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Keith Price is annoying. Not because he's a bad person (he's wonderful) or because he's a bad football player (remember, a year ago we were talking about him as a Heisman contender), but because he should be #1 on this list, and it shouldn't be a question.
A year ago, we were frothing about Price and his coming off of a game where he put up 438 yards passing, 39 yards rushing, and a bowl record 7 total touchdowns. He was supposed to roll into this season and continue to eviscerate defenses the way that a finally healthy Keith Price showed us he can.
For whatever reason, this did not happen. Blame the injuries at the skill positions around Price, or the offensive line's injuries and the woes of the young guys forced into action, or a regression on the part of Price. Whatever it was is irrelevant now. It didn't happen. But the beauty of it is that here we are, and Keith Price gets another shot.
The question is what kind of season Price will have in his swan song. It seems as if 2012 was his baseline worst case scenario, and it would be a complete shock if he either repeated that performance or regressed further. He'll bounce back. He will bounce back. This seems like a foregone conclusion. But will it be a dead cat bounce, where he continues to complete a high percentage of his passes (his 60.9% on completions in 2012 was among the best of all seasons for UW QB's), or will it be a substantial bounce back toward his 2011 performance where he leads a once again fearsome offense? Maybe he goes superball on everybody, with the combination of coach Marques Tuiasosopo and the no-huddle offense being the perfect storm for Keith, and he rewrites UW's record book (again).
This is why Keith Price is annoying. So many questions, so many reasons for optimism. He's got a huge ceiling, but we want to see it before we jump back in the Keith Price boat.