Bob Condotta profiled the 2005 class in the wake of JR Hasty leaving the team last week in his blog. I am following it up with a look at all the classes to give everyone an idea of just how young this team really is despite four years of rebuilding.
One thing I have been saying ever since the blog started is that you win with your third, fourth, and fifth year players.
The Huskies are very young, they only have thirty players that fall into this experienced category.
Fifty-five of the scholarship players on the roster are in their first or second year in the program!
The future obviously started when Jake Locker entered the program, but the 2006 class is now down to only 12 players.
The thorn in Willingham's paw has been the lack of numbers from his first two recruiting classes, and of course the talent, and confusion he took over from the Gilby/Neu era. Make no mistake, he did take over at the lowest point the program has ever been at.
That being said, it is year four for Ty, and all coaches know that they have to win by year four to keep their jobs no matter what the circumstance.
If you want to point to one reason why he may not be around next season take a good look at his first two recruiting classes. Obviously there is talent left, but the overall numbers are way too low. This team won't be mature, and fully rebuilt for another couple of years.
That doesn't mean they can't win, young teams under the right coaching can win, but typically it is your older players that get you there.
Bold type indicates players who have started games at one time of their career, or are projected as a starter in 2008.
2003 Recruiting Class (1) Neuheisel
C Garcia ....Back for a 6th season because of injuries, and he should be ready to play after the first bye week. The prognosis on his foot right now is pretty good which is good news for Husky fans. Expect to hear some good news regarding Juan after the 4th. Observers say the cast is off, and he is walking without a limp.
2004 Recruiting Class (10) Gilbertson
DT Kirton....Mike Belotti recruited him as a DL. Ty recruited him as a TB, and even though after a week it was obvious it wasn't going to work they kept him there. The move to TE seemed like a good fit, but he didn't run very good routes, and had trouble blocking. Kirton is a guy to keep an eye on this summer because if he makes the succesful transition it will really help the DL.
DL O'Connor....Has never seen the field, but started the spring as the #1 DT beside Elisara. After a week he fell back to #3.
FB Kravitz ....A solid #2 FB wigh a history of dings. I would like to see him catch the ball out of the backfield more in 2008. Ty wasn't happy he took off winter conditioning to go to South Africa and demoted him to #3.
OL Bulyca .....Finally hit his stride last season as a starter, but is being pushed by those behind him. He has a bit of nasty, but the coaching changes have obviously stunted some of his development. Weight is always a problem for Casey, we will see what he reports at in August.
OL White Frisbee ....JWF is ready to make an impact this season. Was an amazing DT with Emtman potential till he broke his foot. Could play on Sundays if he can stay healthy. Will be #1-b at one of the guard positions unless Tolar moves to center.
TE Winter .....Been at LB, DE, and TE but has rarely played.
LB Tuiasosopo .....Expect a solid season, as #1-B at MLB.
S Harris .....Was the best Safety left standing last season. Will be a reserve this year and provide some solid depth.
CB Forrester .....Will be in the rotation at CB. Didn't look good at Safety last year.
TE Gottleib .....Nobody has beaten out this former walk on, but Kavario Middleton should move past him by mid season. A solid blocker, who would be a #3 TE for most past Husky teams, but UW has been very lucky to have him.
2005 Recruiting Class (7) Willingham
OL Rosborough .....May not make an impact till year five. Very big, very agile, but something didn't click last year when he had a chance to enter the rotation.
DE Jones ....After injuries have slowed him down is now ready to be an effective starter. He played right away as a frosh MLB, redshirted the next season becuase of injury, and then was dinged up again last year. the only question about Darion is health.
OT Ossai .....This will be his third year as a starter, but he was pushed pretty hard by Habben last year. Ben will be a fixture at tackle for the next two seasons.
LB Savannah ....C'mon, put down the beer, get healthy and stop screwing around. So much potential, and way too many problems. This kid could be very good if he ever gets his head screwed on right.
LB Stevens .....This utility LB is very effective when he is inserted at the right time. I think he should have been a safety, but look for him to rush the passer at times from DE. Donatell will probably play him more than Baer, and with EJ out to start the season he is going to get his chance.
PK Perkins ....May not make it much longer because of one of the worst knee injuries of all time. Too bad because he came in with a terrific leg.
DE Teo Nesheim ....Daniel has NFL written all over him and may be the best player on the defense. He could have a good enough season to leave early. the Huskies are really counting on him to have a great season.
2006 Recruiting Class (12) Willingham
QB Locker .....Can you say All American and potential Heisman Trophy winner? So much has been written about Jake what more can you say? Like Tui he elevates the play of those around him. Look for Jake to be markedly improved in 2008 with a full season under his belt.
FB Homer .....One of the most complete FB's ever at UW. A devestating blocker, and special teams demon. It must be comforting to Jake to have Homer back there protecting him.
WR Goodwin .....Mr "Go-To-Guy" in 2008! D'Andre is the only kid who proved to me he was ready to catch the ball this past Spring. The Flea can make the big play, but when he runs into the likes of Patrick Chung, and Taylor Mays it could get pretty ugly.
OL Tolar .....Ryan will be playing on Sundays, count on it. He also could open the season at center. Great motor, and always improving.
OL Habben .....Will be a full time starter in 2008 after splitting time in 2007 with Ossai. Cody had a nice debut year, and will be a solid starter for the next three years.
OL Sedillo .....The center heir apparent in 2009 may start till Garcia comes back in 2008. The coaches like the way Matt is progressing.
DT Elisara ....The former four star recruit needs to start showing it in 2008. He is a workout warrior with a great attitude, but he hasn't broken out yet. Hard work usually pays off, and the team may not have a harder worker than Cameron.
DE Matthews ....They moved him inside this spring, but his future is at DE. If Matthews is your starting DT than we are going to be very small inside. Hopefully he can move back outside hwere he is obviously best suited, but like any kid he will play anywhere to hit the field.
LB Butler ....Keep him healthy 12 games and you have one of the Pac Ten's best LB's. UW was really hurt by his injury even though Tui did nice job filling in. He drops back better in pass coverage than Trenton.
LB Houston ....This is Matt's year to get into the rotation, and he had a decent Spring. He has good speed, but we really haven't seen him play much till this past Spring.
CB Mosley ....Started a bit last season as a RS. I am not sure if CB is his best position, but that is where he is. His grandfather is Husky great Luther Carr. Not sure how many of the Carr family have been Husky athletes, but it is probably around 20 or more! UW stole him from ASU at the last minute.
S Wells ....An injury cut his season short, and the Huskies really missed him. A coaches favorite who will likely start in 2008, but is going to face a stiff challenge from the young studs.
Snapper Morovick ....He makes it a lot easier to punt and place kick, a very smart pick up by Willingham.
2007 Recruiting Class (25) Willingham
QB Fouch ....A decent spring, and enters as the #2 in 2008. The coaches like his makeup, and he will have plenty of time to mature behind Jake.
RB Griffin ....Offensive player of the game in the Spring with most of the TB's out.
SB Shaw ....Converted to receiver at midseason and gave us some great glimpses of talent against OSU. Will play SB, TB, and WR in 2008.
RB Johnson ....100 yards against Cal subbing for Rankin. We all liked what he brought to the table last year, but is he durable enough to go 12 games, and 30 carries per?
FB Sylvester .....The heir to Paul Homer is biding his time as the #3 FB.
WR Aguilar .....Will be in the rotation in 2008. Gatorade player of the year in Colorado. I thought he looked good in the Spring game.
WR Boyles ....Not ready for prime time in the spring, but his mouth was. This kid was the star of the 2007 class, but he needs work to polish the potential.
WR Logan .....Will surprise in 2008 as a solid possession receiver that can lay some lumber. I think this kid will be an awesome downfield blocker. A Husky receiver that can block? Maybe I am getting ahead of myself.
TE Izbicki ....Had a solid spring game and will be in the rotation in 2008 at TE. He came in with a lot of hype, but needed to bulk up. Seemed to be getting it at the end of Spring, but needs to work on his hands.
OL Schugert ....Best of the young offensive linemen, and the coaches considered playing him in 2007. Has a chance to push for time in a crowded OG rotation.
OL Fancher ....Will be a #2 OT in 2008. If Ossai, or Habben go down we are going to be real green at tackle unless they move a guard over here.
OL Armelin ....Will be a #2 OT in 2008. Had a good RS year, and the coaches are happy with his development so far.
DT Duncan ....Way too early to tell on Tyrone. Hurt his shoulder in 2007, and saw action this Spring. Was starting for a bit till they moved Matthews over.
DT Wood ....Way too early to tell on Nick. He was injured in 2007, and Spring was really his first action. Needs some more time, and was moved to DE this Spring.
DE Aldrich .....Not keeping the weight on, but has good speed, and potential. We will see what he looks like in August. Don't pass the poi Kelani!
LB Dennison ....Scout team player of the year. Lightly recruited kid with a great attitude.
LB Foster ....Mason will be an All American before he leaves. Best looking Husky LB I have seen in years. He was good in 2007, and will be very good in 2008.
CB Persley ....The coaches love this kid. He has great size, but was pretty raw coming in. It will be interesting to watch him develop in year two. Comes from the same HS as Ronnie Fouch, and Chris Polk.
CB Davenport ....Will start opposite Richardson if he can stay healthy. Hamstrings seems to be a problem with him.
CB McDowell ....Started right out of the box last year way before his time. He seems to have gotten bigger, and regained his confidence this past Spring.
CB Richardson ....We all thought he would grow into a LB, but his surprising speed will give him a shot at starting as a big physical corner in 2008. He won the job this past spring, but I won't be completely sold till I see him against some opposition this Fall.
S Williams .....The nickle back in 2007 moves into a starting role in 2008. I expect great things from Nate. He played well last season learning the ropes and had a great Spring.
S Aiyewa .....Mr Nasty emerged this Spring and it will be tough for Wells to get his job back. This kid knocks the snot out of people like Patrick Chung. I think it is going to be hard to keep him on the bench even with Wells coming back healthy.
K Folk .....With Perkins hurting Folk needs to produce in 2008. He had a back injury in 2007 that cost him the season. His brother kicks for the Cowboys.
P Ballman .....Had a great year punting in 2007, and can help out place kicking. didn't look great this spring.
2008 Recruiting Class (26) Willingham
QB Blackman ....A big QB prospect sort of reminds me of Jermey Stevens. Will RS, and could be a future TE. UW will give him every chance to play QB, but he may need to mature a bit before he becomes a leader of men.
QB Leonard ....A mobile QB with a cannon who is still very green. Will RS, and could be a future Safety. Luther is a great kid, and a very good athlete. I wouldn't be surprised to see him stick at QB.
TB Bronson ....Top back in the state in 2007, will start off at TB with the potential to move to defense. UW was his only Pac Ten offer till WSU came in late in the game.
TB Freeman ....Lots of speed and moves. Charles Mincy was very high on him.
TB Dailey .....The coaches project him as a Richard Thomas type FB.
TB Fogerson ....I think the kid special, real special, and I think his future is at Safety.
WR Kearse ....Will get a shot in 2008, but may not be ready for prime time.
SB C. Polk ....The next Reggie Bush?
WR Bruns .....Has a great chance to start immediately.
WR J. Polk .....Speed kills, and he will get a shot in 2008.
TE Middleton ....We haven't had a kid with this type of talent since Stevens left, and I think he will be much better.
OL Thomas .....Like all big guys he needs to RS, but you have to like a snow boarding OT.
OL Schaeffer .....Will be a solid cog for five years.
OL Ikehara ....Will start off at center.
OL Carroll ....One of the top OL in the Bay Area.
DT Taamu .....The kid is a monster and will play right away ready, or not.
DT Kelemente ....The most polished of the young DL.
DT Noble ....Top Cal recruit could use a year of seasoning, but depth will force him to play right away.
DE Thompson ....We are thin at DE, so look for him to jump into the rotation right away.
LB Rousel ....I loved his film, glad he made it in. If he was two inches taller he would be at LSU.
LB Mangum ....Was here this Spring, has some work to do on his speed. A real big Arizona kid who was not heavily recruited.
CB Long ......Fast, Fast, Fast!
CB Gobern ....Another converted TB with great speed.
CB Glenn .....We have been watching this guy for a few years now, he is ahead of where McDowell was last season when he started.
S Taylor ....An excellent athlete who could find a home on either side of the ball.
S Walker ....Was a stud LB in HS.
The kids I think that will have a chance to play in 2008
WR Bruns....He runs precise routes, has sure hands, and if there is anything that gets you on the field early it is that type of discipline. Think of guys like Steve Largent, Paul Skansi, and Chris Juergens when you are looking for a comparison.
DT Kelemete....This kid may be one of the great ones. He has a great body, and a motor that does not quit. I think he is the most polished and ready to play of the young kids. He is extremely athletic, and was an excellent wrestler. He will come in at around 290 lbs..
DE Thompson....I would like to see him RS, but numbers at DE may not let that happen. He would be equally at home at DE, or TE. I would hate to see him end up like Rayford and miss his potential impact year if he has problems putting on enough weight.
DT Noble....Big bodies on defense will get a shot this year, and Craig was supposed to be one of the best in California. The DM crew is not quite convinced and thinks he needs seasoning. We will see where he is at in August.
DT Ta'amu....This kid is big, very big, and he is strong, very strong, so he will play from the get go if his feet are in order. The Huskies haven't had a true NT in quite some time, and his build fits that bill. He wasn't as dominating as you like in HS, but the tools are there. We need to see how nasty he is when he arrives.
SB C. Polk....The next Reggie Bush showed us some intruiging glimpses this Spring as he was learning the offense. The coaches are counting on him to bring big play impact to the team in 2008 which means he will help fill the void left by Rankin, but be used differently like Rodgers at OSU. UW talked Chris out of going to USC, that doesn't happen ever day, or every year.
WR J. Polk....Speed kills, and Jordan has a lot of speed and the ability to make exceptional catches if you have watched his film. Ty stole him out of Portland!
TE Middleton....One of the top recruits in the nation last year at TE, and DE. He should be starting at the end of the first bye week. This kid will be special if he keeps his head screwed on right.
WR Aguilar*.... He took awhile to qualify, but he made a decent impression this Spring. I think he makes the rotation at WR since everything is wide open.
WR Boyles* ....Like Aguilar he took awhile to qualify, but even though he is a year older than the rest of the frosh he may need some time to bulk up.
WR Kearse .....With all the holes at WR Jermaine will get a shot, but he probably needs a year to season. One of the top recruits in the West last year.
CB Long ....Speed kills, and he may be the fastest kid on the team this Fall which means they will find a place for him to play. The coaches are grooming him for action right away which means special teams until he is comfortable with the defense.
S Fogerson ....If he sticks at TB chances are he will not play this year, but if he moves to Safety, and if there are holes to fill he could play right away. He wasn't highly recruited if you believe the recruiting services, and not him, but he might have been the best player in the state at the end of the year. I saw a highlight film of his greatest defensive hits and it was impressive. Willingham offered very late, but after watching him in the state championship game could not resist.
* 2007 Class
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Pac Ten Alley
The bridge program has started, and the incoming frosh started informal workouts with the team yesterday. In other words the football season has started, and the countdown begins for camp which starts the first week in August.
Over the past few weeks I have been going over the team by position going into the Fall. I conclude the series with a couple of articles tommorow. First we will go over special teams which is a component of the Husky team that you hope improves this year.
The second article is a breakdown of the team by classes going back to 2003 when Juan Garcia caome into the program. Juan by the way is last Neuheisel recruit left standing. The article should give you all a pretty good look at where we are in the rebuilding process.
After that I start a series on Friday that previews all the Husky opponents in 2008. We start off with the Oregon Ducks who will be a major hurdle to overcome on the road to start the season. The series will conclude with the WSU preview on August 8th. The Monday Morning Wash, and Pac Ten Alley will continue to come out Monday, and Wednesday respectively each week.
Once practice starts the "Purple Curtain" will be lifted and I should have some sort of coverage here every day. Reporters only get to watch the first 20 minutes of practice which is usually just stretching. After practice Ty usually holds a news conference to answer questions. I watch the press conference every day, and you can too at the UW Athletic Department website.
The season begins early in Autzen, and finishes late in Strawberry Canyon. We have twelve games, and I feel that eight are winnable. That doesn't mean we can't beat USC, Oklahoma, ASU, and Oregon either, but I feel there are eight games in this schedule we should be able to win. As usual I will have plenty of commentary during the week, and after each game.
This is going to be a very interesting season because it will start with a new Athletic Director, and a head coach that is on the hot seat. The mandate this season is to finish with a winning record, and go to a bowl game. This team is entirely capable of doing that, if they can't they need to go in a new direction.
Pac Ten Alley
Over the past few weeks I have been going over the team by position going into the Fall. I conclude the series with a couple of articles tommorow. First we will go over special teams which is a component of the Husky team that you hope improves this year.
