Thursday, August 09, 2007

Drums Along the Mohawk

Not a lot of good news coming out of Montlake today.

EJ Savannah may not be eligible due to grades. According to Ty it isn't final, they are working on it, but it is the reason EJ has been demoted to second string.

Washington cornerback Jordan Murchison has been indefinitely suspended from the team in the wake of his arrest Wednesday for failure to appear in King County Court in connection with a charge of second-degree felony assault. Washington coach Tyrone Willingham didn't use the term suspension in talking with the media today, but said that Murchison "will do nothing with the team at this time,'' and that it was "indefinite'' when he would return.

It was announced by UW in late Spring that Murchison only had one year left of eligibility, rather than two after redshirting last season. It seemed strange at the time, and didn't make a lot of sense. Could the assault charge be the reason? If that is the reason why was it ok for him to come back a fourth year, and not a fifth year? I don't get it.

Byron Davenport suited up today and was seen struggling through drills as the team warmed up today at Husky Stadium. Davenport's return to health now becomes crucial for Washington's cornerback position. Walkon Corey Nicol was seen working out with the first unit today.

One trademark of the Willingham era seems to be a lot of unforseen bad news coming out during the first week of camp. I know this can happen anywhere, but it seems to have increased quite a bit at UW since Willingham took over. I don't know if it is the secrecy that surrounds the program, or if they are not keeping close enough tabs on the players. It always seemed to me that Don James, and Jim Lambright had a pretty good feel for what was going on, and not much escaped him.

6 comments:

hairofthedawg said...

I wish I followed other teams more closely so I could make a comparison. Until recently, like the internet age, I don't think the problems that did exist were quite as public. Were they? Now it seems next to impossible to keep something quiet and a lot of kids are almost convicted without a trial.

The grade thing is something I completely don't understand, especially with all the support these athletes get. The term paper class they took over the summer is a great idea. It's hard to see how they fail to meet the requirements, but at least we know that we're making them go to class, or at least their education is being monitored. Maybe not closely enough though because I wish they'd caught EJ's situation earlier.

I'm glad to read Davenport's making an effort but I hope he's careful. I'm sure the staff is...well, maybe not, but you'd think they'd be. Nicol seems small to me but I'll reserve comment until I see the size of his heart!

I really need to reset my blogger profile although I'm not sure how it got changed. Everything but the posts themselves was in Italian and is now in Greek.

Anonymous said...

The academic and illegality problems bother me a lot more than losing records, at least in the short term. It's ultimately up to the kids, of course; the coaches can't babysit 24-7. But how they continue to have academic problems baffles me, and irritates me. And that's two Bellevue High grads in two years with problems, I thought that was supposed to be a good high school??

hairofthedawg said...

I'm completely talking out my ass because I don't know, but maybe the problem with Bellevue athletes is their prior success. Maybe that gives them a sense of entitlement or maybe they're given a reason to feel entitled.

The criminal problems possibly stem from something similar.

John Berkowitz said...

I think things will work out at CB. I am getting good reports on Mosley, Nicol, and McDowell. Davenport will heal and be a factor. I would think that Murchison is now toast. The charges in June that Ty wasn't aware of are probably the straw that broke the camels back.

Is Bellevue a good HS? It is a public HS with a great football program. Hasty, and EJ have all the ability, but they just have cut it close when hitting the books.

DC (fromerly anonymous) I like the ring of that.

I like Hairs sense of entitlement quote.

hairofthedawg said...

So how to get that sense of entitlement out of their system short of what Hasty went through? It's been ingrained for quite awhile. Maybe the embarrassment will do the trick, but Murchison will probably land somewhere else.

Then again, maybe I should shut up...I once got away with biting a cute young lieutenant's butt because I was good at my job. Drunkenly embarrassed, I didn't do it again, but pretty much nothing happened other than she asked me how it tasted a few days later. Being enlisted, I saluted sharply and said, "Excellent, ma'am.", while sheepishly walking briskly away. Special Ops people put up with a lot though.

They'll either get it or not and we'll have to wring our hands through it. I hope they figure it out.

John Berkowitz said...

Not sure how you do that, and not 100% sure that it is the problem. You have two kids on the same team with the same problem, doesn't mean they are all like that. Will have to see how the others pan out.