SEATTLE — Washington quarterback Jake Locker has his fallback should football not work out: a deal with the Los Angeles Angels.

Washington spokesman Jeff Bechthold confirmed Saturday night that Locker has agreed to a deal with the Angels, who drafted him in the 10th round of the June amateur draft. Terms of the deal were not available. Locker’s father, Scott, had been negotiating with the Angels on his son’s behalf.
“It’s good to have something that is a done deal. Now I don’t have to worry about it,” Locker said after Washington finished practice Saturday night. “I’m just looking forward to the (football) season now.”
It was the second time the Angels nabbed the dual-sport talent, using a 40th-round selection on Locker after his senior season at Ferndale High School, knowing that Locker wouldn’t sign then. But they came back after his third-year of college and took a chance on Locker, with the understanding that Locker gets to exhaust all efforts to play football before turning to baseball.
“If things don’t happen to work out the way I hope they will (with football) I would still have an opportunity to play for a living,” Locker said after being drafted in June.
The selection in June didn’t come as a surprise to Locker. He said the Angels, Brewers, Twins and some other teams talked to him through the spring about his interest in baseball.
Even with a deal, baseball is a second option. Locker’s immediate goal is trying to rebuild a Washington football program that went 0-12 last year under former coach Tyrone Willingham. Locker missed most of that dismal season after breaking the thumb on his throwing hand in September against Stanford.
He underwent surgery, and looked good in Washington’s spring game in late April, completing 16 of 18 passes for 200 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He’s had no issues with the thumb during fall camp thus far.
The Angels will hold Locker’s rights for six years, until 2015. Locker said in June he’d require a provision that the Angels pay for his remaining schooling at Washington, as he will be forced to give up his football scholarship.
A star in both baseball and football in high school, Locker spent part of the 2008 summer playing for the Bellingham Bells of the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League. Locker hit .273 with two doubles and a homer in 10 games. But he decided this spring not to play baseball in the summer and focus on workouts with his football teammates.