The second article is a breakdown of the team by classes going back to 2003 when Juan Garcia caome into the program. Juan by the way is last Neuheisel recruit left standing. The article should give you all a pretty good look at where we are in the rebuilding process.
After that I start a series on Friday that previews all the Husky opponents in 2008. We start off with the Oregon Ducks who will be a major hurdle to overcome on the road to start the season. The series will conclude with the WSU preview on August 8th. The Monday Morning Wash, and Pac Ten Alley will continue to come out Monday, and Wednesday respectively each week.
Once practice starts the "Purple Curtain" will be lifted and I should have some sort of coverage here every day. Reporters only get to watch the first 20 minutes of practice which is usually just stretching. After practice Ty usually holds a news conference to answer questions. I watch the press conference every day, and you can too at the UW Athletic Department website.
The season begins early in Autzen, and finishes late in Strawberry Canyon. We have twelve games, and I feel that eight are winnable. That doesn't mean we can't beat USC, Oklahoma, ASU, and Oregon either, but I feel there are eight games in this schedule we should be able to win. As usual I will have plenty of commentary during the week, and after each game.
This is going to be a very interesting season because it will start with a new Athletic Director, and a head coach that is on the hot seat. The mandate this season is to finish with a winning record, and go to a bowl game. This team is entirely capable of doing that, if they can't they need to go in a new direction.
Pac Ten Alley
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Defensive Line
Cameron Elisara and a player to be named later are going to be manning the inside of the UW defensive line this season. Elisara is a work out warrior, but that hasn't translated into immediate success for the third year player. This is the year the coaches look, and need for him to have a break out season.
Deshon Matthews moved over from DE this Spring to help out, and he did a good job, but he is pretty undersized for the position. Kirton is big enough, but can he make up for lost time after switching over from TE this past Spring? Tyrone Duncan played some for the first time this spring but didn't make a move, and O'Connor probably won't play a down in 2008.
What all this means is three true frosh are going to get a chance to play right away at UW. Taamu is a 340 pound man beast who has nose tackle all written over him. Kelemente is the guy I like the best, incredible body, good speed, size, and strength. Noble is a 300 pounder that may need more time to develop, but will get his shot at the rotation if ready this year.
DT Elisara So
DT Matthews So
DT Kirton Sr
DT Duncan RS
DT O'Connor Sr
DT Taamu Fr
DT Kelemente Fr
DT Noble Fr
Over at DE things are a lot clearer with Daniel Teo Nesheim, and Darion Jones. Teo Nesheim is an all league player who could go early to the NFL. Jones is a journeyman who has bided his time to earn his position. Both of these kids had excellent springs.
Backing them up will be Kelani Aldrich who may need another year of fattening up before he is ready to go, and Nick Wood who really didn't impress much this Spring. Wood seems more suited for inside, but because of numbers shifted outside. The coaches would love to move Matthews back to DE if a suitable partner can be found for Elisara.
Everette Thompson could really use a RS year, but numbers and need are most likely going to get him early playing time. Thompson is a talent, but you always like to RS your linemen.
Chris Stevens will see time as a stunting DE as usual this season as Washington tries to mask its inexperience in the DL with help from a deep LB corp.
DE Teo Nesheim
DE Jones
DE Aldrich
DE Wood
DE Thompson
Consensus
The future is now for the defensive line, and that means all four DL recruits are going to be thrown into the fire this Fall to see if they can play immediately. How well the new guys do will go along way in determining if the Washington defense will improve in 2008.
The only job that is locked down going into camp is Teo Nesheim's, everyone else, including Elisara is going to have to scramble for the a starting job. That means staying healthy, picking things up fast, getting to the QB, and taking up some space.
I think most of us were impressed by how well the defense played in the Spring game, but take it with a grain of salt, they pretty much knew what was coming next, and UW was using very little of their offense.
The Future
We are young, talented and fairly deep at DT looking towards the future, but we need to bring in a couple of stud DE's for the future.
Look for UW to recruit at least one DT, and a couple of DE's if they can.
I think Thompson, Kelemente, Noble, and Taamu have a bright future, but think about Ceasar Rayford for a minute. Wouldn't we all of liked him in purple and gold for one more season rather than playing on th epractice squad for the BC Lions? When you play linemen early you run the risk of not getting the use of their full potential and development.
Deshon Matthews moved over from DE this Spring to help out, and he did a good job, but he is pretty undersized for the position. Kirton is big enough, but can he make up for lost time after switching over from TE this past Spring? Tyrone Duncan played some for the first time this spring but didn't make a move, and O'Connor probably won't play a down in 2008.
What all this means is three true frosh are going to get a chance to play right away at UW. Taamu is a 340 pound man beast who has nose tackle all written over him. Kelemente is the guy I like the best, incredible body, good speed, size, and strength. Noble is a 300 pounder that may need more time to develop, but will get his shot at the rotation if ready this year.
DT Elisara So
DT Matthews So
DT Kirton Sr
DT Duncan RS
DT O'Connor Sr
DT Taamu Fr
DT Kelemente Fr
DT Noble Fr
Over at DE things are a lot clearer with Daniel Teo Nesheim, and Darion Jones. Teo Nesheim is an all league player who could go early to the NFL. Jones is a journeyman who has bided his time to earn his position. Both of these kids had excellent springs.
Backing them up will be Kelani Aldrich who may need another year of fattening up before he is ready to go, and Nick Wood who really didn't impress much this Spring. Wood seems more suited for inside, but because of numbers shifted outside. The coaches would love to move Matthews back to DE if a suitable partner can be found for Elisara.
Everette Thompson could really use a RS year, but numbers and need are most likely going to get him early playing time. Thompson is a talent, but you always like to RS your linemen.
Chris Stevens will see time as a stunting DE as usual this season as Washington tries to mask its inexperience in the DL with help from a deep LB corp.
DE Teo Nesheim
DE Jones
DE Aldrich
DE Wood
DE Thompson
Consensus
The future is now for the defensive line, and that means all four DL recruits are going to be thrown into the fire this Fall to see if they can play immediately. How well the new guys do will go along way in determining if the Washington defense will improve in 2008.
The only job that is locked down going into camp is Teo Nesheim's, everyone else, including Elisara is going to have to scramble for the a starting job. That means staying healthy, picking things up fast, getting to the QB, and taking up some space.
I think most of us were impressed by how well the defense played in the Spring game, but take it with a grain of salt, they pretty much knew what was coming next, and UW was using very little of their offense.
The Future
We are young, talented and fairly deep at DT looking towards the future, but we need to bring in a couple of stud DE's for the future.
Look for UW to recruit at least one DT, and a couple of DE's if they can.
I think Thompson, Kelemente, Noble, and Taamu have a bright future, but think about Ceasar Rayford for a minute. Wouldn't we all of liked him in purple and gold for one more season rather than playing on th epractice squad for the BC Lions? When you play linemen early you run the risk of not getting the use of their full potential and development.
Monday, July 07, 2008
The Monday Morning Wash
The University of Illinois football program has undergone an amazing rebuilding process since Ron Zook took over. There are lots of possible parallels between Washington and Illinois. A few experts feel that UW has the potential to be the surprise team of 2008 despite a murderous schedule.
It only took Zook three years to get the Illlini back in a BCS bowl which is the kind of performance that Washington fans expect out of their coaching staff. Willingham in year four has the talent on the squad to make a run, it is just a matter of getting that talent to mature, and perform as a team.
In 2005, the University of Illinois hired Zook to replace Ron Turner as the head coach of the Illinois Fighting Illini football team. Zook inherited a program which had become a disaster since winning the Big Ten championship in 2001, finishing 1-11 in 2003 and 3-8 in 2004, including Big Ten records of 0-8 and 1-7, respectively. In Zook's inaugural season of 2005, Illinois finished with an overall record of 2-9, and a record of 0-8 in Big Ten games.
Despite his team's past struggles, Zook has improved the ability of Illinois to recruit top football talent. According to one source, the 2006 recruiting class was one of the 30 best in college football.
Despite this, they finished the 2006 season 1-7 in the conference and 2-10 overall. While the record did not improve, the play on the field did as the Illini nearly upset top ranked Ohio State in Champaign before losing 17-10. Additionally, the Illini played well against Iowa, Wisconsin, and Penn State (they lost 63-10 the year before; Penn State led 56-3 at halftime) but ended up losing close games (they were down 15-12 at Penn State until Penn State broke open the close game to make it 26-12).
The 2006 recruiting class included Isiah "Juice" Williams of Chicago Vocational High School, considered to be one of the top quarterback recruits in the country. They also signed Arrelious Benn, one of the top wide receiver prospects in the 2007 class. More recently, Zook has also won over Simeon High School standout Martez Wilson along with Florida prospect D'Angelo McCray. This class is one of Illinois' best in recent memory, being rated within the top 25 nationally by some experts.
The Chicago area is a high school football hotbed, and there is no reason that the Illini shouldn't have great talent every year, but so much of it bleeds out to Notre Dame and the rest of the Big Ten. Zook is the first Illinois head coach in years that is starting to keep that talent home. Part of the problem at Illinois is that every time they do well they get caught cheating, and that sends the program back into a dark hole for a decade. The same sort of rumors started flowing again during Zooks tenure, but nothing substantial has come out as of this time. Most feel the rumors are sour grapes from South Bend, and Ann Arbor.
Zook's recruiting success finally began to pay dividends during the 2007 season. After losing a close game on neutral turf to a Missouri squad which would go on to be ranked as high as #1, the Illini ran off five straight wins, including back-to-back home wins over Penn State and Wisconsin. Illinois' 5-1 start gave them a #18 ranking in the AP poll. This was Illinois' first ranking in the AP poll since the end of the 2001 season.
However, the ranking would prove to be short lived after consecutive losses to Iowa and Michigan. A homecoming win over Ball State gave the Illini bowl eligibility and a blowout win at Minnesota all but assured Zook's first bowl appearance as coach of the Illini. On November 10th, the then-unranked Illini defeated #1-ranked Ohio State in Columbus, ending the Buckeyes' 28 game home winning streak. The Illini finished the 2007 regular season by defeating Northwestern to finish 9-3 overall, 6-2 in the Big 10.
Because Big Ten champion Ohio State played in the BCS National Championship game, Illinois received a bid to play in the Rose Bowl as the second ranked team in the Big Ten. The Illini's improvement of 7 wins over the 2006 season was the largest such increase of any Division I team.
Washington historically has been much stronger than Illinois on the gridiron despite the fact that the Illini have steady support from a loyal fan base, and a larger local talent base to draw from.
Washington has lacked administrative support, and cohesiveness since the national championship year. Thirteen years under Barbara Hedges were a slow death, and it is actually amazing that the machine held together that long.
President Mark Emmert has stated from the beginning that he is pro athletics, and believes that the football team is the front porch of the University. His first steps were to hire Willingham and Turner whose jobs were to restore respectability, and ethical behavior to the athletic department and football program.
Perhaps both were the right guys at the right time, but Turner was fired last Winter, and Willingham barely escaped the same axe. The problem was simple the team was not winning. Even though the program was clean there was a complete disconnect with fans, boosters, alumni, and media. With over $300 million needing to be raised to rebuild the stadium it became evident that Turner and possibly Willingham were not going to be able to sell it to the state, and the public.
I have always felt that Ty was the guy that would stabilize things over 4-5 years, and whoever took over from him would have some good building blocks to take advantage of if it didn't work out. Going into year four his program is at a crossroad
So here we are headed into year four wondering if Willingham is going to be able to take it to the next level like Ron Zook did at Illinois last season. I think the pieces are in place to win as many as eight games this season even though the schedule is less than kind.
Jake Locker has a year under his belt, and that makes a big difference even though his skill players need to step up to the plate immediately. This team is going to be very young in places, but overall the talent has improved at almost every position. It's time to win at Washington, and it is time to produce an Illinois type turnaround at Montlake in 2008.
Tidbits
It looks like a couple of recruits are missing the start of the bridge program today. RB Demetrius Bronson could be delayed a couple of days and is meeting with coaches to go over whatever requirements he is missing. Bronson is confident that he will be eligible for Fall since he is picking ups some credits from a BYU extension course.
QB Dominique Blackman is waiting for results on his ACT. His GPA slid a bit since he took his SAT which means he has to raise his score a bit to qualify. Blackman reports that he is down to 240 after playing volleyball this past Spring which means if he makes camp he should be around 235 by the time the season begins.
Both of these kids were expected to redshirt this season, so if it takes a little extra time I guess it is ok, but they do fall behind the rest of the class since the kids that are in school will be going to informal workouts starting on Tuesday with the rest of the team till practice begins in August.
One thing to keep in mind is the kids are always positive up to the minute they don't qualify to get in, so keep your fingers crossed on both of these guys.
It only took Zook three years to get the Illlini back in a BCS bowl which is the kind of performance that Washington fans expect out of their coaching staff. Willingham in year four has the talent on the squad to make a run, it is just a matter of getting that talent to mature, and perform as a team.
In 2005, the University of Illinois hired Zook to replace Ron Turner as the head coach of the Illinois Fighting Illini football team. Zook inherited a program which had become a disaster since winning the Big Ten championship in 2001, finishing 1-11 in 2003 and 3-8 in 2004, including Big Ten records of 0-8 and 1-7, respectively. In Zook's inaugural season of 2005, Illinois finished with an overall record of 2-9, and a record of 0-8 in Big Ten games.
Despite his team's past struggles, Zook has improved the ability of Illinois to recruit top football talent. According to one source, the 2006 recruiting class was one of the 30 best in college football.
Despite this, they finished the 2006 season 1-7 in the conference and 2-10 overall. While the record did not improve, the play on the field did as the Illini nearly upset top ranked Ohio State in Champaign before losing 17-10. Additionally, the Illini played well against Iowa, Wisconsin, and Penn State (they lost 63-10 the year before; Penn State led 56-3 at halftime) but ended up losing close games (they were down 15-12 at Penn State until Penn State broke open the close game to make it 26-12).
The 2006 recruiting class included Isiah "Juice" Williams of Chicago Vocational High School, considered to be one of the top quarterback recruits in the country. They also signed Arrelious Benn, one of the top wide receiver prospects in the 2007 class. More recently, Zook has also won over Simeon High School standout Martez Wilson along with Florida prospect D'Angelo McCray. This class is one of Illinois' best in recent memory, being rated within the top 25 nationally by some experts.
The Chicago area is a high school football hotbed, and there is no reason that the Illini shouldn't have great talent every year, but so much of it bleeds out to Notre Dame and the rest of the Big Ten. Zook is the first Illinois head coach in years that is starting to keep that talent home. Part of the problem at Illinois is that every time they do well they get caught cheating, and that sends the program back into a dark hole for a decade. The same sort of rumors started flowing again during Zooks tenure, but nothing substantial has come out as of this time. Most feel the rumors are sour grapes from South Bend, and Ann Arbor.
Zook's recruiting success finally began to pay dividends during the 2007 season. After losing a close game on neutral turf to a Missouri squad which would go on to be ranked as high as #1, the Illini ran off five straight wins, including back-to-back home wins over Penn State and Wisconsin. Illinois' 5-1 start gave them a #18 ranking in the AP poll. This was Illinois' first ranking in the AP poll since the end of the 2001 season.
However, the ranking would prove to be short lived after consecutive losses to Iowa and Michigan. A homecoming win over Ball State gave the Illini bowl eligibility and a blowout win at Minnesota all but assured Zook's first bowl appearance as coach of the Illini. On November 10th, the then-unranked Illini defeated #1-ranked Ohio State in Columbus, ending the Buckeyes' 28 game home winning streak. The Illini finished the 2007 regular season by defeating Northwestern to finish 9-3 overall, 6-2 in the Big 10.
Because Big Ten champion Ohio State played in the BCS National Championship game, Illinois received a bid to play in the Rose Bowl as the second ranked team in the Big Ten. The Illini's improvement of 7 wins over the 2006 season was the largest such increase of any Division I team.
Washington historically has been much stronger than Illinois on the gridiron despite the fact that the Illini have steady support from a loyal fan base, and a larger local talent base to draw from.
Washington has lacked administrative support, and cohesiveness since the national championship year. Thirteen years under Barbara Hedges were a slow death, and it is actually amazing that the machine held together that long.
President Mark Emmert has stated from the beginning that he is pro athletics, and believes that the football team is the front porch of the University. His first steps were to hire Willingham and Turner whose jobs were to restore respectability, and ethical behavior to the athletic department and football program.
Perhaps both were the right guys at the right time, but Turner was fired last Winter, and Willingham barely escaped the same axe. The problem was simple the team was not winning. Even though the program was clean there was a complete disconnect with fans, boosters, alumni, and media. With over $300 million needing to be raised to rebuild the stadium it became evident that Turner and possibly Willingham were not going to be able to sell it to the state, and the public.
