SAN DIEGO -- Washington quarterback Cody Pickett doesn't talk about the rodeo much anymore. He claims he's moved on to bigger and better things.

Few in the college football world would argue. Yet it's hard to overlook the fact that this is a kid who began roping cattle when he could barely walk. A kid who grew up on Chicken Dinner Road. A kid whose high school was next door to a rodeo arena. It's hard to forget that this is a kid who advanced to the National High School Rodeo Championships three times and still, even in this new life, owns five cowboy hats.

That's because Pickett displays cowboy-like characteristics each and every Saturday he steps on the football field. The toughness. The tenacity. The ability to persevere in the face of adversity. And the ability to ignore pain.

	QB Cody Pickett was Washington's co-Offensive Player of the Year.

What else explains Pickett suffering a third-degree separation of his throwing shoulder Oct. 6 against USC, then bouncing back two weeks later to set a school-record 455 yards passing in a come-from-behind victory over Arizona?

Pickett, who grew up in Caldwell, Idaho, essentially a suburb of Boise, says he's just being a team player. That after sitting on the bench as the backup to all-everything quarterback Marques Tuiasosopo last year, he wants to play each and every opportunity he gets. He downplays the rodeo angle. But his coach isn't so sure.

"He's a tough, rugged kid," Huskies coach Rick Neuheisel said. "His upbringing is kind of rugged with the rodeo and being around all that. I can't imagine tougher people that those who travel from city to city roping cattle. That is rugged."

Pickett enters Friday's Holiday Bowl as the least known of the three, yes three, marquee quarterbacks in this game. Texas backup Chris Simms has the perfect pedigree and is hoping for an opportunity to play. Longhorn starter Major Applewhite is looking to go out on a high note in his collegiate finale. And then there is Pickett, his shoulder still far from 100-percent, trying to bounce back from an embarrassing performance in the regular season finale at Miami.

On the outside, his story may not have the drama of the Simms-Applewhite controversy. But deep down, it's just as intriguing. See, Cody's father Dee was a championship roper on the pro rodeo circuit for 21 years. He earned over $1.5 million in his career and in 1984 was the World Champion All-Around Cowboy.

This is the background with which Cody grew up. He traveled with his father until retirement in 1999. He reached the national rodeo high school finals in 1997 and 1998 and during his sophomore year in high school, earned more than $30,000.

Pickett began roping when he could barely walk.

"It was like riding a bike," he said earlier this year. "My dad was team-roping. It was his profession. I grew up around it."

In high school, he played football, basketball, golf and rodeo -- hardly a typical prep combination. He earned a reputation during high school when he out-cannoned Arizona Cardinals quarterback Jake Plummer at Plummer's quarterback camp in Idaho. As the story goes, Pickett picked up a ball and whipped it 75 yards on the fly. Plummer, who was watching nearby, picked up another ball and chucked it as far as he could. It landed 65 yards away.

"He was about ten yards shorter," said Pickett, who still downplays the incident. "But it was no big deal. I was just trying to do the best I could to improve."

Even now, he continues to improve. During spring practice, Pickett, a sophomore, was in a dogfight with junior college transfer Taylor Barton for the starting job. Now, he's not only the team's top quarterback, but one of its leaders as well thanks in large part to the toughness he shows playing through pain. Just last week, teammates and coaches voted him not only co-Offensive Player of the Year, but gave him the "Toughest Husky" award.

"I guess it's kind of unusual for a quarterback to get something like that," Pickett said. "But it's good. It shows you're one of the guys."

And that's just what Pickett intends to be. As he puts it, playing through pain is part of the game. If his lineman, running backs and receivers have to show up at the training room early to get treatments or special tape jobs, why shouldn't he?

"There are 20 to 30 guys in there every morning trying to get their health back," Pickett said. "There are guys all over the team with shoulder problems or knee problems. It's something you go through."

Kind of like growing pains, which Pickett suffered a season's worth his last time out against No. 1 Miami. The Hurricanes were out for blood and by the time Barton replaced Pickett with 11:40 remaining, Pickett had tallied five interceptions and a lost fumble.

He's seen the horror film that is the game tape and says there is plenty to learn from. Similarly, a young Ken Dorsey was knocked around by the Huskies in Seattle last year and returned for Miami to become a Heisman finalist in 2001.

"I have to learn to be more patient," Pickett said. "They cut us out there and were physical with our receivers and I tried to force some things that weren't there. Next time, I'll know to take what's there, take what they give us, and be more patient."

Following the season's conclusion, doctors will decide what measures need to be taken to repair Pickett's shoulder for the 2002 season. One possibility is undergoing surgery to reattach the separated shoulder. Another is to shave off part of a bone that is rubbing against a second bone and causing Pickett's discomfort. Yet a third option is no surgery at all, and just rest.

Pickett favors whatever method will be successful and get him back in the weight room and on the practice field as soon as possible. Until then, he'll still have to plug along at less than 100-percent.

"It's still pretty weak," Pickett said. "But sitting on the sidelines is not an option. That's the way I was raised. If you can play, you play. And if you play, you give it your full go."

Wayne Drehs is a staff writer at ESPN.com. He can be reached at wayne.drehs@espn.com.