 6-foot-4, 255-pound body wedged into an auditorium seat in the room that serves as Washington’s postgame interview area at Husky Stadium.

The Huskies’ national championship hopes had just been trampled in a 27-14 loss to Nebraska, whose option attack ran up nearly 400 yards on the ground.

“It hurts,� said Chorak, the outside linebacker whose name dots various All-American lists, as he stared straight ahead. “The good thing about it is, it wasn’t a Pac-10 loss. We can still go out and try to play in the Rose Bowl and go 10-1.�

Six weeks later, seventh-ranked Washington has not lost sight of that 10-1 season, with games left against USC, Oregon and its rivals in the Rose Bowl race, UCLA and Washington State.

And since that Saturday, Nebraska has supplanted Penn State and Florida as No. 1.

“It’s good to see them No. 1 in the country,� Chorak said. “That being our only loss makes us look still like a good team.

“We had a bye week after the Nebraska game, and it was a good week to have a bye week. As you go through, week to week, you adjust your goals. We realized the Pac-10 championship was a clear picture.�

Washington’s chances of emerging from NCAA probation to reach the Rose Bowl two years later for the first time since 1993 rest on the next four games. Chorak, who red-shirted in 1993, could finish his career triumphantly in one final show for those among the 7,500 residents of tiny Vashon Island who ever doubted him.

Vashon Island is a 15-minute drive and a 15-minute ferry ride from Seattle. It’s a community shared by commuters, blue-collar workers and Croatian fisherman. Chorak’s family is of Croatian heritage--his parents, Peter and Neja, were both born in the former Yugoslav republic, which now is an independent country.

“It’s 100% my identity, and I speak the language when I go home,� said Chorak, who has visited Croatia twice.

“It’s an experience to see the different culture, the environment, how hard-working people are, trying to survive,� Chorak said. “It’s tragic, for me, to see some things, because I never experienced war. It’s weird. If my parents hadn’t moved this way, I could have been strapping up for the army.�

On Vashon Island, Chorak was considered by some to be a brash, rough-hewn kid whose 14 blocked punts and 15 forced fumbles in four seasons at little Vashon High wouldn’t amount to much on the mainland.

Chorak proved them wrong, never more than last season, when he had 14 1/2 sacks and 22 tackles for losses among his 43 tackles and was voted the Pac-10 defensive player of the year. He topped it all off by posing with Ken Griffey Jr. at a Seattle Mariners’ game and throwing out the first pitch.

It has been a different sort of season this year, with Chorak ranked 10th on Washington’s team in tackles with 22, and only five sacks. Those aren’t quite the numbers Chorak was boasting he would have at the Playboy preseason All-American gathering of the nation’s best players.

Washington Coach Jim Lambright attributes Chorak’s diminished numbers to the lengths other teams have gone to in trying to slow him down at the hybrid defensive end/linebacker position he plays.

“Jason Chorak is kind of the chosen publicity man returning,� Lambright said. “He has had a struggling year because people are recognizing that he’s a threat, so he’s gotten a lot of attention.�

Chorak won’t win the Butkus Award, not with Ohio State’s Andy Katzenmoyer around. His pro potential remains intact, though, with his size and 4.57 speed in the 40-yard dash, but his stock might not have improved since last year, when he was pegged as a second-round pick.

“You know, I’m getting double-teamed and triple-teamed, and a lot of people aren’t running to my side,� Chorak said. “That’s going to come. I knew I would not have the same numbers as I had last year. I knew teams would be focused on me.

“I’ll just have to work harder at the next level to be the player I think I could be. Some scouts, some teams, might think I’m not that productive. I know I can be. In the NFL, they can’t focus on you. There are three other players who are tremendous they have to pay attention to.�

USC knows it will have to pay attention after last season, when Washington managed seven sacks in a 21-10 Husky victory--including three by Jerry Jensen--and threw the Trojans for minus-14 yards rushing, the lowest total in USC history.

“I just remember defense, purple and white and some sunshine, getting after Southern California in their own stadium,� Chorak said. “To hold down Tailback U to minus-14 yards was big for us.

“We’ve watched quite a bit of film on them this year. You can see improvements in their offensive line, and they’re running the ball better. The Oregon game was the best they’ve run the ball.�

The Huskies are 18-point favorites over USC, a team that this year is just another hurdle to avoid stumbling over as Washington heads toward showdowns with UCLA and rival Washington State in the Nov. 22 Apple Cup.

The Rose Bowl? Chorak wouldn’t mind the opportunity to tell the nonbelievers he’s fresh out of tickets.