I have always felt that Ty was the guy that would stabilize things over 4-5 years, and whoever took over from him would have some good building blocks to take advantage of if it didn't work out. Going into year four his program is at a crossroad
So here we are headed into year four wondering if Willingham is going to be able to take it to the next level like Ron Zook did at Illinois last season. I think the pieces are in place to win as many as eight games this season even though the schedule is less than kind.
Jake Locker has a year under his belt, and that makes a big difference even though his skill players need to step up to the plate immediately. This team is going to be very young in places, but overall the talent has improved at almost every position. It's time to win at Washington, and it is time to produce an Illinois type turnaround at Montlake in 2008.
Tidbits
It looks like a couple of recruits are missing the start of the bridge program today. RB Demetrius Bronson could be delayed a couple of days and is meeting with coaches to go over whatever requirements he is missing. Bronson is confident that he will be eligible for Fall since he is picking ups some credits from a BYU extension course.
QB Dominique Blackman is waiting for results on his ACT. His GPA slid a bit since he took his SAT which means he has to raise his score a bit to qualify. Blackman reports that he is down to 240 after playing volleyball this past Spring which means if he makes camp he should be around 235 by the time the season begins.
Both of these kids were expected to redshirt this season, so if it takes a little extra time I guess it is ok, but they do fall behind the rest of the class since the kids that are in school will be going to informal workouts starting on Tuesday with the rest of the team till practice begins in August.
One thing to keep in mind is the kids are always positive up to the minute they don't qualify to get in, so keep your fingers crossed on both of these guys.
Friday, July 04, 2008
Linebackers
Will UW run a 3-4, or a 4-3 the majority of the time in 2008?
The reason we ask is Washington is pretty deep at LB, and very shallow on the defensive line. This Spring from what we could see the Huskies stuck with the 4-3, but that could change a bit if Taamu, and Noble arrive ready to play and become viable candidates at NT. Donatell seems open to running what ever works in the right situations. Look for him to be a breath of fresh air calling the game compared to the very predictable Coach Baer.
Washington has a lot of talent and experience at linebacker going into 2008. Unfortunately the best of the bunch, EJ Savannah may miss the first three games with a broken upper arm he suffered while supposedly arm wrestling. I am sure there is a lot more to the story, but I like the arm wrestling angle, it is very creative.
EJ started off the Spring sharing the doghouse with JR Hasty for missing some Winter workouts. when he returned to the field he showed why he was such a coveted recruit when he led the LB's in tackles during the Spring game. Look for the defense to kick it up a notch when EJ returns, but they could also be 0-3 when that happens. With EJ out look for Sr Chris Stevens, and So Matt Houston to split time at the position.
Don't count out walk ons Jonathan Gage, and Fred Wiggs, both of these kids will play a lot this year on special teams, and Gage was actually starting while EJ was running stairs.
So Mason Foster is going to be a very good player before he leaves. He saw the field immediately last year and worked himself into the starting rotation at the end of the year. Jr Donald Butler returns healthy this season, and when this kid is healthy he is a pretty good player. Backing him up, and playing besides him at times will be Trenton Tuiasosopo who is primed to have a pretty good year after getting back to full strength from a bicycle accident that nearly killed him.
SO Matt Houston, and RS Cort Dennison are going to see the field quite a bit this year along with walk on Jonathan Gage.
The Huskies add Bradley Roussel from Louisiana who had good film, and Kurt Mangum from Arizona who was practicing with the team this Spring.
OLB Savannah Jr
OLB Houston So
OLB Stevens Sr
OLB Wiggs* Jr
ILB Foster So
ILB Dennison Rs
ILB Roussel Fr
ILB Gage* Jr
MLB Butler Jr
MLB Tuiasosopo Sr
MLB Mangum Fr
Consensus
Butler, Foster, Savannah, Tuiasosopo, and Stevens are pretty good building blocks for Ed Donatell to utilize in his first season at Washington. The Huskies have pretty good depth at LB, and it will allow UW to buy some time while a very young defensive line develops.
The injury to Savannah hurts because the kid has the potential to be a difference make when healthy. He will be back early in the season, but the lack of conditioning could be a factor due to loss of upper body strength.
Butler and Tuiasosopo are #1-A, and #1-B in the middle. We haven't seen what Butler is capable of yet, but we all have a good idea what Tui can do. Tui is great against the run, but struggles a bit in pass coverage.
Mason Foster will graduate as one of UW's greatest LB's. The kid has a lot of upside, and will continue to grow in 2008. He is very athletic, and can play sideline to sideline.
The Future
UW graduates two, and that means they will bring in two in 2008 unless someone gets moved here from another position.
Mangum is a big kid, but he needs to work on his speed from what we saw this Spring. Roussel is a kid that would have been a blue chip if he was a couple of inches taller. If he had those extra couple of inches he would be at LSU, not UW.
The reason we ask is Washington is pretty deep at LB, and very shallow on the defensive line. This Spring from what we could see the Huskies stuck with the 4-3, but that could change a bit if Taamu, and Noble arrive ready to play and become viable candidates at NT. Donatell seems open to running what ever works in the right situations. Look for him to be a breath of fresh air calling the game compared to the very predictable Coach Baer.
Washington has a lot of talent and experience at linebacker going into 2008. Unfortunately the best of the bunch, EJ Savannah may miss the first three games with a broken upper arm he suffered while supposedly arm wrestling. I am sure there is a lot more to the story, but I like the arm wrestling angle, it is very creative.
EJ started off the Spring sharing the doghouse with JR Hasty for missing some Winter workouts. when he returned to the field he showed why he was such a coveted recruit when he led the LB's in tackles during the Spring game. Look for the defense to kick it up a notch when EJ returns, but they could also be 0-3 when that happens. With EJ out look for Sr Chris Stevens, and So Matt Houston to split time at the position.
Don't count out walk ons Jonathan Gage, and Fred Wiggs, both of these kids will play a lot this year on special teams, and Gage was actually starting while EJ was running stairs.
So Mason Foster is going to be a very good player before he leaves. He saw the field immediately last year and worked himself into the starting rotation at the end of the year. Jr Donald Butler returns healthy this season, and when this kid is healthy he is a pretty good player. Backing him up, and playing besides him at times will be Trenton Tuiasosopo who is primed to have a pretty good year after getting back to full strength from a bicycle accident that nearly killed him.
SO Matt Houston, and RS Cort Dennison are going to see the field quite a bit this year along with walk on Jonathan Gage.
The Huskies add Bradley Roussel from Louisiana who had good film, and Kurt Mangum from Arizona who was practicing with the team this Spring.
OLB Savannah Jr
OLB Houston So
OLB Stevens Sr
OLB Wiggs* Jr
ILB Foster So
ILB Dennison Rs
ILB Roussel Fr
ILB Gage* Jr
MLB Butler Jr
MLB Tuiasosopo Sr
MLB Mangum Fr
Consensus
Butler, Foster, Savannah, Tuiasosopo, and Stevens are pretty good building blocks for Ed Donatell to utilize in his first season at Washington. The Huskies have pretty good depth at LB, and it will allow UW to buy some time while a very young defensive line develops.
The injury to Savannah hurts because the kid has the potential to be a difference make when healthy. He will be back early in the season, but the lack of conditioning could be a factor due to loss of upper body strength.
Butler and Tuiasosopo are #1-A, and #1-B in the middle. We haven't seen what Butler is capable of yet, but we all have a good idea what Tui can do. Tui is great against the run, but struggles a bit in pass coverage.
Mason Foster will graduate as one of UW's greatest LB's. The kid has a lot of upside, and will continue to grow in 2008. He is very athletic, and can play sideline to sideline.
The Future
UW graduates two, and that means they will bring in two in 2008 unless someone gets moved here from another position.
Mangum is a big kid, but he needs to work on his speed from what we saw this Spring. Roussel is a kid that would have been a blue chip if he was a couple of inches taller. If he had those extra couple of inches he would be at LSU, not UW.
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Sonic Reaction
It was really no surprise that the Sonics are moving to Oklahoma and the city accepted a $45 million payoff from Clay Bennett. The court case really was nothing other than posturing, and a waste of more taxpayer money since a similar settlement offer had been on the table previously.
It was pretty obvious in the early going that the poison pill defense was going to work for Bennett because for the most part it was true. The cities plan all along was to bleed the guy with losses if he didn't play ball with them.
A lot of people blame Howard Schultz, and Wally Walker, but who can blame somebody for selling a team for double it's book value? You would have to be crazy to pass that one up when you are losing millions of dollars per year.
The real blame should be put on the politicians in Seattle, and Olympia who never put together a viable solution even though that solution was always within their grasps. The obvious point was that Key Arena was not financially viable anymore for an NBA team even though it was previously remodeled in 1995. The venue was the smallest in the league, and lacked the revenue producing amenities needed to be successful in a changing market.
The previous owner Barry Ackerley almost got it right when he almost built a new arena in the SODO area where Safeco Field now sits. That arena was going to be big enough for hockey, be able to control parking revenue, and have a footprint that could be extended to take care of future needs.
The remodeling of Key Arena was more of a stop gap move designed to give an aging building, city park, and the businesses around it an extra 10-15 years of meaningful life. That model started to fail when Safeco, and Qwest opened because they took away the market for luxury boxes from the Sonics which was a big piece of the economic equation for the franchise, and the building remaining successful.
Key Arena was originally designed as a temporary venue for the 1962 Seattle Worlds Fair. It was never supposed to be around fifty years later even if it was remodeled time and time again.
A 300 million dollar project to remodel it once more is another stop gap measure if the building is unable to host the NHL, and the surrounding campus may be too small to control all the revenue needed to support those franchises in this day of age.
The NBA wrote a nice letter on the way out of town which says the city has 18 months to get it's act together on building a new arena, or remodeling the Key if they want to have a chance at getting an NBA team in the next five years. Spend the money and wait with no guarantees to a city that supported the league for 41 years.
If you are going to build a new arena, or remodel Key Arena you need to make sure that it is going to be able to host an NHL franchise. If you don't, by the time the NBA comes sniffing around again the new arena may be hopelessly out of date and you have to start all over again.
Commisioner Stern is not a friend of Seattle, and he feels he owes the area nothing after Clay Bennett pays the city $45-$75 million over the next five years. There are no guarantee's, no conditional promises, only a cordial letter wrapped with cash, and an empty hope on the way out of town.
Line of the Day
As for the additional $30 million due in 2013 if Bennett hasn't helped get another franchise for Seattle -- please. Bennett being forced to help Seattle scrounge a team is like hiring Yosemite Sam to be an anger-management counselor.
It was pretty obvious in the early going that the poison pill defense was going to work for Bennett because for the most part it was true. The cities plan all along was to bleed the guy with losses if he didn't play ball with them.
A lot of people blame Howard Schultz, and Wally Walker, but who can blame somebody for selling a team for double it's book value? You would have to be crazy to pass that one up when you are losing millions of dollars per year.
The real blame should be put on the politicians in Seattle, and Olympia who never put together a viable solution even though that solution was always within their grasps. The obvious point was that Key Arena was not financially viable anymore for an NBA team even though it was previously remodeled in 1995. The venue was the smallest in the league, and lacked the revenue producing amenities needed to be successful in a changing market.
The previous owner Barry Ackerley almost got it right when he almost built a new arena in the SODO area where Safeco Field now sits. That arena was going to be big enough for hockey, be able to control parking revenue, and have a footprint that could be extended to take care of future needs.
The remodeling of Key Arena was more of a stop gap move designed to give an aging building, city park, and the businesses around it an extra 10-15 years of meaningful life. That model started to fail when Safeco, and Qwest opened because they took away the market for luxury boxes from the Sonics which was a big piece of the economic equation for the franchise, and the building remaining successful.
Key Arena was originally designed as a temporary venue for the 1962 Seattle Worlds Fair. It was never supposed to be around fifty years later even if it was remodeled time and time again.
A 300 million dollar project to remodel it once more is another stop gap measure if the building is unable to host the NHL, and the surrounding campus may be too small to control all the revenue needed to support those franchises in this day of age.
The NBA wrote a nice letter on the way out of town which says the city has 18 months to get it's act together on building a new arena, or remodeling the Key if they want to have a chance at getting an NBA team in the next five years. Spend the money and wait with no guarantees to a city that supported the league for 41 years.
If you are going to build a new arena, or remodel Key Arena you need to make sure that it is going to be able to host an NHL franchise. If you don't, by the time the NBA comes sniffing around again the new arena may be hopelessly out of date and you have to start all over again.
Commisioner Stern is not a friend of Seattle, and he feels he owes the area nothing after Clay Bennett pays the city $45-$75 million over the next five years. There are no guarantee's, no conditional promises, only a cordial letter wrapped with cash, and an empty hope on the way out of town.
Line of the Day
As for the additional $30 million due in 2013 if Bennett hasn't helped get another franchise for Seattle -- please. Bennett being forced to help Seattle scrounge a team is like hiring Yosemite Sam to be an anger-management counselor.
Defensive Backs
Defensive Back has been an Achilles heel for Washington ever since the bombardment by Texas back in the Holiday Bowl when Neuheisel was here. Who will ever forget Chris Massey getting burned all night by the Longhorns? Who thought it would continue for the rest of the decade?
Hard to believe, but things have continued to get worse since that fateful day. The main problem has been recruiting, retention, and development. UW has not recruited enough numbers at the position, and is only now getting back to the point where they have enough athletes back there to at least practice with. Willingham upon his arrival tried to address the problems by bringing in JC's, but that backfired on him when only a few of those guys were able to get in to school.
Washington's biggest problem has simply been running out of guys to put back there. Without much of a rotation guys get tired, and tired guys get burned. Most of the guys they have had have not improved either which points a finger at coaching, development, and talent.
The last two recruiting classes however have fully addressed the need for numbers and talent. Development and experience need to start taking over for the Huskies to take it to the next level.
Cornerback
Washington went young this Spring. RS Quinton Richardson who came in faster than most thought has been moved from Safety to Corner and is slotted to start opposite of Sr Mesphin Forrester who also moved over from Safety. Sr Byron Davenport will challenge Forrester for a starting spot if he can stay healthy. The transfer from UCLA played well last year when healthy, but he suffered from nagging injuries most of the year. Behind those three you have So Matt Mosley, So Vonzell McDowell, who both started a few games last year in their first year of action. RS Marquise Persley also looks like a potential stud to build with in the future.
True Frosh Justin Glenn, Anthony Gobern, and Adam Long arrive this Summer, and all will get a shot at getting into the rotation if they are ready. Long is a guy the coaches will take a particularly long look at, no pun intended, because he may just be the fastest kid on the team when he gets here.
CB Forrester Sr
CB Richardson RS
CB Davenport Sr
CB McDowell So
CB Mosley So
CB Persely RS
CB Long Fr
CB Gobern Fr
CB Glenn Fr
Safety
While we have lots of questions at CB, the Safety position looks pretty good going into Summer. Sr Jason Wells returns after suffering an ACL injury early last year. Wells is a player, and when he went out the level of the defense fell a couple of notches.
So Nate Williams, and So Victor Aiyewa were that starters this past Spring. Both are beginning to remind me of the Husky Safeties of old such as Tim Peoples, Lawyer Milloy...etc... . Both of these kids can run, and lay some lumber.
Sr Darin Harris returns for his final campaign, and he has played a lot during his career starting, and backing up. He may not be the most talented Safety we have ever had, but the kid gives a solid effort every time he hits the field. Also in the depth you have Jr Tripper Johnson who walked on after ending his baseball career. Tripper had a good Spring and rose to second string on the depth chart.
The Huskies also bring in three new true Frosh Safeties in Johri Fogerson, Greg Walker, and Vince Taylor. All three are very good athletes, and Fogerson will most likely get a good look at RB before moving over to DB. Walker was a LB in HS, and Taylor could play WR, or DB. Vince has the potential to develop into a specimen.
S Wells Sr
S Williams So
S Aieywa So
S Johnson Jr
S Harris Sr
S Fogerson Fr
S Taylor Fr
S Walker Fr
Consensus
Ed Donatell's background is as a DB coach, and he will change the look of this unit this season with the help of Coach Williams. As a group I think play will improve dramatically due to better teaching, schemes, and play calling. Coach Baer looked brain dead most of the time, don't expect the same performance from Donatell who is an excellent coach. Enjoy Ed the one year he is at UW because chances are he will rejoin Jim Mora when he takes over as coach of the Seahawks next season.
Overall I love our potential at safety, but CB frightens me a little. Our two top corners are converted safeties which means we should be able to attack the run better, but will these kids be able to provide adequate pass coverage in a throwing league like the Pac Ten?
I thought they played well this Spring, but that was against our young, and inexperienced WR corp. The Oregon game will test this group right out of the gates. We will know what we have by halftime.
The Future
The future looks pretty good since UW now sports a young and talented group with lots of talent and depth. Look for the next recruiting class to include 2-3 more DB's to keep building depth. Experience is what will make this young group better, and they are going to get a lot of it this season playing the nations toughest schedule.
