It was same old Hau’oli Kikaha doing what he does best — sack the quarterback.

After that, things were never the same for the Washington defense.

Kikaha, UW’s senior All-American candidate, injured his right shoulder early in the first quarter of UW’s 44-30 loss to No. 18 UCLA. He tried to return from the stinger, stretching on the sideline and having a team trainer massage his shoulder, but he was unable to get back on the field.

“I could tell just by the way he was looking at everybody that he was pretty hurt,” UW senior nose tackle Danny Shelton said.

It was immediately unclear if Kikaha, UW’s all-time leader in sacks, would be available for UW’s trip to Arizona this week.

Kikaha had the only sack of UCLA’s Brett Hundley on Saturday night. That gave him 16.5 sacks for the season, most in the nation, but with him sidelined, the Huskies’ defense was vulnerable.

“You saw how the game went. Hau’oli is a big factor in the game, and it’s tough to do things without him,” Shelton said.

Ross shines

John Ross III, UW’s standout sophomore receiver, ended up playing much of the game at cornerback. For the first time this season, Ross worked almost exclusively during the week on defense, mostly as a nickel cornerback.

There’s a good chance Ross will stick on defense for the rest of the season.

“I thought he did a really nice job,” UW coach Chris Petersen said.

Ross said he’s willing to do whatever the team needs of him.

“It was great. I had a lot of fun,” he said. “I wish I would’ve had a ball thrown my way, to see if I could test my abilities. But unfortunately, I didn’t. …

“Wherever I can help, I’m going to enjoy it. I love playing football. With this coaching staff, it’s great playing for these guys. I have no problem doing anything (they ask).”

Ross’ 100-yard kickoff return in the third quarter was the second such return of his career. He also had a 100-yard return in UW’s Fight Hunger Bowl victory over BYU last December.

The play was Ross’ fifth touchdown of 80 yards or longer this season, the most in a single season in UW history. Ross has six touchdowns total this season, with an average length of 71.2 yards on those six scores.

Peters on their mind

Even as late as Friday night, Ross said he was exchanging text messages with Marcus Peters, the UW star cornerback booted from the team on Wednesday.

“It hurt,” Ross said of Peters’ dismissal, “because Marcus is so good. He was like a big brother to us. … I know it’s a tough time for him. It’s a tough time for all of us. But we can’t hang our heads or anything.”

Petersen said the dismissal was “hard” for everyone involved.

“There were some players who were really close to him that I felt were kind of distracted,” Shelton said. “But I think we did a good job of just rallying back up in the second half and just moving forward.”

Adam Jude: 206-464-2364 or ajude@seattletimes.com. On Twitter @a_jude

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