Notebook: Familiar field for Felder

By Bob Condotta

Seattle Times staff reporter

Asked if he was excited about playing at Husky Stadium when the California Golden Bears come to town Saturday, Anthony Felder points out that he has done it before.  "When I was in Little League I played in one of those fund-raiser things before the game," said Felder, a 2005 graduate of O'Dea and a true freshman outside linebacker for Cal. "I must have been 9 years old." The stakes will be a little bigger this time as Felder could see action as a backup to linebacker Greg Van Hoesen and may also play on the kickoff and punt-return teams in what will be the first college road game of his career.  "He had a great camp for us," Cal coach Jeff Tedford said. "He's very talented, a great tackler and very smart."

Felder said he never became a diehard Huskies fan despite his early exposure to the school and attending some games as a kid. He committed to Cal last year without taking an official visit to Washington. He also visited LSU and Oregon State.

He said UW's struggles the past few years played a role in his decision to look elsewhere. "It's impossible for something like that not to have an impact," Felder said. "But that's not what I based my whole decision off of. I gave it serious consideration despite all the NCAA stuff and everything going on with the coaching.  "This was an up-and-coming [Cal] football program, and I felt very comfortable with the coaches."  When Cal comes back to UW in 2007, Felder likely won't be the only O'Dea alumnus making a homecoming — current O'Dea senior Brandon Jones recently committed to Cal as well.  "And I pulled for Taylor [Mays, an O'Dea senior who committed to USC] as best as I could," Felder said. "But he made the choice to go to USC, and I'm proud of him."

Crowd count

The Huskies are expecting a crowd in the mid-50,000 range for Saturday's game, which will likely make it the lowest-attended contest since Husky Stadium was expanded in 1987 from 59,000 seats to 72,500.  The smallest crowd since then came in 1988 when 58,823 showed up for a late-November game against Cal. The smallest crowd since then came last year — 63,225 against Arizona.  UW has sold roughly 46,800 season tickets to the general public, down about 10 percent from a year ago. Single-game tickets, three-game packages, tickets allotted to the visiting team, and tickets to students make up the bulk of the rest of the expected attendance.  A UW official said there have been more than 10,000 single-game tickets sold for the Notre Dame game Sept. 24, but that there are still plenty of tickets left.  No more than 3,300 single-game tickets have been sold for any other game, including the Apple Cup and USC, leaving lots of available seats for those games, as well.

Notes

• UW coach Tyrone Willingham said he is still uncertain as to the playing status of CB Roy Lewis and S C.J. Wallace, each hurt in the first half Saturday. Lewis (arm) did some light work in practice Tuesday and sounds more ready to play. Willingham elaborated that Wallace suffered a concussion and appears further away from playing. If either or both can't play, Willingham said the players at other secondary positions could be moved to fill in, such as using safety Dashon Goldson at corner.

• Willingham said true freshman LB Darrion Jones, who ended up receiving two kickoffs Saturday, mishandling one in the final seconds that gave Washington poor field position, won't have the same role this week. "Not because he did anything wrong but because his skills are maybe better in another spot," Willingham said.

• Carl Bonnell is still unable to practice much, meaning Casey Paus is still the backup QB, Willingham said.