Hard to believe, but things have continued to get worse since that fateful day. The main problem has been recruiting, retention, and development. UW has not recruited enough numbers at the position, and is only now getting back to the point where they have enough athletes back there to at least practice with. Willingham upon his arrival tried to address the problems by bringing in JC's, but that backfired on him when only a few of those guys were able to get in to school.
Washington's biggest problem has simply been running out of guys to put back there. Without much of a rotation guys get tired, and tired guys get burned. Most of the guys they have had have not improved either which points a finger at coaching, development, and talent.
The last two recruiting classes however have fully addressed the need for numbers and talent. Development and experience need to start taking over for the Huskies to take it to the next level.
Cornerback
Washington went young this Spring. RS Quinton Richardson who came in faster than most thought has been moved from Safety to Corner and is slotted to start opposite of Sr Mesphin Forrester who also moved over from Safety. Sr Byron Davenport will challenge Forrester for a starting spot if he can stay healthy. The transfer from UCLA played well last year when healthy, but he suffered from nagging injuries most of the year. Behind those three you have So Matt Mosley, So Vonzell McDowell, who both started a few games last year in their first year of action. RS Marquise Persley also looks like a potential stud to build with in the future.
True Frosh Justin Glenn, Anthony Gobern, and Adam Long arrive this Summer, and all will get a shot at getting into the rotation if they are ready. Long is a guy the coaches will take a particularly long look at, no pun intended, because he may just be the fastest kid on the team when he gets here.
CB Forrester Sr
CB Richardson RS
CB Davenport Sr
CB McDowell So
CB Mosley So
CB Persely RS
CB Long Fr
CB Gobern Fr
CB Glenn Fr
Safety
While we have lots of questions at CB, the Safety position looks pretty good going into Summer. Sr Jason Wells returns after suffering an ACL injury early last year. Wells is a player, and when he went out the level of the defense fell a couple of notches.
So Nate Williams, and So Victor Aiyewa were that starters this past Spring. Both are beginning to remind me of the Husky Safeties of old such as Tim Peoples, Lawyer Milloy...etc... . Both of these kids can run, and lay some lumber.
Sr Darin Harris returns for his final campaign, and he has played a lot during his career starting, and backing up. He may not be the most talented Safety we have ever had, but the kid gives a solid effort every time he hits the field. Also in the depth you have Jr Tripper Johnson who walked on after ending his baseball career. Tripper had a good Spring and rose to second string on the depth chart.
The Huskies also bring in three new true Frosh Safeties in Johri Fogerson, Greg Walker, and Vince Taylor. All three are very good athletes, and Fogerson will most likely get a good look at RB before moving over to DB. Walker was a LB in HS, and Taylor could play WR, or DB. Vince has the potential to develop into a specimen.
S Wells Sr
S Williams So
S Aieywa So
S Johnson Jr
S Harris Sr
S Fogerson Fr
S Taylor Fr
S Walker Fr
Consensus
Ed Donatell's background is as a DB coach, and he will change the look of this unit this season with the help of Coach Williams. As a group I think play will improve dramatically due to better teaching, schemes, and play calling. Coach Baer looked brain dead most of the time, don't expect the same performance from Donatell who is an excellent coach. Enjoy Ed the one year he is at UW because chances are he will rejoin Jim Mora when he takes over as coach of the Seahawks next season.
Overall I love our potential at safety, but CB frightens me a little. Our two top corners are converted safeties which means we should be able to attack the run better, but will these kids be able to provide adequate pass coverage in a throwing league like the Pac Ten?
I thought they played well this Spring, but that was against our young, and inexperienced WR corp. The Oregon game will test this group right out of the gates. We will know what we have by halftime.
The Future
The future looks pretty good since UW now sports a young and talented group with lots of talent and depth. Look for the next recruiting class to include 2-3 more DB's to keep building depth. Experience is what will make this young group better, and they are going to get a lot of it this season playing the nations toughest schedule.
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Pac Ten Alley
We shift to basketball to open this week and say a fond farewell to Joel Smith who is moving on with a season of eligibility still remaining. Smith was supposed to be the next Bobby Jones, and looked the part early in his career until an injury slowed him down. Smith was never quite the same after that, and even though Romar would love to have him on the roster another year there simply wasn't room. You hate to see a kid with a great attitude move on with eligibility left, but that is how the game is often played with the small numbers involved in college basketball.
Observers who have been watching Isaiah Thomas in open gym on the UW campus are coming away very impressed. The kid has put on some muscle and looks ready to assume the role of the next Nate Robinson. By the way, he shoots a lot better than Nate did at this point of his career.
Venoy Overton has been working on improving his shooting touch, and seems to be doing pretty well hitting three's. With Appleby moving on Thomas, and Overton are going to need to pick up the slack from the outside.
Bridge Program
Bob Condotta is hearing that the entire football recruiting class is going to qualify and be on campus by July 7th which is very good news. Scott, and Chris over at DM are saying not so fast, they still think there are a couple of kids that are going to be cutting it very close. No exact word on who those players are, but it won't be Lakes HS Kavario Middleton who is now fully qualified. It is very tough to figure out what is happening ahead of time because of the Purple Shroud of silence.
Then There Were Seven
Bob Condotta takes a close look at the 2005 class which was Willingham's first at Washington. When that class came in most of us gave Ty a mulligan, but with hindsight being 20/20 it seems his lack of immediate urgency may end up costing him his job.
Most critics of Willingham point to his first two classes as being very sub par. I am reserving judgement on the second class, but the first one was a program killer. You can put a lot of the blame on Gilbertson who closed down recruiting in September of that year, but Ty didn't hit the road the day he was hired, he chose to wait till after the dead period, and that was a major contributing factor. Jonathan Stewart was the prize of that class, and Ty did make an effort to recruit him, but when he headed to Oregon the fate of this small class was sealed.
UW had major holes at DB which were never filled because the transfers didn't make it in. Same thing happened the following year. Only now is Washington back to the numbers they need to be productive in the defensive backfield.
The departure of running back J.R. Hasty further depletes Washington's Class of 2005, which was generally considered to be the worst in the schools history in decades and is living up to that, uh, hype.
Pac Ten Alley
It's time to take a walk down the coast to see what the neighbors are up to. A lot of the blogs are still in hibernation but we fill in with interesting bits and pieces from the newspapers.
Have you ever seen a copy of the Oregon recruiting comic book? Pretty darn creative, and this week we have a link to the one they put together to recruit Jonathan Stewart.
Back in 2005, Oregon coaches enlisted students to design custom comic books for the Ducks' top 20 recruiting targets. Each comic portrayed the recruit as a hero who leads the Ducks to a national title. Oregon sent each prospect one page per week during the recruiting period. Here is the entire comic made for running back Jonathan Stewart, one of the nation's top recruits at the time.
Stanford has a bridge program of their own.
Padric Scott is one of 14 Stanford freshmen football players - out of a class of 18 - enrolled in summer classes that started last week. He's living in university housing, three months before the start of the fall quarter and what used to be considered the beginning of life as a college student-athlete.
Bowl game needed to save Mike Stoops job? People need to remember that Stoops took over from Mackovick who ran the program into the ground. The situation was even worse than the one at Washington when he arrived. That being said you still need to win, and you certainly need to win by your fifth year.
Mike Stoops' job security and a more explosive offense should be the top story lines for the Arizona football team. At least that's what the college football preseason magazines are saying.
Stoops, entering his fifth year with the program, has a 17-29 overall record and has yet to reach a bowl game.
It was year to remember at Arizona State, and they are just getting started.
Try to think of a single moment that captures Arizona State's year in sports. You can't. There are too many.The Sun Devils just concluded their best season of the Pac-10 era, with contributions stemming from nearly all teams.
Mike Montgomery is finalizing his contract at Cal.
Winning might not be everything, but it's becoming much more important at Cal. The university is about to sign another large long-term athletic contract, this one with new basketball coach Michael Montgomery, who will take in at least $1.7 million annually over the next six years. That's 61 percent more than his predecessor, Ben Braun, received last year. And it follows the seven-year contract renewal UC Berkeley inked with football coach Jeff Tedford that paid $2.8 million last year.
OSU picks up a QB that Washington was looking at.
Stockton, Calif. QB Cody Vaz (6-1, 200) had a great camp in Corvallis and quickly said "I do'' when offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf offered him a scholarship. ... Vaz was first-team all-State as a junior, throwing for 3,265 yards and 33 TDs.
Whe you put Norm Chow and Rick Neuheisel together you are going to be able to attract some pretty talented QB's. If UCLA has a current Achilles Heal it is at QB.
Quarterbacks Richard Brehaut of Rancho Cucamonga Los Osos and Josh Nunes of Upland are throwing passes with so much power and accuracy this summer that some UCLA and Tennessee fans probably wish they'd skip their senior years and enroll immediately at their future colleges.
The Cougar Blog takes a look at Hawaii.
In what is looking like a potential vacation for many, Cougar fans will head to the warm November weather of Hawaii after the 101st Apple Cup is in the books this year. Will it be a welcome change to dreary northwest weather on 11/29? Will the Cougs have anything left in the tank? Can they get up for one last game, playing a regular-season game after the Apple Cup for just the third time since '88?
Carroll steals one away from Neuheisel, and you will see this scenario played out many times over the next couple of years.
Byron Moore, a wide receiver/safety from Narbonne High School in Harbor City, changed his verbal commitment from UCLA to USC, according to his father. Moore (6-foot-1, 190 pounds) committed to UCLA in April but switched to the Trojans on Sunday night. One of the reasons for the switch was because Moore grew up a USC fan. "He's been going to their camps since he was in the seventh grade. There was something in his heart that said he wanted to go there," said his father, Byron Moore Sr. "At the end of the day, he felt in his heart he wanted to be at USC."
If you look at the top talent in the Northwest part of the country this year you will find quite a bit of it in Utah this year. This may be the top year ever for Division One talent in Utah.
A blurb on a Web site advertising coach Kyle Whittingham's Utah summer football camp for high school-age players pretty much says it all: "Last year, 15 camp attendees are now members of the Utah football team." Not to be outdone, BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall told The Tribune last week, "If you don't come to a team's camp - and there are exceptions, but in general - you are going to have a very hard time being recruited or being offered [a scholarship] there." Get the point? If you have any desire to play for the Utes, Aggies or Cougars - unless you are a rare, blue-chip recruit - you better get yourself to one of their camps.
Boys will always be boys at Oklahoma.
There has been no official release on this and I really wouldn’t expect one until the week of August 30th if at all but look for offensive lineman Phil Loadholt to receive a suspension for last weekend’s DUI arrest. I’ve heard from a source that "Big Phil" is going to be suspended for the first two games of the season. Honestly, they could suspend the entire offensive line for the Chattanooga game and be alright but the Sooners could feel his absence against Cincinnati.
When we were talking about potential DC's last Winter the name of Georgia Tech DC Jon Tenuta kept coming up, but he ended up finding a home at Notre Dame. The words outspoken, and Ty Willingham don't really go together.
Jon Tenuta, Notre Dame's newest coaching addition on defense, recently spoke at a Notre Dame golf outing this past Friday. What did the famously out-spoken coach have to say for himself, as well as the program?
Rakes of Mallow also has a preview Jake Lockner in the "Profiles in Fear" section.
If Washington was a few games better in the win column last year, the Jake Locker Phenomenon would have been an even bigger deal. He was Tim Tebow West, the Great White Hope of the Pacific Northwest, a savior to a Washington program under the merciless golf gloved thumb of Ty Willingham. The 85th ranked recruit on Scout and 68th on Rivals, Locker was behind only Tim Tebow, our old friend Demetrius Jones and Jevan Snead as a "dual-threat" QB.
Observers who have been watching Isaiah Thomas in open gym on the UW campus are coming away very impressed. The kid has put on some muscle and looks ready to assume the role of the next Nate Robinson. By the way, he shoots a lot better than Nate did at this point of his career.
Venoy Overton has been working on improving his shooting touch, and seems to be doing pretty well hitting three's. With Appleby moving on Thomas, and Overton are going to need to pick up the slack from the outside.
Bridge Program
Bob Condotta is hearing that the entire football recruiting class is going to qualify and be on campus by July 7th which is very good news. Scott, and Chris over at DM are saying not so fast, they still think there are a couple of kids that are going to be cutting it very close. No exact word on who those players are, but it won't be Lakes HS Kavario Middleton who is now fully qualified. It is very tough to figure out what is happening ahead of time because of the Purple Shroud of silence.
Then There Were Seven
Bob Condotta takes a close look at the 2005 class which was Willingham's first at Washington. When that class came in most of us gave Ty a mulligan, but with hindsight being 20/20 it seems his lack of immediate urgency may end up costing him his job.
Most critics of Willingham point to his first two classes as being very sub par. I am reserving judgement on the second class, but the first one was a program killer. You can put a lot of the blame on Gilbertson who closed down recruiting in September of that year, but Ty didn't hit the road the day he was hired, he chose to wait till after the dead period, and that was a major contributing factor. Jonathan Stewart was the prize of that class, and Ty did make an effort to recruit him, but when he headed to Oregon the fate of this small class was sealed.
UW had major holes at DB which were never filled because the transfers didn't make it in. Same thing happened the following year. Only now is Washington back to the numbers they need to be productive in the defensive backfield.
The departure of running back J.R. Hasty further depletes Washington's Class of 2005, which was generally considered to be the worst in the schools history in decades and is living up to that, uh, hype.
Pac Ten Alley
It's time to take a walk down the coast to see what the neighbors are up to. A lot of the blogs are still in hibernation but we fill in with interesting bits and pieces from the newspapers.
Have you ever seen a copy of the Oregon recruiting comic book? Pretty darn creative, and this week we have a link to the one they put together to recruit Jonathan Stewart.
Back in 2005, Oregon coaches enlisted students to design custom comic books for the Ducks' top 20 recruiting targets. Each comic portrayed the recruit as a hero who leads the Ducks to a national title. Oregon sent each prospect one page per week during the recruiting period. Here is the entire comic made for running back Jonathan Stewart, one of the nation's top recruits at the time.
Stanford has a bridge program of their own.
Padric Scott is one of 14 Stanford freshmen football players - out of a class of 18 - enrolled in summer classes that started last week. He's living in university housing, three months before the start of the fall quarter and what used to be considered the beginning of life as a college student-athlete.
Bowl game needed to save Mike Stoops job? People need to remember that Stoops took over from Mackovick who ran the program into the ground. The situation was even worse than the one at Washington when he arrived. That being said you still need to win, and you certainly need to win by your fifth year.
Mike Stoops' job security and a more explosive offense should be the top story lines for the Arizona football team. At least that's what the college football preseason magazines are saying.
Stoops, entering his fifth year with the program, has a 17-29 overall record and has yet to reach a bowl game.
It was year to remember at Arizona State, and they are just getting started.
Try to think of a single moment that captures Arizona State's year in sports. You can't. There are too many.The Sun Devils just concluded their best season of the Pac-10 era, with contributions stemming from nearly all teams.
Mike Montgomery is finalizing his contract at Cal.
Winning might not be everything, but it's becoming much more important at Cal. The university is about to sign another large long-term athletic contract, this one with new basketball coach Michael Montgomery, who will take in at least $1.7 million annually over the next six years. That's 61 percent more than his predecessor, Ben Braun, received last year. And it follows the seven-year contract renewal UC Berkeley inked with football coach Jeff Tedford that paid $2.8 million last year.
OSU picks up a QB that Washington was looking at.
Stockton, Calif. QB Cody Vaz (6-1, 200) had a great camp in Corvallis and quickly said "I do'' when offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf offered him a scholarship. ... Vaz was first-team all-State as a junior, throwing for 3,265 yards and 33 TDs.
Whe you put Norm Chow and Rick Neuheisel together you are going to be able to attract some pretty talented QB's. If UCLA has a current Achilles Heal it is at QB.
Quarterbacks Richard Brehaut of Rancho Cucamonga Los Osos and Josh Nunes of Upland are throwing passes with so much power and accuracy this summer that some UCLA and Tennessee fans probably wish they'd skip their senior years and enroll immediately at their future colleges.
The Cougar Blog takes a look at Hawaii.
In what is looking like a potential vacation for many, Cougar fans will head to the warm November weather of Hawaii after the 101st Apple Cup is in the books this year. Will it be a welcome change to dreary northwest weather on 11/29? Will the Cougs have anything left in the tank? Can they get up for one last game, playing a regular-season game after the Apple Cup for just the third time since '88?
Carroll steals one away from Neuheisel, and you will see this scenario played out many times over the next couple of years.
Byron Moore, a wide receiver/safety from Narbonne High School in Harbor City, changed his verbal commitment from UCLA to USC, according to his father. Moore (6-foot-1, 190 pounds) committed to UCLA in April but switched to the Trojans on Sunday night. One of the reasons for the switch was because Moore grew up a USC fan. "He's been going to their camps since he was in the seventh grade. There was something in his heart that said he wanted to go there," said his father, Byron Moore Sr. "At the end of the day, he felt in his heart he wanted to be at USC."
