Montlake Jake

SEATTLE - The roads around Jake Locker's hometown are perfect for getting lost, perfect for wandering aimlessly with no feeling of being rushed, where any traffic is likely to be some type of truck hauling farm equipment or a semi headed to the nearby aluminum plant.

On the roads around Ferndale, Wash., is where Locker has gone whenever major decisions arrive in his life. Usually with his father, Scott, the Lockers would traverse the Northwestern corner of Washington state, together trying to find the right answer to the question at hand.

Last December, the Lockers again set out on one of these drives. A week after completing his junior season at Washington, Jake and Scott headed out to find peace with whatever decision Jake made about his future: returning to Washington for his senior season, or entering the NFL draft where a bounty of millions awaited him as the potential No. 1 overall pick.

"He knows me really well, and I know him really well. He can probably tell me the answers I'm going to give him before I answer them, and I could probably do the same for him," the kid said. "But to talk about it and bounce the ideas back and forth off each other (helps) really solidify those opinions and ideas that you have."

Within a couple of days of making that drive with his dad, Locker walked into the Washington football offices with his chocolate lab "Ten" and gave coach Steve Sarkisian and Washington's fan base the news they so desperately wanted to hear: He was coming back for his senior season.

Fiscally, it will never be viewed as the best move by the 6-foot-3, 225-pound quarterback, whose strong arm is often overshadowed by athleticism that many receivers and running backs could only hope for. After all, Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford wound up going first in the draft to the St. Louis Rams and received a record $50 million guaranteed.

But coming back and not being concerned with money is simply what felt right to Locker. It's part of his small-town pedigree, after growing up in a place with just 12,000 residents mostly based around farming. The median income in Ferndale is about $35,000 a year.

The Sonic drive-in just off the freeway is the latest hangout, but just as many gather along the paved path that wanders along the edge of the Nooksack River and provides postcard-quality views of Mount Baker on a clear day.

In July, Locker was feted during "Jake Locker Day" as part of the local Pioneer Days celebration, when Ferndale's most famous celeb rode atop a fire truck with some of his teammates through the town. It has embraced its favorite son this summer to the point of spending time writing letters to influential Heisman Trophy voters about Locker's upbringing.

"Simple, laid back, friendly, just a great place to grow up a great place to go back to," Locker said, when asked to describe his hometown. "A place that you are always welcomed, you know pretty much everybody. I'm comfortable there."

The appearance in his hometown was low-key compared to much of his summer. Locker twice went on a media blitz of the East Coast, posed for countless photoshoots and endured an endless stream of interview requests.

"He's not just the guy from Ferndale anymore," Sarkisian said.