Jim Moore Catches up with Billy Joe

If ever a player was strung out and made a sacrificial lamb at UW it was Billy Joe Hobert the only undefeated QB at UW in the modern era.

You can say whatever you want about the early railroaded retirement of DJ, but BJ paid the ultimate price when he was left out to swing in the wind by the end of his neck.

Billy was hung without a trial, and when all the facts finally came out it was determined that he shouldn't have lost a day of eligibity. Billy was no angel, but when a fair accounting of the situation was made, it was proved he didn't cross the line even though he was a bit close.

If people still want to condemn me for my actions, they're idiots," Hobert said. "I've got too many other things going on to worry about something I did when I was barely out of puberty."
In an interview last year, Hobert said he was tired of talking about the incident.

"Even if I spoke the truth now, it would be like, 'Why didn't you protect yourself back then,' " he said. "The U-Dub, in my opinion, put a stick up my hiney to put it point-blank. If I had said everything that happened, the U-Dub wouldn't have gotten probation, they would have gotten the death penalty."

Hasn't enough time passed for a quarterback who went 20-0 at Washington to be welcomed back? Hobert has seen the Huskies play in Los Angeles, near where he lives now, but has not been back to Husky Stadium since he left in '92. Would he like to be greeted with open arms at some point? Where are the bygones at Montlake?

"If I had to dwell on it, yeah, it would be nice," Hobert said. "But I'm not expecting it. I've given up on the idea of worrying about it."

It is about time Billy Joe was honored by being admitted in the Husky Hall of Fame. There aren't that many undefeated QB's floating around out there.