If you look at the top talent in the Northwest part of the country this year you will find quite a bit of it in Utah this year. This may be the top year ever for Division One talent in Utah.
A blurb on a Web site advertising coach Kyle Whittingham's Utah summer football camp for high school-age players pretty much says it all: "Last year, 15 camp attendees are now members of the Utah football team." Not to be outdone, BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall told The Tribune last week, "If you don't come to a team's camp - and there are exceptions, but in general - you are going to have a very hard time being recruited or being offered [a scholarship] there." Get the point? If you have any desire to play for the Utes, Aggies or Cougars - unless you are a rare, blue-chip recruit - you better get yourself to one of their camps.
Boys will always be boys at Oklahoma.
There has been no official release on this and I really wouldn’t expect one until the week of August 30th if at all but look for offensive lineman Phil Loadholt to receive a suspension for last weekend’s DUI arrest. I’ve heard from a source that "Big Phil" is going to be suspended for the first two games of the season. Honestly, they could suspend the entire offensive line for the Chattanooga game and be alright but the Sooners could feel his absence against Cincinnati.
When we were talking about potential DC's last Winter the name of Georgia Tech DC Jon Tenuta kept coming up, but he ended up finding a home at Notre Dame. The words outspoken, and Ty Willingham don't really go together.
Jon Tenuta, Notre Dame's newest coaching addition on defense, recently spoke at a Notre Dame golf outing this past Friday. What did the famously out-spoken coach have to say for himself, as well as the program?
Rakes of Mallow also has a preview Jake Lockner in the "Profiles in Fear" section.
If Washington was a few games better in the win column last year, the Jake Locker Phenomenon would have been an even bigger deal. He was Tim Tebow West, the Great White Hope of the Pacific Northwest, a savior to a Washington program under the merciless golf gloved thumb of Ty Willingham. The 85th ranked recruit on Scout and 68th on Rivals, Locker was behind only Tim Tebow, our old friend Demetrius Jones and Jevan Snead as a "dual-threat" QB.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Running Backs
Washington actually had a thousand yard running back for the first time in over a decade in 2007. Louis Rankin had a decent year despite the fact that he still danced around too much at times. Louis is gone now, and the Huskies will replace him with young group of largely untested young tailbacks.
Brandon Johnson seems to be the heir apparent after winning the back up job as a true frosh in 2007. Brandon even came in and rushed for over 100 yards in the second half against California. Johnson isn't as fast, and shifty as Rankin, but he is a better inside runner with good speed. It was tough to get a good read on Johnson this Spring because he was dinged up the last week of practice, and during the Spring game.
Lining up behind him are RS Willie Griffin, and RS Brandon Yakaboski. Griffin is a good looking inside runner who reminds many of Willie Hurst. Yakaboski is a kid who loves contact, but hasn't stayed real healthy since he arrived at UW. Yak has good hands, and the coaches like the way he catches the ball out of the backfield.
Sophomore Curtis Shaw, and Fr Chris Polk are listed as slotbacks, but you could see both of these kids lining up at TB, SB, and WR. Polk had extended time in the Spring game at TB. Both of these kids are multi talented utility players that can be inserted where needed, if Johnson gets dinged they are a great insurance policy at TB.
The Huskies are bringing in 3-4 kids in the freshman class who could possibly see some time this year if they impress this summer. Demetrius Bronson, David Freeman, Johri Fogerson, and Terrance Dailey will all start off at TB. Dailey could be a future FB, and Fogerson's future could be on defense. Freeman has a lot of moves, and speed and was coached by Husky great Charles Mincy. I could see him returning kicks in the future.
TB Johnson So
TB Griffin RS
TB Yakaboski RS
TB Dailey Fr
TB Bronson Fr
TB Freeman Fr
TB Fogerson Fr
SB Polk Fr
SB Shaw So
Fullback
The Huskies are blessed with three excellent Fullbacks who I would love to see get the ball more in 2008. Jr Paul Homer is a throwback blood, and guts type of player that would fit in with any Husky team in any era. He has great size, adequate speed, and is a good blocker. Sr Kravitz is the backup, but has been troubled by injuries the last couple of years. he has good hands out of the backfield and is starter 1-B. So Austin Sylvester is in the same mold as the previous two and is the FB in waiting after starting out at MLB.
Homer is efficient in short yardage situations, he is rarely knocked backwards and always seems to pick up needed yardage.
I would love to see Lappano utilize these guys more as receivers out of the backfield. With an extremely young group of receivers coming in the FB's could help Locker quite a bit by becoming a viable receiving option in 2008.
FB Homer
FB Kravitz
FB Sylvester
Consensus
Is Brandon Johnson a better TB than Louis Rankin?
That is what it all comes down to for UW since most of the same cast of characters return this year to clear the way for Washington running backs.
Brandon Johnson has a solid hold on the position going into the Fall, but he isn't exactly coming off a stellar Spring because of injury. If Johnson is going to be the go to guy he is going to have to prove his durability during the first three brutal games of the season.
Willie Griffin was the star of the Spring game, but if Johnson falters look for the Huskies to turn to Fr Chris Polk who may be the most exciting player to wear a UW uniform since Napoleon Kauffman. Polk has been compared favorably to former USC star Reggie Bush, and UW was able to take the highly coveted player away from USC last Winter.
I think the coaches would rather plug Polk in as a SB, WR, and occasional TB till he gains some muscle to withstand the pounding you can take carrying the ball 30 times per game. That is the advantage Johnson has, good size, adequate speed, and he rarely fumbles. What Polk brings to the game is what Johnson lacks, and that is break away speed, and moves which is something Rankin brought to the table last season.
Fullback is very solid with Homer, Kravitz, and Sylvester. The Huskies have rebuilt the position with some nice depth and are contemplating adding the change up of Terrance Dailey to the position this Fall. At first glance Dailey seems to be too small to be a FB, but the coaches feel he will bulk up enough, and still retain speed to become a hybrid weapon back there.
Will there be a 1000 yard RB at Washington in 2008?
The chance is there because most of the UW offensive line is returning, and they have another year of experience under Denbrock which means they should be improved. Rankin picked up a lot of yards on big plays last season, the knock on him was he wasn't a pounder who picked up the third and two you needed to keep a drive alive at the end of the game. Perhaps that attribute will be more important in the backfield in 2008 if Johnson can provide it. Controlling drives, and keeping the heat off of Jake Locker when everyone expects him to run it will be Johnson's main goal in 2008.
The Future
Always look for UW to take at least a couple of RB's each year. Like shortstops in baseball these kids are usually the best athletes on their HS teams and can be moved around the roster to plug holes, and add speed.
Freeman, Dailey, Bronson, and Fogerson are the newcomers this year, and all four of these kids could end up being moved around with Freeman being the most likely to stick at TB.
Fogerson to me looks like he has the makeup of a dominating Safety. The kid has the ability to knock the snot out of people, and has the necessary nasty you like to see on that side of the ball.
Bronson was the elite back in state last season, and he will get his first shot at TB, but he is another kid that could move to defense. His brother was a LB at Penn State.
As I said earlier Dailey may end up at FB which leaves David Freeman. I loved the film I saw on Freeman and I think the kid has a chance to contribute early returning kicks if needed.
The consensus though is all four will RS this season if they remain at RB, Fogerson has the ability to play early if he moves to Safety, but don't discount this kid as a RB, he was dominating in the state championship game.
Brandon Johnson seems to be the heir apparent after winning the back up job as a true frosh in 2007. Brandon even came in and rushed for over 100 yards in the second half against California. Johnson isn't as fast, and shifty as Rankin, but he is a better inside runner with good speed. It was tough to get a good read on Johnson this Spring because he was dinged up the last week of practice, and during the Spring game.
Lining up behind him are RS Willie Griffin, and RS Brandon Yakaboski. Griffin is a good looking inside runner who reminds many of Willie Hurst. Yakaboski is a kid who loves contact, but hasn't stayed real healthy since he arrived at UW. Yak has good hands, and the coaches like the way he catches the ball out of the backfield.
Sophomore Curtis Shaw, and Fr Chris Polk are listed as slotbacks, but you could see both of these kids lining up at TB, SB, and WR. Polk had extended time in the Spring game at TB. Both of these kids are multi talented utility players that can be inserted where needed, if Johnson gets dinged they are a great insurance policy at TB.
The Huskies are bringing in 3-4 kids in the freshman class who could possibly see some time this year if they impress this summer. Demetrius Bronson, David Freeman, Johri Fogerson, and Terrance Dailey will all start off at TB. Dailey could be a future FB, and Fogerson's future could be on defense. Freeman has a lot of moves, and speed and was coached by Husky great Charles Mincy. I could see him returning kicks in the future.
TB Johnson So
TB Griffin RS
TB Yakaboski RS
TB Dailey Fr
TB Bronson Fr
TB Freeman Fr
TB Fogerson Fr
SB Polk Fr
SB Shaw So
Fullback
The Huskies are blessed with three excellent Fullbacks who I would love to see get the ball more in 2008. Jr Paul Homer is a throwback blood, and guts type of player that would fit in with any Husky team in any era. He has great size, adequate speed, and is a good blocker. Sr Kravitz is the backup, but has been troubled by injuries the last couple of years. he has good hands out of the backfield and is starter 1-B. So Austin Sylvester is in the same mold as the previous two and is the FB in waiting after starting out at MLB.
Homer is efficient in short yardage situations, he is rarely knocked backwards and always seems to pick up needed yardage.
I would love to see Lappano utilize these guys more as receivers out of the backfield. With an extremely young group of receivers coming in the FB's could help Locker quite a bit by becoming a viable receiving option in 2008.
FB Homer
FB Kravitz
FB Sylvester
Consensus
Is Brandon Johnson a better TB than Louis Rankin?
That is what it all comes down to for UW since most of the same cast of characters return this year to clear the way for Washington running backs.
Brandon Johnson has a solid hold on the position going into the Fall, but he isn't exactly coming off a stellar Spring because of injury. If Johnson is going to be the go to guy he is going to have to prove his durability during the first three brutal games of the season.
Willie Griffin was the star of the Spring game, but if Johnson falters look for the Huskies to turn to Fr Chris Polk who may be the most exciting player to wear a UW uniform since Napoleon Kauffman. Polk has been compared favorably to former USC star Reggie Bush, and UW was able to take the highly coveted player away from USC last Winter.
I think the coaches would rather plug Polk in as a SB, WR, and occasional TB till he gains some muscle to withstand the pounding you can take carrying the ball 30 times per game. That is the advantage Johnson has, good size, adequate speed, and he rarely fumbles. What Polk brings to the game is what Johnson lacks, and that is break away speed, and moves which is something Rankin brought to the table last season.
Fullback is very solid with Homer, Kravitz, and Sylvester. The Huskies have rebuilt the position with some nice depth and are contemplating adding the change up of Terrance Dailey to the position this Fall. At first glance Dailey seems to be too small to be a FB, but the coaches feel he will bulk up enough, and still retain speed to become a hybrid weapon back there.
Will there be a 1000 yard RB at Washington in 2008?
The chance is there because most of the UW offensive line is returning, and they have another year of experience under Denbrock which means they should be improved. Rankin picked up a lot of yards on big plays last season, the knock on him was he wasn't a pounder who picked up the third and two you needed to keep a drive alive at the end of the game. Perhaps that attribute will be more important in the backfield in 2008 if Johnson can provide it. Controlling drives, and keeping the heat off of Jake Locker when everyone expects him to run it will be Johnson's main goal in 2008.
The Future
Always look for UW to take at least a couple of RB's each year. Like shortstops in baseball these kids are usually the best athletes on their HS teams and can be moved around the roster to plug holes, and add speed.
Freeman, Dailey, Bronson, and Fogerson are the newcomers this year, and all four of these kids could end up being moved around with Freeman being the most likely to stick at TB.
Fogerson to me looks like he has the makeup of a dominating Safety. The kid has the ability to knock the snot out of people, and has the necessary nasty you like to see on that side of the ball.
Bronson was the elite back in state last season, and he will get his first shot at TB, but he is another kid that could move to defense. His brother was a LB at Penn State.
As I said earlier Dailey may end up at FB which leaves David Freeman. I loved the film I saw on Freeman and I think the kid has a chance to contribute early returning kicks if needed.
The consensus though is all four will RS this season if they remain at RB, Fogerson has the ability to play early if he moves to Safety, but don't discount this kid as a RB, he was dominating in the state championship game.
Monday, June 30, 2008
The Monday Morning Wash
Dick Baird keeps banging the drum for Coach Willingham over at Dawgman with another article about how he is the right guy, at the right time. Good for Dick, and I am not going to rain on his parade, we are only a month away fromt he start of practice and a breath of positive wind won't hurt anyone.
I agree with the paragraph below, but I also think that Willingham has never approached the job with the amount of urgency required. He gets one more year to get it right, and I will still be rooting for him, and the team to win more than they lose and head to a bowl game.
Personally, I can’t believe any coach has ever taken over a program in more disarray than the one Willingham inherited in 2005. The previous year the Huskies bottomed out when the rug was pulled out from under Keith Gilbertson before the season had ended. The resulting 1-10 record was an accurate reflection of both the lack of administrative support, coaching problems and a decreased talent level. All of it combined to perpetuate a state of disorganization and scandal which had plagued the whole athletic program for the previous four years.
JR Hasty, and Jordan Murchison got the official boot off the team last week. Murchison has enough credits to graduate, and Hasty is probably going to transfer to Central Washington which seems to be the place Huskies go these days when things don't work out at UW.
Willingham as usual had no comment, in fact he hasn't had a public comment in months.
Hasty said he hoped to return to the team this year, saying "I was ready to come back, but it wasn't in my power or control.'' He said one of his biggest frustrations is that his situation wasn't resolved earlier. He said his parents urged him to leave for good last fall but he wanted to try to make it work at UW. He is the son of former WSU defensive back and longtime NFL veteran James Hasty. "I just wanted to stay because I felt like the team was family and this was my home state,'' he said. "But that didn't work out.''
If you are looking for the first commit of 2008 you probably won't have to wait much longer since the Huskies are in the midst of running their annual camp. UW usually picks up a couple of verbals by the end of this event. Stay tuned to Dawgman for more details on what is going on recruiting wise.
I agree with the paragraph below, but I also think that Willingham has never approached the job with the amount of urgency required. He gets one more year to get it right, and I will still be rooting for him, and the team to win more than they lose and head to a bowl game.
Personally, I can’t believe any coach has ever taken over a program in more disarray than the one Willingham inherited in 2005. The previous year the Huskies bottomed out when the rug was pulled out from under Keith Gilbertson before the season had ended. The resulting 1-10 record was an accurate reflection of both the lack of administrative support, coaching problems and a decreased talent level. All of it combined to perpetuate a state of disorganization and scandal which had plagued the whole athletic program for the previous four years.
JR Hasty, and Jordan Murchison got the official boot off the team last week. Murchison has enough credits to graduate, and Hasty is probably going to transfer to Central Washington which seems to be the place Huskies go these days when things don't work out at UW.
Willingham as usual had no comment, in fact he hasn't had a public comment in months.
Hasty said he hoped to return to the team this year, saying "I was ready to come back, but it wasn't in my power or control.'' He said one of his biggest frustrations is that his situation wasn't resolved earlier. He said his parents urged him to leave for good last fall but he wanted to try to make it work at UW. He is the son of former WSU defensive back and longtime NFL veteran James Hasty. "I just wanted to stay because I felt like the team was family and this was my home state,'' he said. "But that didn't work out.''
If you are looking for the first commit of 2008 you probably won't have to wait much longer since the Huskies are in the midst of running their annual camp. UW usually picks up a couple of verbals by the end of this event. Stay tuned to Dawgman for more details on what is going on recruiting wise.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Baird on Pete Carroll
If you are a subscriber to Dawgman you may have read this article that Dick Baird wrote on USC head man Pete Carroll.
I happen to be a Pete Carroll fan, and admire what he has done at USC. When he arrived that program was down, way down, and he turned it around in just a couple of years, and has kept it on top ever since.
I like Dick Baird, he is a very nice guy, but sometimes I wonder exactly what type of Kool-Aid he has been drinking when he sits down in front of the keyboard.
I know there are many frustrated Husky fans who just want to point out the win-loss record at Washington over the past four years to justify another coaching change. That is their right, but for me I have watched the development of the Huskies closely under Willingham. The challenge of rebuilding a belief system - not to mention getting better players - has been a daunting process, to say the least. Hearing Pete Carroll convinced me that the Washington Huskies have the right man in Willingham to turn their program around. He holds the same values and emphasizes the same approach as does his counterpart at USC. It has just taken him longer to restock the cupboard simply because his were empty compared to Carroll's. A lot of it goes back to recruiting, and each time you fire a staff it takes at least three years to establish your recruiting system. At the same time you need to have your kids buy in to the program. It has taken Willingham longer than Carroll to taste success because he has had to rebuild a complete belief system destroyed by constant turnover in both coaching and administration. The Huskies are closing the gap, and when they finally beat USC they will be back.
