Puppy Chow

We head into the weekend with recruiting almost wrapped up for 2008. Official word on DeCastro, Carroll, Thompson will be coming very soon. Those three are the main targets remaining to round out the class.

UW still may choose to go over the limit in 2008, and they also have one more scholarship they can offer for 2007. There are a couple of kids from Miami, Florida they are interested in that will visit in January.

I think we can all breathe a big sigh of relief that the staff has had such a successful recruiting year. This is a very good class, a class that will finish inside the top twenty, or maybe even higher. I like this class much better than Neu's feature class which included Frederick, and Williams. There wasn't as much balance in that class, and the linemen turned out to be just average at best. This class is more solid, and realistic even though it won't finish as high in the ratings. Remember kids like Nathan Rhodes who pumped up the numbers but never enrolled. This class doesn't have any of those question question marks.

One thing to note, the ratings are very subjective, and you can throw them out the window the minute the class is finished because then it becomes a matter of getting them in school, keeping them in school, and developing them over the next 4-5 years.

I am not sure who is visiting this weekend so check in over at Dawgman tonight to get word on what is going on at UW this weekend.

A good question that has been floating around the message boards lately has been the subject of grey shirting. Grey shirting has kind of fallen out of vogue lately, but UW will have a couple unintentional grey shirts in Aguilar, and Boyles enrolling this Winter. I think it is possible that UW could ask a kid or two to defer enrollment until next January if necessary.

Tidbits

This in today from Nathan

Tyrone Willingham on the recruiting trail: you can't stop him, you can only hope to contain him. He picked up a commitment from Bradly Roussel - a LB from Louisiana. This is the second year in a row that Willingham has pulled a recruit from thin air from the eastern part of the country. Remember, he picked up a commitment from Austin Sylvester – a FB/LB from New Jersey – about this time last year.

Mitch Barnhart from Kentucky has taken himself out of the race to become the next UW AD before the race even started. He signed a five year extension with Kentucky this week. No word on who Washington is talking to, or even if they are talking to anyone at this point, but Bill Moos still remains viable according to the rumor mill.

Word on the street has it that Rick Neuheisel wanted the WSU job but couldn't get an interview despite the support of the Go To Guy. He will interview at UCLA which has serious reservations about him after all the trouble that surrounded him at UW, and Colorado. I have said it once, and I will say it again, the next school who gets Rick is going to get a very good coach.

There has been a surge of support for Neuheisel in regards to UCLA, with former players and alums calling and emailing the athletic department on his behalf. Neuheisel interviewed for the opening at Georgia Tech. He was beaten out by Navy coach Paul Johnson for the position.
"He would be the perfect guy," said a former UCLA player, who requested anonymity. "He would love to go against (USC coach) Pete Carroll. He would be the charismatic guy UCLA needs. He would definitely give the program energy."