Wednesday, July 19, 2006

2006 Husky Newcomers

Ty and his staff pulled in an average class last year that was ranked in the mid 30's by most publications. Not a great clas, not a bad class, and a class that was marked by five big time defections, or losses by the name's of Schilling, Mays, Pope, Jefferson, and Montgomery. If you add those guys to this class you have a class in the top fifteen, and in normal years Washington would have certainly landed these guys. We did land Jefferson, but he won't be able to qualify which is a shame. We also failed to get a kick returner, losing out on a JC CB to OSU at the last minute.

Enough of who we didn't get, lets concentrate a bit on the solid group we did get.

JC Class

Ty brought in the largest JC clas in memory, and it could have been even bigger.

DE Anthony Atkins.....He arrived in time to practice this Spring and it became apparent that he was battling a learning curve, and being comfortable with the weight he added. He plans to slim down to 265 by Fall drills. At this point he is a good redshirt candidate. Atkins was recruited to play right away, but he didn't seem ready this Spring.

CB Jordan Murchison....Jordan passed the eye test during mat drill this Winter and the coaches feel he will be able to contribute this year if needed. A raw talent out of CCSF he has a lot of ceiling.

S Jason Wells....This guy is a steal with 3 to play 4 left. Wells will challenge for a backup spot in the secondary. He is also capable of playing CB.

S Ashlee Palmer....I will be pretty surprised if he isn't starting pretty early in his career at UW. He needs to beat out Mesphin Forrester, and Chris Hemphill to do it. Palmer is the guy that allowed Goldson to move over to the corner spot which really solidifies the secondary.

DS Danny Morovick....Give a snapper a scholarship? Well UW decided to take care of a nagging problem that will eliminate blocked kicks, add points, and pick up punt yardage. This one guy solves a lot of problems on special teams.

WR Marcel Reese...This was a big pickup because it changes all the dimensions and dynamics of the passing game. Reese is a huge fast target who will just murder guys in the middle of the field once he gets comfortable.

OL Aaron Mason....They say this kid could paly in the NFL some day, but he was only 265 last Winter. He needs some weight and is a possible redshirt candidate most years. This year there is a good chance he will play especially if he added 20 or 30 good pounds.

High school Class

We missed out on a few key guys, and we skipped a few positions. It takes time to take back the state coming off a 2-9 season, but we are doing better in 2007.

QB Jake Locker....Of the big three recruits in Washington last year Locker was the most important. Jake has all the making of a great Husky QB, and we look to him to become a four year starter at the position. He is that good.

RB Nobody....The big goose egg here, but Shelton Sampson could always move back from CB in case of emergency. The Dawgs never had a backup plan for Montgomery. Meyers, and Mosley will also get looks.

FB Paul Homer....I predict that Homer is going to become the next great Husky FB. We haven't had a kid like him since Pat Conniff. People in Nebraska just love this kid. He is nasty!

WR Goodwin, Meyers, Mosley....Pretty good class, but Meyers, and Mosley will get looks at TB this year, and could end up as DB's in the future. Goodwin has good speed and will redshirt to get stronger. Mosley and Meyers could see the field if the need arises due to injury.

TE Nobody....Another goose egg that is tempered with the arrival of JC Walkon Tim Harris plus a strong local TE class in Washington for 2007.

OL Tolar, Sedillo, and Habben comprise this years HS OL class. All three have some work to do before being able to play with Habben being the closest, and Sedillo being more of a project. Tolar is capable and needs to lose some of the baby fat.

DL Matthews, Elisara, Kosub were major gets in any year. Washington really scored on three guys who will play alot in coming years. Randy Hart keeps attracting good linemen, and DL is the deepest part of the roster other than WR. Elisara could play early if needed, but we think he will redshirt.

LB Houston, and Butler are a couple of HS recruits who are distinguished with high character which attracted the Huskies to them during the recruiting process. Houston was a fallback after more highly rated recruits went elsewhere, but according to DM he could see early playng time and really can bring it. Butler was also a star RB in HS.

CB Mosley is a natural CB who will start off on offense but could quickly gravitate to this side of the ball.

S Jake Merrill is a big safety who could grow into a LB. He will start out at safety. the kid is a good attitude guy, will be interesting to see if he sticks at Safety, or ends up being a tweener.

2 comments:

hairofthedawg said...

Not that your post is stupid...it's an accurate depiction of the info that's available on these recruits, but probably more than anything, recruiting analysis has made more people look stupid than any other type of reporting/evaluation associated with football. Even the coaches, and they get to actually meet the guys.

Aside from Locker, Homer's one I'm most looking forward to watching play. Nothing better than a fullback busting one for 20 or so.

Wait and see.

John Berkowitz said...

I don't look at the post as an analysis on recruiting, just a summary of the past recruiting year, and a look at the newcomers who will be with the team in the Fall.

Why will this team be better than last years team? Depth is the answer, especially in the secondary.

I am not going to try to predict the careers of 17 year olds unless I have seen them play. Even then I am not very qualified.

Homer is a guy that a lot of my friends have seen play and they think he is special, same with Mosley,and Locker. those three I am pretty sure on.

It is tough to predict the success of a class.

Take a kid like Mesphin Forrester who was a Gilby recruit at Safety. He was never a touted pick by the services, more of a throw in at the end. In his 3rd year he has progressed enough to earn a job in the starting rotation over two more highly regarded recruits at the same position in the same class, Harris, and Hemphill. My point is nobody saw that coming, and everyone had him figured for a bust....he wasn't.