Everyone is entitled to their opinions, but Ty Willingham is no Pete Carroll in my opinion. He may be a proponent of positive thinking, but he simply doesn't work as hard, drive his staff as hard, or his players as hard as Pete Carroll.
Pete Carroll is a tireless recruiter who works in one of the most talent rich area's in the country. Despite that advantage he, and his assistants act like they are recruiting in Anchorage, Alaska. they have a sense of urgency in everything they do.
You can be as positive as you want, but if you aren't working harder than the competition you are not going to beat the competition. Washington under Willingham isn't working harder than the competition, and that is the simple reason why the program is still lagging behind every other program in the Pac Ten, and that includes WSU, and Stanford.
Jeff Tedford at California is an example of a guy who gets it, he is a tireless worker, and recruiter, and despite the fact that Cal is faced with about every disadvantage there is as far as facilities goes he has but the Golden Bears back on the map and into the BCS chase almost every year.
Nobody ever outworked Don James while he was at UW, and nobody worked smarter either. Plainly put DJ won because he worked hard, worked smart, and instilled those values in his staff and players.
Washington isn't going to start winning again till the head man starts working harder, and outsmarting the rest of his peers in the conference. It doesn't matter what line of work you are in, the secret of success is busting your butt, and out thinking your opponent.
The one thing I would look for in the next head man above all others would be the work ethic. I want a guy who is willing to sleep on a cot in his office till the ship is back on course. Tedford, Carroll, and DJ are those type of guys.
Tom O'Brien
Tom O'Brien who was head coach at Boston College, and is now head coach at North Carolina State just happens to be that type of guy. He is generally known as one of the hardest working guys in college football, plus he has the reputation for running a clean program.
Tom was a finalist with Willingham for the Husky head coaching job after Gilbertson was fired. He really wanted the job, and only pulled out when it became apparent that UW prefered Willingham even though O'Brien regularly kicked Notre Dame's ass as head coach at Boston College.
They don't call football a game of inches for nothing. Todd Turner came that close to picking the ideal leader of the UW football program, but for some reason was smitten with Willingham. All he had to do was examine these two guys head to head from competiton to determine who was the best man for the job.
Have a great weekend!
I happen to be a Pete Carroll fan, and admire what he has done at USC. When he arrived that program was down, way down, and he turned it around in just a couple of years, and has kept it on top ever since.
I like Dick Baird, he is a very nice guy, but sometimes I wonder exactly what type of Kool-Aid he has been drinking when he sits down in front of the keyboard.
I know there are many frustrated Husky fans who just want to point out the win-loss record at Washington over the past four years to justify another coaching change. That is their right, but for me I have watched the development of the Huskies closely under Willingham. The challenge of rebuilding a belief system - not to mention getting better players - has been a daunting process, to say the least. Hearing Pete Carroll convinced me that the Washington Huskies have the right man in Willingham to turn their program around. He holds the same values and emphasizes the same approach as does his counterpart at USC. It has just taken him longer to restock the cupboard simply because his were empty compared to Carroll's. A lot of it goes back to recruiting, and each time you fire a staff it takes at least three years to establish your recruiting system. At the same time you need to have your kids buy in to the program. It has taken Willingham longer than Carroll to taste success because he has had to rebuild a complete belief system destroyed by constant turnover in both coaching and administration. The Huskies are closing the gap, and when they finally beat USC they will be back.
Everyone is entitled to their opinions, but Ty Willingham is no Pete Carroll in my opinion. He may be a proponent of positive thinking, but he simply doesn't work as hard, drive his staff as hard, or his players as hard as Pete Carroll.
Pete Carroll is a tireless recruiter who works in one of the most talent rich area's in the country. Despite that advantage he, and his assistants act like they are recruiting in Anchorage, Alaska. they have a sense of urgency in everything they do.
You can be as positive as you want, but if you aren't working harder than the competition you are not going to beat the competition. Washington under Willingham isn't working harder than the competition, and that is the simple reason why the program is still lagging behind every other program in the Pac Ten, and that includes WSU, and Stanford.
Jeff Tedford at California is an example of a guy who gets it, he is a tireless worker, and recruiter, and despite the fact that Cal is faced with about every disadvantage there is as far as facilities goes he has but the Golden Bears back on the map and into the BCS chase almost every year.
Nobody ever outworked Don James while he was at UW, and nobody worked smarter either. Plainly put DJ won because he worked hard, worked smart, and instilled those values in his staff and players.
Washington isn't going to start winning again till the head man starts working harder, and outsmarting the rest of his peers in the conference. It doesn't matter what line of work you are in, the secret of success is busting your butt, and out thinking your opponent.
The one thing I would look for in the next head man above all others would be the work ethic. I want a guy who is willing to sleep on a cot in his office till the ship is back on course. Tedford, Carroll, and DJ are those type of guys.
Tom O'Brien
Tom O'Brien who was head coach at Boston College, and is now head coach at North Carolina State just happens to be that type of guy. He is generally known as one of the hardest working guys in college football, plus he has the reputation for running a clean program.
Tom was a finalist with Willingham for the Husky head coaching job after Gilbertson was fired. He really wanted the job, and only pulled out when it became apparent that UW prefered Willingham even though O'Brien regularly kicked Notre Dame's ass as head coach at Boston College.
They don't call football a game of inches for nothing. Todd Turner came that close to picking the ideal leader of the UW football program, but for some reason was smitten with Willingham. All he had to do was examine these two guys head to head from competiton to determine who was the best man for the job.
Have a great weekend!
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Offensive Line
Mike Denbrock may be the position coach who has done the best under Ty Willingham. Every year since he arrived his units seem to get better, and last year Washington had it's first thousand yard RB in quite some time. Bottom line is the OL continues to improve, and with the majority of the players coming back should continue to get better in 2008.
The biggest question mark going into 2008 is the health of center Juan Garcia. Juan was injured this Spring when he suffered the dreaded Lisfranc injury to his foot. The prognosis at this point is looking pretty good for him, in fact we should have some new information on his health around the fourth of July. No matter how good the information is don't expect him to be ready for Oregon, but there is a good chance he will be available to play after the first bye.
In Juan's absence look for the Huskies to take a hard look at moving Ryan Tolar over from guard. There is nothing wrong with playing Matt Sedillo either, but moving Tolar will open a place for White-Frisbee who has been improving with leaps, and bounds.
Juan obviously as a sixth year senior was the heart and soul of this unit, he gives them experience and a bit of nasty. Whoever does start needs to do a better job of snapping the shotgun, Jake spent too much time reacting to the snap last year.
C Tolar So
C Sedillo So
C Garcia Sr (Neuheisel)
C *Christine So
C Ikehara Fr
Matt Bulyca, Ryan Tolar, and Jordan White Frisbee are your top guards. All these guys are capable of starting and will play quite a bit no matter which way the depth develops this Fall. Behind them you have Rosborough who is a massive 380 pounds, and RS Frosh Scott Shugert who was impressive learning the ropes last Fall. Highly frosh rated Mykena Ikehara, and Allan Carroll join the team this Fall. Ikehara can play center or guard, but the huskies plan to get a look at him first at center.
OG Tolar So
OG Bulyca Sr (Gilbertson)
OG White-Frisbee Sr (Gilbertson)
OG Shugert RS
OG Rosborough Jr
OG Carroll Fr
Ossai and Habben will man the tackle positions after splitting time in the rotation last year. Behind them it gets green with RS's Fancher, and Armelin backing them up. The development of both of these kids is important because if one of the starters goes down there is no experience behind them. UW brings in a couple of big bodies in Terrence Thomas, and Drew Schaeffer to season for the future. Both of these kids are good looking recruits.
OT Habben So
OT Ossai Jr
OT Fancher RS
OT Armelin RS
OT Thomas Fr
OT Schaeffer Fr
Consensus
This group keeps improving each year but it is far from being great. One thing I noticed last year at the Oregon game was how developed the Oregon offensive linemen were physically. Those kids were scary in comparison to their counterparts at UW. You could tell these kids had worked a lot harder in the weight room during their stay in Eugene than the Husky lineman had. I was just amazed at how developed their lower bodies were in comparison to UW. Remember Todd Turner's remarks that our kids didn't look like their kids. It was just obvious that we didn't have the same level of athletes.
Games are won in the trenches, and you want the guys in the trenches to be physically imposing. UW is improving, but they still have a long way to go till they resemble a top 15 program like Oregon, USC, Cal, Ohio State, and Oklahoma, etc... .
How many games did UW lose in the fourth quarter last season? How many games came down to the last couple of minutes? Remember how tired we looked against UCLA? Put your money on the best conditioned team in the fourth quarter.
A QB like Jake Locker makes every OL look better. Mobile QB's like Jake can scramble out of trouble, create on the fly, and pick up needed first downs on the ground. This year these guys need to protect him better so he can stay in one piece, and deliver the ball down field.
UW is going to be very young and inexperienced at the skill positions this season, the OL needs to help out by blowing defenses off the ball so Locker, and company can make some things happen.
The Future
It takes 5 years to rebuild an offensive line, and in year four most of the pieces on the squad have been recruited by Willingham. Only Garcia, White, Frisbee, and Bulyca where recruited by previous regimes, but all three will start at times this season.
UW needs to bring in 3-4 OL this coming season, and I would lean toward bringing in four. You need to have a full set of big guys every year if you are going to build something consistent for the future.
* Denotes Walk On
The biggest question mark going into 2008 is the health of center Juan Garcia. Juan was injured this Spring when he suffered the dreaded Lisfranc injury to his foot. The prognosis at this point is looking pretty good for him, in fact we should have some new information on his health around the fourth of July. No matter how good the information is don't expect him to be ready for Oregon, but there is a good chance he will be available to play after the first bye.
In Juan's absence look for the Huskies to take a hard look at moving Ryan Tolar over from guard. There is nothing wrong with playing Matt Sedillo either, but moving Tolar will open a place for White-Frisbee who has been improving with leaps, and bounds.
Juan obviously as a sixth year senior was the heart and soul of this unit, he gives them experience and a bit of nasty. Whoever does start needs to do a better job of snapping the shotgun, Jake spent too much time reacting to the snap last year.
C Tolar So
C Sedillo So
C Garcia Sr (Neuheisel)
C *Christine So
C Ikehara Fr
Matt Bulyca, Ryan Tolar, and Jordan White Frisbee are your top guards. All these guys are capable of starting and will play quite a bit no matter which way the depth develops this Fall. Behind them you have Rosborough who is a massive 380 pounds, and RS Frosh Scott Shugert who was impressive learning the ropes last Fall. Highly frosh rated Mykena Ikehara, and Allan Carroll join the team this Fall. Ikehara can play center or guard, but the huskies plan to get a look at him first at center.
OG Tolar So
OG Bulyca Sr (Gilbertson)
OG White-Frisbee Sr (Gilbertson)
OG Shugert RS
OG Rosborough Jr
OG Carroll Fr
Ossai and Habben will man the tackle positions after splitting time in the rotation last year. Behind them it gets green with RS's Fancher, and Armelin backing them up. The development of both of these kids is important because if one of the starters goes down there is no experience behind them. UW brings in a couple of big bodies in Terrence Thomas, and Drew Schaeffer to season for the future. Both of these kids are good looking recruits.
OT Habben So
OT Ossai Jr
OT Fancher RS
OT Armelin RS
OT Thomas Fr
OT Schaeffer Fr
Consensus
This group keeps improving each year but it is far from being great. One thing I noticed last year at the Oregon game was how developed the Oregon offensive linemen were physically. Those kids were scary in comparison to their counterparts at UW. You could tell these kids had worked a lot harder in the weight room during their stay in Eugene than the Husky lineman had. I was just amazed at how developed their lower bodies were in comparison to UW. Remember Todd Turner's remarks that our kids didn't look like their kids. It was just obvious that we didn't have the same level of athletes.
Games are won in the trenches, and you want the guys in the trenches to be physically imposing. UW is improving, but they still have a long way to go till they resemble a top 15 program like Oregon, USC, Cal, Ohio State, and Oklahoma, etc... .
How many games did UW lose in the fourth quarter last season? How many games came down to the last couple of minutes? Remember how tired we looked against UCLA? Put your money on the best conditioned team in the fourth quarter.
A QB like Jake Locker makes every OL look better. Mobile QB's like Jake can scramble out of trouble, create on the fly, and pick up needed first downs on the ground. This year these guys need to protect him better so he can stay in one piece, and deliver the ball down field.
UW is going to be very young and inexperienced at the skill positions this season, the OL needs to help out by blowing defenses off the ball so Locker, and company can make some things happen.
The Future
It takes 5 years to rebuild an offensive line, and in year four most of the pieces on the squad have been recruited by Willingham. Only Garcia, White, Frisbee, and Bulyca where recruited by previous regimes, but all three will start at times this season.
UW needs to bring in 3-4 OL this coming season, and I would lean toward bringing in four. You need to have a full set of big guys every year if you are going to build something consistent for the future.
* Denotes Walk On
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Pac Ten Alley
Calvin Schmidtke from Lakes in Tacoma found a new home when Indiana State offered him a scholarship. The new Indiana State coach is former UW assistant Trent Miles. Calvin was seemingly headed to a California JC until he received the late offer by ISU.
Indiana State head football coachh Trent Miles announced this afternoon (June 24) the addition of 6’0", 195 freshman quarterback Calvin Schmidtke (Tacoma, Wash./Lakes HS) to the football roster. Schmidtke has signed a scholarship offer with the Sycamore football program and will be eligible to begin play this fall.
Indiana State plays in the Missouri Valley Conference which is the equivalent of the Big Sky, and is probabably a better place for Cal than WSU. You can't get better if you don't play, and Cal may never have seen the light of day at WSU.
Calvin Schmidtke is a great addition to our football team as far as having someone that can add to the competition for the quarterback position this fall," Miles commented. "There is no doubt that he enjoyed a tremendous high school career, and we are pleased that he is going to join the Sycamore football family to begin his college career at Indiana State."
Pac Ten Alley
Micheal Wines of the Duck blog interviews Mr. Duck.
I had the chance to get a rare phone interview with the reclusive Mr. Duck this morning. He was kind enough to email his picture, and while he wouldn't disclose his location, my guess is it's somewhere "tropical."
Jon Wilner on the NBA Draft
Here’s my updated Pac-10 projections based on which players opted to stay in the draft and which are returning to school.I was certainly suprised by Chase Budinger’s decision to return to Arizona. The guess here is that he made a big, big mistake.
USA Today takes a look at the Arizona Wildcats.
Arizona's chances of breaking a 10-year bowl drought could depend on the deep ball.
The Wildcats, coming off a 5-7 season, are clearly looking to spread the field with more deep throws than ever. In the team's second year in the spread offense, Arizona quarterback Willie Tuitama is out to bring the deep threat more into the equation.
USA Today takes a look at the Arizona State Sun Devils.
Arizona State is not sticking with the status quo — not hardly. The Sun Devils will have a drastically different look for the 2008 season despite finishing 10-3 last year and tying for first in the Pac-10 standings. Why change what obviously worked? Simple. Arizona State is trying to be even better, and one way is to spread the field out more offensively and start sending the proverbial kitchen sink at opponents while on defense.
Steve Gladstone is moving on from Cal looking for a new challenge.
Winning follows Steve Gladstone, so when he returned to Cal in 1997 for his second coaching stint in Berkeley, success inevitably also returned to the men's crew. Now, 11 years and five IRA championships later, Gladstone is once again leaving the program. Never known to stay at one place for more than a decade, Gladstone announced last Friday that he is stepping down from his duties at Cal to pursue a post at the California Rowing Club. There, Gladstone will work with California Rowing Club director Tim McClaren and train postgraduate rowers aiming for the World Championships and Olympic competition. "I need to reboot myself periodically," Gladstone said. "The way I've done that in the past is by changing universities. What really intrigues me is the building process. To find something and leave it in better shape than I found it."
The OSU blog keeps an eye on the CWS.
As much as I want Fresno State to come from behind and win the series, I wouldn't be upset if Georgia won the championship. After all, we did beat Georgia in a series this year. And a pre-season matchup between Georgia and the Beavers, a matchup of National Champions, has a nice ring to it.
USC is looking to get production at FB.
Stanley Havili isn’t going to lead the Trojans in rushing yards this season. He won’t have the most receptions or passing yards either. But for a team looking to replace last season’s leaders in all three of those categories, Havili will be invaluable.
UCLA is looking at renovations for their baseball stadium, Washington on the other hand is looking for a baseball stadium.
