RODEO CAN WAIT FOOTBALL FIRST FOR HUSKIES' PICKETT.

Byline: Chris Cocoles Staff Writer

He isn't the typical Seattle guy. A rodeo dude doing the town that spawned Grunge and poured the first-ever cup of Starbucks latte?

``Cody's definitely a cowboy,'' said University of Washington wide receiver Paul Arnold, one of quarterback Cody Pickett's best friends. ``He wears his cowboy boots and his Wranglers.''

Rodeo is in Pickett's blood. But so is football. He someday could make a living in both. For now, it's football. So rather than lassoing calves, Pickett will spend his Saturday afternoon bucking the Trojan horse in No. 22 Washington's game at 20th-ranked USC.

``It's just something I grew up with,'' Pickett said of rodeo. ``My dad did it for about 20 years.''

Dee Pickett did it as well as anyone on the pro circuit in a career that generated $1.5 million in earnings. He was the 1984 World Champion Cowboy in all-around and a team-roping champion.

Cody was by his side at summer events around the country. He literally learned the ropes at an early age.

``All the kids had their ropes and little (calf) dummies they roped together,'' Dee Pickett said. ``He liked to compete.''

But his father, himself a former college quarterback at Boise State, didn't force rodeo onto Cody. He almost discouraged it but failed to keep Cody off horses. At Caldwell (Idaho) High, he was a four-sport star for the football, basketball, golf and, yep, rodeo teams. He even qualified as a team roper in the national finals for both 1997 and 1998.

Blessed with a powerful right arm - he once out-threw fellow Boise-area quarterback Jake Plummer at the Arizona Cardinals standout's summer camp there - Cody Pickett has resisted any rodeo cravings throughout his collegiate career.

Pickett's saddles, ropes and other cowboy essentials are stuffed into a storage shed back home in Idaho and might collect plenty of dust before they're used again. In trips back home to visit family, he refuses to mount his beloved horse Private for even a casual ride.

``He lost the key to the storage shed. I just don't think he wants the distractions now that he's playing football,'' Dee Pickett said. ``When he left for school, he had an opportunity that not a lot of people get. The kid is extremely competitive, and he wants to win and do a good job at this.''

Still, his roots remain in the rodeo ring. Although he faithfully listens to rap music with teammates, Arnold divulged Pickett prefers country. However, stories that a closet full of hats, boots and belt buckles were left behind are exaggerated.

``He has a little bit of cowboy in him still,'' Arnold said. ``He likes to listen to country music before the games. It calms him down and gets him ready. But he doesn't walk around in his cowboy boots all the time.''

Pickett might even run with a little bronco kick to his cleats on the Coliseum grass: He's awaited a second crack at the Trojans.

He wasn't around in the fourth quarter last season - when the Huskies rallied for a 27-24 victory - because of a separated shoulder, which also sidelined him for the ensuing game at UCLA.

He bounded back to lead the Huskies to big victories over Stanford and Washington State even though he was at less than 100 percent.

``Cody has been one of the reasons that we have hung in there this year. He's a tough guy,'' Washington head coach Rick Neuheisel said. ``This team will walk down any alley with this guy because of the way he's fighting to be in the games, even though he (was) in obvious discomfort.''

It's the kind of pain rodeo regularly inflicts on bodies that are catapulted from angry bulls and broncos. Dee Pickett knows the feeling. And when his football career ends, Cody wants to experience the cowboy way again on the road just like dad.

``(Team roping) is something I like to do and just another something I try to be the best in,'' he said. ``I'm going to play football as long as possible, and when I give up football, I'll go back to the rodeo.''

PICKETT FILE

Washington junior quarterback Cody Pickett already has thrown for 2,251 yards this season, only 318 shy of Cary Conklin's single-season school record of 2,569 in 1989 and 1,071 shy of the career record at a school known for its quarterbacks. Here's how Pickett stacks up in career yards:

1. Brock Huard (1996-98): 5,742 yards

2. Damon Huard (1992-95): 5,692

3. Marques Tuiasosopo (1997-00): 5,501

4. Sonny Sixkiller (1970-72): 5,496

5. Cary Conklin (1986-89): 4,850

6. Cody Pickett (2000-current): 4,654

7. Steve Pelluer (1980-83): 4,603

8. Don Heinrich (1949-52): 4,392

9. Chris Chandler (1984-87): 4,161

10. Mark Brunell (1989-92): 3,423

11. Warren Moon (1975-77): 3,277

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

Cody Pickett, already one of finest passers at quarterback-rich Washington as a junior, leads the Huskies against USC on Saturday.

John Froschauer/Associated Press

Box:

PICKETT FILE (see text)