The lack of progress for major renovations to Jackie Robinson Stadium has reached new heights as the Morgan Center still refuses to commit serious money to a renovation. While I have sent e-mails to DG before regarding a Jackie Robinson Stadium renovation, this is by far the most detailed I have ever been.
The WSU blog details Paul Wulff's response to the Seattle Times article.
After the Sunday story in the Times, Paul Wulff came on KJR with Ian Furness and talked about the aftermath. Wulff did his best to explain the different issues he had with the story. Give it a listen. I thought he came out of it fine in how he continually stated that they are moving on and the positive changes are in place and already working. I also like how he stated at the end that this isn't just a WSU, UW, Oregon or Oregon State issue. It's about all college kids making mistakes at all programs, and the things that they can do to help correct the issues. It will take some time to "flip this program" but it will happen if Wulff gets the chance.
Indiana State head football coachh Trent Miles announced this afternoon (June 24) the addition of 6’0", 195 freshman quarterback Calvin Schmidtke (Tacoma, Wash./Lakes HS) to the football roster. Schmidtke has signed a scholarship offer with the Sycamore football program and will be eligible to begin play this fall.
Indiana State plays in the Missouri Valley Conference which is the equivalent of the Big Sky, and is probabably a better place for Cal than WSU. You can't get better if you don't play, and Cal may never have seen the light of day at WSU.
Calvin Schmidtke is a great addition to our football team as far as having someone that can add to the competition for the quarterback position this fall," Miles commented. "There is no doubt that he enjoyed a tremendous high school career, and we are pleased that he is going to join the Sycamore football family to begin his college career at Indiana State."
Pac Ten Alley
Micheal Wines of the Duck blog interviews Mr. Duck.
I had the chance to get a rare phone interview with the reclusive Mr. Duck this morning. He was kind enough to email his picture, and while he wouldn't disclose his location, my guess is it's somewhere "tropical."
Jon Wilner on the NBA Draft
Here’s my updated Pac-10 projections based on which players opted to stay in the draft and which are returning to school.I was certainly suprised by Chase Budinger’s decision to return to Arizona. The guess here is that he made a big, big mistake.
USA Today takes a look at the Arizona Wildcats.
Arizona's chances of breaking a 10-year bowl drought could depend on the deep ball.
The Wildcats, coming off a 5-7 season, are clearly looking to spread the field with more deep throws than ever. In the team's second year in the spread offense, Arizona quarterback Willie Tuitama is out to bring the deep threat more into the equation.
USA Today takes a look at the Arizona State Sun Devils.
Arizona State is not sticking with the status quo — not hardly. The Sun Devils will have a drastically different look for the 2008 season despite finishing 10-3 last year and tying for first in the Pac-10 standings. Why change what obviously worked? Simple. Arizona State is trying to be even better, and one way is to spread the field out more offensively and start sending the proverbial kitchen sink at opponents while on defense.
Steve Gladstone is moving on from Cal looking for a new challenge.
Winning follows Steve Gladstone, so when he returned to Cal in 1997 for his second coaching stint in Berkeley, success inevitably also returned to the men's crew. Now, 11 years and five IRA championships later, Gladstone is once again leaving the program. Never known to stay at one place for more than a decade, Gladstone announced last Friday that he is stepping down from his duties at Cal to pursue a post at the California Rowing Club. There, Gladstone will work with California Rowing Club director Tim McClaren and train postgraduate rowers aiming for the World Championships and Olympic competition. "I need to reboot myself periodically," Gladstone said. "The way I've done that in the past is by changing universities. What really intrigues me is the building process. To find something and leave it in better shape than I found it."
The OSU blog keeps an eye on the CWS.
As much as I want Fresno State to come from behind and win the series, I wouldn't be upset if Georgia won the championship. After all, we did beat Georgia in a series this year. And a pre-season matchup between Georgia and the Beavers, a matchup of National Champions, has a nice ring to it.
USC is looking to get production at FB.
Stanley Havili isn’t going to lead the Trojans in rushing yards this season. He won’t have the most receptions or passing yards either. But for a team looking to replace last season’s leaders in all three of those categories, Havili will be invaluable.
UCLA is looking at renovations for their baseball stadium, Washington on the other hand is looking for a baseball stadium.
The lack of progress for major renovations to Jackie Robinson Stadium has reached new heights as the Morgan Center still refuses to commit serious money to a renovation. While I have sent e-mails to DG before regarding a Jackie Robinson Stadium renovation, this is by far the most detailed I have ever been.
The WSU blog details Paul Wulff's response to the Seattle Times article.
After the Sunday story in the Times, Paul Wulff came on KJR with Ian Furness and talked about the aftermath. Wulff did his best to explain the different issues he had with the story. Give it a listen. I thought he came out of it fine in how he continually stated that they are moving on and the positive changes are in place and already working. I also like how he stated at the end that this isn't just a WSU, UW, Oregon or Oregon State issue. It's about all college kids making mistakes at all programs, and the things that they can do to help correct the issues. It will take some time to "flip this program" but it will happen if Wulff gets the chance.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Jim Moore Catches up with Billy Joe
If ever a player was strung out and made a sacrificial lamb at UW it was Billy Joe Hobert the only undefeated QB at UW in the modern era.
You can say whatever you want about the early railroaded retirement of DJ, but BJ paid the ultimate price when he was left out to swing in the wind by the end of his neck.
Billy was hung without a trial, and when all the facts finally came out it was determined that he shouldn't have lost a day of eligibity. Billy was no angel, but when a fair accounting of the situation was made, it was proved he didn't cross the line even though he was a bit close.
If people still want to condemn me for my actions, they're idiots," Hobert said. "I've got too many other things going on to worry about something I did when I was barely out of puberty."
In an interview last year, Hobert said he was tired of talking about the incident.
"Even if I spoke the truth now, it would be like, 'Why didn't you protect yourself back then,' " he said. "The U-Dub, in my opinion, put a stick up my hiney to put it point-blank. If I had said everything that happened, the U-Dub wouldn't have gotten probation, they would have gotten the death penalty."
Hasn't enough time passed for a quarterback who went 20-0 at Washington to be welcomed back? Hobert has seen the Huskies play in Los Angeles, near where he lives now, but has not been back to Husky Stadium since he left in '92. Would he like to be greeted with open arms at some point? Where are the bygones at Montlake?
"If I had to dwell on it, yeah, it would be nice," Hobert said. "But I'm not expecting it. I've given up on the idea of worrying about it."
It is about time Billy Joe was honored by being admitted in the Husky Hall of Fame. There aren't that many undefeated QB's floating around out there.
You can say whatever you want about the early railroaded retirement of DJ, but BJ paid the ultimate price when he was left out to swing in the wind by the end of his neck.
Billy was hung without a trial, and when all the facts finally came out it was determined that he shouldn't have lost a day of eligibity. Billy was no angel, but when a fair accounting of the situation was made, it was proved he didn't cross the line even though he was a bit close.
If people still want to condemn me for my actions, they're idiots," Hobert said. "I've got too many other things going on to worry about something I did when I was barely out of puberty."
In an interview last year, Hobert said he was tired of talking about the incident.
"Even if I spoke the truth now, it would be like, 'Why didn't you protect yourself back then,' " he said. "The U-Dub, in my opinion, put a stick up my hiney to put it point-blank. If I had said everything that happened, the U-Dub wouldn't have gotten probation, they would have gotten the death penalty."
Hasn't enough time passed for a quarterback who went 20-0 at Washington to be welcomed back? Hobert has seen the Huskies play in Los Angeles, near where he lives now, but has not been back to Husky Stadium since he left in '92. Would he like to be greeted with open arms at some point? Where are the bygones at Montlake?
"If I had to dwell on it, yeah, it would be nice," Hobert said. "But I'm not expecting it. I've given up on the idea of worrying about it."
It is about time Billy Joe was honored by being admitted in the Husky Hall of Fame. There aren't that many undefeated QB's floating around out there.
Monday, June 23, 2008
The Monday Morning Wash
We start off the week with a Seattle Times article on the disciplinary problems WSU is having with their football team. The Cougars will lose eight scholarships because of NCAA graduation guidelines which will won't help Paul Wulff rebuild quickly. It also will interfere with the weeding out process most coaches go through when they start a new job. I am sure their are other kids he wants to give the boot, but NCAA restrictions will further penalize him if he does it.
Unlike the article on the UW football team earlier this year the WSU article is compiled from recent events which makes the story a lot more credible.
Six months ago, the mood was festive in Pullman when Paul Wulff returned to his alma mater to resuscitate the Washington State football program. But bubbling beneath the surface were off-the-field problems that would combine to make a tough job even tougher.
The report doesn't paint a very flattering picture of Bill Doba and his staff. The slant whether it is right or wrong seems to indicate that Doba wasn't much of a disciplinarian, and he also didn't spend a lot of time paying attention to the details of the transgressions.
You have to ask the question why the Seattle Times isn't also focusing on programs at Oregon, USC, or the entire Pac Ten? USC, and Oregon have provided more question marks than answers over the last few years as far as ethics are concerned.
The answer of course is that the Times feels it's readers would rather hear about problems close to home of local interest rather than the problems of the Pac Ten, or college football in general. I think the Times is missing the mark, you can't truly measure what is going on at WSU, and UW without taking a good look at college football in general.
Another thing to factor in is the newspaper business in general is losing money right now. The Internet is killing advertising revenues, and overall home subscriptions. Factor in the cost of gas too which is just killing them when it comes to distributing the print edition each day. Simply put the papers really don't have the budget or staff to do much investigative reporting outside the area.
UW
UW under Ty Willingham has not been winning on the playing field, but for the most part the players have stayed out of trouble, and the program has one of the highest graduation rates in the conference. You can say whatever you want about Ty's on the field performance, but he has shaped up a program that was becoming a real embarrassment to the university.
You can say the same thing about recently departed AD Todd Turner who was in charge of bringing respectability, and accountability to the department as a whole. Bottom line though it is a business, and success is measured by wins and losses on the playing field. Turner is gone because he missed that part of the equation, and Willingham probably has one last season to show he can win. Winning is what puts people in the seats, and keeps contributions coming in each year.
The biggest question of course is if you can win on the field if you are winning in the classroom, and in the overall ethics department? Tough to say because I don't believe we have a level playing field in the conference, and around the nation.
AD Search
Could it be down to Chuck Nelson, Bob Stull, and maybe Scott Woodward?
I would take Stull over Chuck if it came to that because he has the experience. No knock on Chuck, but running an athletic department like UW's should require previous experience in that position.
I wouldn't exactly count out Woodward yet because if UW can't get the man that Emmert wants Scoot is still a very viable option.
Here is Bob Condotta's latest take on the situation.
Sources, however, indicate that UW had serious conversations, if not flat-out offering the job, to two sitting ADs --- Dan Radakovich of Georgia Tech and Chris Hill of Utah. One source said talks with Radakovich broke down over money --- he apparently just signed a new contract worth more than $600,000 a year and would need more than that to bother with making a move.
Turner had a base salary of $345,000 with other incoming putting him in the $400-500,000 range, and the Huskies aren't likely to go a whole lot higher as Pac-10 schools simply don't pay as much for ADs as do those in most of the other major conferences --- one reason UW may have a tough time hiring a sitting AD at a major school.
As for as Hill, one source said those talks broke down in part because Hill didn't want to get involved in a lengthy search. He was apparently offered the UW job in 2004 and sounds as if he didn't want to get publicly involved again if there was any chance he wasn't going to get the job. He's been at Utah since 1987 and is not necessarily itching to move.
Unlike the article on the UW football team earlier this year the WSU article is compiled from recent events which makes the story a lot more credible.
Six months ago, the mood was festive in Pullman when Paul Wulff returned to his alma mater to resuscitate the Washington State football program. But bubbling beneath the surface were off-the-field problems that would combine to make a tough job even tougher.
The report doesn't paint a very flattering picture of Bill Doba and his staff. The slant whether it is right or wrong seems to indicate that Doba wasn't much of a disciplinarian, and he also didn't spend a lot of time paying attention to the details of the transgressions.
You have to ask the question why the Seattle Times isn't also focusing on programs at Oregon, USC, or the entire Pac Ten? USC, and Oregon have provided more question marks than answers over the last few years as far as ethics are concerned.
The answer of course is that the Times feels it's readers would rather hear about problems close to home of local interest rather than the problems of the Pac Ten, or college football in general. I think the Times is missing the mark, you can't truly measure what is going on at WSU, and UW without taking a good look at college football in general.
Another thing to factor in is the newspaper business in general is losing money right now. The Internet is killing advertising revenues, and overall home subscriptions. Factor in the cost of gas too which is just killing them when it comes to distributing the print edition each day. Simply put the papers really don't have the budget or staff to do much investigative reporting outside the area.
UW
UW under Ty Willingham has not been winning on the playing field, but for the most part the players have stayed out of trouble, and the program has one of the highest graduation rates in the conference. You can say whatever you want about Ty's on the field performance, but he has shaped up a program that was becoming a real embarrassment to the university.
You can say the same thing about recently departed AD Todd Turner who was in charge of bringing respectability, and accountability to the department as a whole. Bottom line though it is a business, and success is measured by wins and losses on the playing field. Turner is gone because he missed that part of the equation, and Willingham probably has one last season to show he can win. Winning is what puts people in the seats, and keeps contributions coming in each year.
The biggest question of course is if you can win on the field if you are winning in the classroom, and in the overall ethics department? Tough to say because I don't believe we have a level playing field in the conference, and around the nation.
AD Search
Could it be down to Chuck Nelson, Bob Stull, and maybe Scott Woodward?
I would take Stull over Chuck if it came to that because he has the experience. No knock on Chuck, but running an athletic department like UW's should require previous experience in that position.
I wouldn't exactly count out Woodward yet because if UW can't get the man that Emmert wants Scoot is still a very viable option.
Here is Bob Condotta's latest take on the situation.
Sources, however, indicate that UW had serious conversations, if not flat-out offering the job, to two sitting ADs --- Dan Radakovich of Georgia Tech and Chris Hill of Utah. One source said talks with Radakovich broke down over money --- he apparently just signed a new contract worth more than $600,000 a year and would need more than that to bother with making a move.
Turner had a base salary of $345,000 with other incoming putting him in the $400-500,000 range, and the Huskies aren't likely to go a whole lot higher as Pac-10 schools simply don't pay as much for ADs as do those in most of the other major conferences --- one reason UW may have a tough time hiring a sitting AD at a major school.
As for as Hill, one source said those talks broke down in part because Hill didn't want to get involved in a lengthy search. He was apparently offered the UW job in 2004 and sounds as if he didn't want to get publicly involved again if there was any chance he wasn't going to get the job. He's been at Utah since 1987 and is not necessarily itching to move.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Tight Ends
Only a few years ago Washington was known as TE University because of the long line of Husky TE's who had graduated and gone onto the NFL. Those days came to a screeching halt in the days of Ty Willingham.
Can you blame it all on Ty?
Not entirely, under Neuheisel, and Gilbertson the Huskies had loaded up at the position by recruiting athletes who were DE/LB/TE/FB types. A lot of these kids were tweeners who didn't really find a fit even though they were moved around quite a bit during there tenure at Washington and ended up at TE which became a dumping ground.
This is Ty's fourth year, and he only has two of his own TE's on the roster, so it isn't like he recruited the position with a lot of urgency either electing to stay with the status quo. He also had an assistant coach who shouldn't have been coaching TE's which may have a little bit to do with the lack of improvement at the position.
I think it all changes this season with the addition of Izbicki, and Middleton. I think both of those kids are going to catch a lot of balls over the next four years.
Dark Years at TE
Gottleib....Walk on from Mercer Island recruited by Gilberston. OK, Mike has started quite a few games, but from a historical perspective he would be a kid that would fit in nicely as a third TE, not your starter.
Kirton....Came in as a huge TB, played some FB, moved to TE but never made the impact. Finishing his senior year as a DT which is where he should have been from the get go. I think most people were pretty sure that Kirton would be an AA TE before he left, but he just didn't get better, and in fact declined from a target perspective.
Winter....Was a HS All America LB who was asked to beef up to play DE, with the beef came the lack of speed which he already was a little short on. Moved to TE last year to shore up the depth. Walt will get some playing time this year.
Lewis....Was recruited by Neu as an athlete and started off on defense before moving over to TE. A better Dash Crutchley who started some games.
Williams....Very raw kid from TW's first recruiting class. Was a throw in at the end of a bad recruiting year. They envisioned him more as a OL someday, but he was a BB player in HS so they wanted to check out his hands.
Crutchley...."Dash"...Great name, not a very good player despite being a good athlete. The classic Neu guy that couldn't find a position. What was your favorite Dash Crutchely moment?
Benn....Brother of the Husky Center was more of a nepotism pick and a bow to HS powerhouse O'Dea. Was never going to develop into a great TE, and injuries cut his career short.
Heater....His dad was surprised when Rick offered him. He stuck it out and had a good experience at UW despite bouncing around and not playing much.
LaSee....Another kid in the Crutchley, Heater, Lewis, Benn, Williams, Winter profile which means they weren't targeted as a TE, but just ended up there for lack of anothe rplace to put them.
Before the decline
UW was still three deep in quality early in the decade, but injuries and recruiting mistakes began to decimate the position. Toledo and Bandell both had AA potential, but were cut down by injuries.
Toledo....Still hanging on in the NFL. He had great talent, but was very injury prone.
Bandell....On a par with Toledo talent wise, but injuries cut him down by Sophomore year.
Lyons....A JC transfer who was a solid and productive backup.
Ware....One of the very good one's to play at UW. He had a little off field trouble, but was very productive as a blocker, and pass catcher.
Collier....Extremely solid during his career at UW as an old school UW TE.
Westra....Was an essential part of the rotation.
This season at TE
UW is reloading and weeding out this position in 2008. Johnnie Kirton moves to the DL and Mike Gottleib arrives this Fall as the incumbent starter. RS Chris Izbicki, and true frosh Kavario Middleton make up the rest of the rotation with Sr Walt Winter.
Gottleib has had a decent career winning a scholarship soon after walking on at UW. He isn't a flashy receiver, but the coaches like the way he follows his blocking assignments.
Izbicki had a decent Spring, and looked good in the Spring game. He isn't a finished product and still has some work to do. He will play a lot this season in a three man rotation.
Kavario Middleton was one of the top recruits in the country last year and the coaches are hoping he makes an immediate impact this Fall. If all goes to plan Kavario should be the starter by the end of the second bye week. The kid has a lot of great tools, and should be the best TE since Stevens moved on to the pro's. Expecting a freshman to live up to that immediately is a tough one, but he has a shot.
Consensus
Can you blame it all on Ty?
Not entirely, under Neuheisel, and Gilbertson the Huskies had loaded up at the position by recruiting athletes who were DE/LB/TE/FB types. A lot of these kids were tweeners who didn't really find a fit even though they were moved around quite a bit during there tenure at Washington and ended up at TE which became a dumping ground.
This is Ty's fourth year, and he only has two of his own TE's on the roster, so it isn't like he recruited the position with a lot of urgency either electing to stay with the status quo. He also had an assistant coach who shouldn't have been coaching TE's which may have a little bit to do with the lack of improvement at the position.
I think it all changes this season with the addition of Izbicki, and Middleton. I think both of those kids are going to catch a lot of balls over the next four years.
Dark Years at TE
Gottleib....Walk on from Mercer Island recruited by Gilberston. OK, Mike has started quite a few games, but from a historical perspective he would be a kid that would fit in nicely as a third TE, not your starter.
Kirton....Came in as a huge TB, played some FB, moved to TE but never made the impact. Finishing his senior year as a DT which is where he should have been from the get go. I think most people were pretty sure that Kirton would be an AA TE before he left, but he just didn't get better, and in fact declined from a target perspective.
Winter....Was a HS All America LB who was asked to beef up to play DE, with the beef came the lack of speed which he already was a little short on. Moved to TE last year to shore up the depth. Walt will get some playing time this year.
Lewis....Was recruited by Neu as an athlete and started off on defense before moving over to TE. A better Dash Crutchley who started some games.
Williams....Very raw kid from TW's first recruiting class. Was a throw in at the end of a bad recruiting year. They envisioned him more as a OL someday, but he was a BB player in HS so they wanted to check out his hands.
Crutchley...."Dash"...Great name, not a very good player despite being a good athlete. The classic Neu guy that couldn't find a position. What was your favorite Dash Crutchely moment?
Benn....Brother of the Husky Center was more of a nepotism pick and a bow to HS powerhouse O'Dea. Was never going to develop into a great TE, and injuries cut his career short.
Heater....His dad was surprised when Rick offered him. He stuck it out and had a good experience at UW despite bouncing around and not playing much.
LaSee....Another kid in the Crutchley, Heater, Lewis, Benn, Williams, Winter profile which means they weren't targeted as a TE, but just ended up there for lack of anothe rplace to put them.
Before the decline
UW was still three deep in quality early in the decade, but injuries and recruiting mistakes began to decimate the position. Toledo and Bandell both had AA potential, but were cut down by injuries.
Toledo....Still hanging on in the NFL. He had great talent, but was very injury prone.
Bandell....On a par with Toledo talent wise, but injuries cut him down by Sophomore year.
Lyons....A JC transfer who was a solid and productive backup.
Ware....One of the very good one's to play at UW. He had a little off field trouble, but was very productive as a blocker, and pass catcher.
Collier....Extremely solid during his career at UW as an old school UW TE.
Westra....Was an essential part of the rotation.
This season at TE
UW is reloading and weeding out this position in 2008. Johnnie Kirton moves to the DL and Mike Gottleib arrives this Fall as the incumbent starter. RS Chris Izbicki, and true frosh Kavario Middleton make up the rest of the rotation with Sr Walt Winter.
Gottleib has had a decent career winning a scholarship soon after walking on at UW. He isn't a flashy receiver, but the coaches like the way he follows his blocking assignments.
Izbicki had a decent Spring, and looked good in the Spring game. He isn't a finished product and still has some work to do. He will play a lot this season in a three man rotation.
Kavario Middleton was one of the top recruits in the country last year and the coaches are hoping he makes an immediate impact this Fall. If all goes to plan Kavario should be the starter by the end of the second bye week. The kid has a lot of great tools, and should be the best TE since Stevens moved on to the pro's. Expecting a freshman to live up to that immediately is a tough one, but he has a shot.
Consensus
While the talent level is going up the experienced depth is simply not there. You have a walk on senior, and two guys that have not played a single game in the rotation. If you suffer an injury Walt Winter comes in play. This position needs another year or two of excellent recruiting to be completely rebuilt.
The Future
Gottleib, and Winter are graduating which means UW will only have two TE's on the roster next season. I could see UW taking 2-3 this recruiting season. You like to have at least five scholarship TE's playing, or in development on your roster at all times.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Pac Ten Alley
Let's start off with a little golf, how many of you watched the US Open this weekend? I like Tiger, but I usually root against the favorite, or superstar. This past weekend I was rooting for Tiger, and it may stay like that for awhile. He showed us a lot of courage out there, and that is where he starts moving into the Palmer, Nicklaus, Hogan...etc... league. He was always there as a player, but this week he earned some serious stripes with his guts, and that is the one special thing we all admire about the best. When a guy is out there playing on a bum knee against Doctors orders it is totally old school. When he forces an 18 hole playoff on the last hole in regulation that is old school. This was a U.S. Open for the history books, and it ranks as one of the best majors ever.
Dirty Ducks
I have been watching this developing story over the past week in regard to recruiting. Scholarships offers get yanked, just ask Washington's Bradly Roussel.
A high school coach from one of Southern California’s top prep programs expressed frustration with the UO football staff Monday after the Ducks withdrew a scholarship offer that had been accepted by one of his players last week.
Pac Ten Alley
Let's take a walk down the coast to see what the neighbors are up to.
Oregon has no problem showing QB's the back door.
Sophomore QB Cody Kempt will be going home to compete for a starting job with the Montana St. Bobcats.With an uncertain future at Oregon, Kempt felt the timing was right to make the switch. Instead of competing against 6 other potential QB's here in Eugene, Kempt will only have 4 to go against in Bozeman.
The basketball staff fills out at Stanford.
Johnny Dawkins filled out his coaching staff, and he did so in a resounding way: Hiring former Santa Clara coach Dick Davey as his lead assistant.
News from Arizona.
Former signed Arizona men’s basketball recruit Emmanuel Negedu is in Memphis this weekend, making his final recruiting visit after getting his release from UA last month.
You want video of the tree protestors, we got it. The courts decide tomorrow.
One of the activists who have perched in a grove outside UC Berkeley's Memorial Stadium for the past year and a half was hauled out of her tree Tuesday, as the university began removing tree-sitters' gear in advance of a judge's ruling that could lead to a climax in the long-running protest.
More of reliving the dream from OSU.
In what was, is, and probably will forever be the most surreal sporting event I've ever attended, the Beavers surprised the nation with a 12-6 victory over Arizona State on June 18, 2007.
Taylor Mays, USC, safety: Scary.
That is the best way to describe Mays. His combination of size and speed in a safety is freakish. And in the Trojans' spring game, Mays obliterated Patrick Turner, the team's towering 6-foot-5, 230-pound receiver on a play when he came over the middle. I suspect many Pac-10 receivers envision similar scenes before they face the Trojans and their super-fast, super-sized DB.
ASU's Rudy Carpenter trains with Steve Clarkson
Video
Bruin Expectations
So last weeek, we put up not one, but four posts (see here, here, here, and here) discussing and setting our expectations for the next season. From my vantage point, I am expecting UCLA to win somewhere around 6 games in Rick Neuheisel’s first season at UCLA. Following my first post, BruinsRule - someone who I have enormous respect for -questioned whether I was setting the expectations in a way to make it easy for RN to meet our expectations. I responded to his concern with my reasons on how I calibrated my expectations. From our subsequent exchange in the comment thread and BR’s clarification, it seems like we are all on the same page.
WSU blog reviews UA among other things.
Great weather, nice stadium that seats over 56,000, great hoops program.....but a football team that hasn't been to a bowl game since 1998?? What is it with Arizona's football program that they just can't seem to put it together? It's a hard thing to put your finger on. You would think from a distance anyway that they should be successful, but for whatever the reason, it's been a long, dry spell without success.
Dirty Ducks
I have been watching this developing story over the past week in regard to recruiting. Scholarships offers get yanked, just ask Washington's Bradly Roussel.
A high school coach from one of Southern California’s top prep programs expressed frustration with the UO football staff Monday after the Ducks withdrew a scholarship offer that had been accepted by one of his players last week.
Pac Ten Alley
Let's take a walk down the coast to see what the neighbors are up to.
Oregon has no problem showing QB's the back door.
Sophomore QB Cody Kempt will be going home to compete for a starting job with the Montana St. Bobcats.With an uncertain future at Oregon, Kempt felt the timing was right to make the switch. Instead of competing against 6 other potential QB's here in Eugene, Kempt will only have 4 to go against in Bozeman.
The basketball staff fills out at Stanford.
Johnny Dawkins filled out his coaching staff, and he did so in a resounding way: Hiring former Santa Clara coach Dick Davey as his lead assistant.
News from Arizona.
Former signed Arizona men’s basketball recruit Emmanuel Negedu is in Memphis this weekend, making his final recruiting visit after getting his release from UA last month.
You want video of the tree protestors, we got it. The courts decide tomorrow.
One of the activists who have perched in a grove outside UC Berkeley's Memorial Stadium for the past year and a half was hauled out of her tree Tuesday, as the university began removing tree-sitters' gear in advance of a judge's ruling that could lead to a climax in the long-running protest.
More of reliving the dream from OSU.
In what was, is, and probably will forever be the most surreal sporting event I've ever attended, the Beavers surprised the nation with a 12-6 victory over Arizona State on June 18, 2007.
Taylor Mays, USC, safety: Scary.
That is the best way to describe Mays. His combination of size and speed in a safety is freakish. And in the Trojans' spring game, Mays obliterated Patrick Turner, the team's towering 6-foot-5, 230-pound receiver on a play when he came over the middle. I suspect many Pac-10 receivers envision similar scenes before they face the Trojans and their super-fast, super-sized DB.
ASU's Rudy Carpenter trains with Steve Clarkson
Video
Bruin Expectations
So last weeek, we put up not one, but four posts (see here, here, here, and here) discussing and setting our expectations for the next season. From my vantage point, I am expecting UCLA to win somewhere around 6 games in Rick Neuheisel’s first season at UCLA. Following my first post, BruinsRule - someone who I have enormous respect for -questioned whether I was setting the expectations in a way to make it easy for RN to meet our expectations. I responded to his concern with my reasons on how I calibrated my expectations. From our subsequent exchange in the comment thread and BR’s clarification, it seems like we are all on the same page.
WSU blog reviews UA among other things.
Great weather, nice stadium that seats over 56,000, great hoops program.....but a football team that hasn't been to a bowl game since 1998?? What is it with Arizona's football program that they just can't seem to put it together? It's a hard thing to put your finger on. You would think from a distance anyway that they should be successful, but for whatever the reason, it's been a long, dry spell without success.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Quote of the Year so far
Nice work by Jerry Brewer of the Seattle Times at the exit of M's GM Bill Bavasi.
I asked Bavasi on Monday about Bedard's pitch-count threshold. After bouncing between defending and explaining Bedard, the axed GM — clearly exasperated — said I needed to ask the pitcher.
"You gotta ask him," Bavasi said. "You gotta ask him. Good luck. And he's gonna have some stupid answer, some dumbass answer."
I asked Bavasi on Monday about Bedard's pitch-count threshold. After bouncing between defending and explaining Bedard, the axed GM — clearly exasperated — said I needed to ask the pitcher.
"You gotta ask him," Bavasi said. "You gotta ask him. Good luck. And he's gonna have some stupid answer, some dumbass answer."
Monday, June 16, 2008
The Monday Morning Wash
The Husky coaching tour ends this with the last stop in Longview, Ty has missed three of the events this year, hopefully he can make it down to SW Washington for the finale.
The AD hunt is still going on without many leaks coming from the UW at this point. Hard to say who they are going to end up with, but we should find out pretty soon. Hill from Utah is supposedly the leading candidate, and they offered him the job last time, but if he was all in the decision probably would have already been made. My bet is on a young up and comer who will be a surprise at this point.
Dick Baird wrote a ditty in Dawgman about the lack of wisdom signing LSU to a home, and home starting next season. I lean toward Dick's reasoning on this one even though you can make a case either way. UW doesn't need to have the toughest football schedule in the country every single year, and I can't think of a single program that needs to do that.
On the other hand LSU will draw a lot of out of town fans which continues to build the case that UW football brings in a lot of money to the region each week during the season. That of course goes hand in hand with the argument that UW should be eligible for tax money to help remodel the stadium.
Romar Signs a Wing
The Washington Huskies have received their second commitment for the recruiting class of 2009, this one from a 6-9 1/2, 220-pound junior college forward from Los Angeles. Charles Garcia Jr. said today as he was getting ready to fly back home after taking a visit to UW over the weekend that he would sign with the Huskies.
Garcia is slated to replace the bulk we lose when Jon Brockman graduates next season.
Husky Football TV Schedule Shaping Up
The University of Washington football program has received significant regional and national exposure over the years and the 2008 season promises to be no exception, according to the early-season television schedule released by the Pacific-10 Conference today.
Seven of Washington's 12 games have been pre-selected to appear on television through the league's contractual obligations with FSN, ABC/ESPN and Versus. With the exception of the Sept. 27 game against Stanford University, the remaining games will available for telecast through the conference's agreements and will be determined either 12 or six days prior to the game.
For the first time in school history, all 13 of Washington's regular-season games during the 2007 season appeared on television. Indications are positive that all 12 games this year could also be televised.
Washington's August 30 season-opening contest at the University of Oregon will kick-off at 7 p.m. and will be televised live by FSN. A broad national distribution of the game through the various FSN regional networks is expected due to the primetime start.
The Huskies' home opener on Sept. 6 against Brigham Young University will begin at 12 Noon and will also be televised by FSN, while the Sept. 13 home game against the University of Oklahoma will kick at 4:45 p.m. and will feature a national telecast via ESPN.
The Stanford game is expected to be televised by FSN Northwest, Washington's local television partner, since there will be no selections by FSN or Versus that day through the league agreement. Once FSN Northwest and the Seattle Mariners determine the major league baseball club's telecast schedule for that day, they will release a game time.
Washington will make its first appearance ever on the Versus network on Oct. 18 with its homecoming contest against Oregon State University that will begin at 4 p.m. The Oct. 25 game against the University of Notre Dame will kickoff at 5 p.m. and will be televised by either ABC, ESPN or ESPN2.
In addition, the Pac-10 announced that Washington's Nov. 22 Apple Cup contest at Washington State University will kickoff at 12 noon and will be televised live from Pullman, Wash. by FSN.
The Dec. 6 Washington game at the University of California will begin either at 12 Noon on FSN or 5 p.m. on ESPN or ESPN2. Specific television plans for that contest will be announced 12 days prior to the game.
UW game times and coverage that have not yet been determined include the Oct. 4 contest at the University of Arizona, the Nov. 1 game at USC, the Nov. 8 game at home against Arizona State University and the Nov. 15 home finale against UCLA.
Huskies at the US Open
Washington sophomore Nick Taylor shot 4-over 75 and former UW player Rob Rashell carded a scorching 1-under 70 during the second round of the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course, Friday, but neither Husky was able to make the cut when the field was narrowed down to 80 players.
Huskies Sweep Pac Ten Rowing Awards
Men's rowing coach Michael Callahan was named Coach of the Year, Heath Allen Men's Athlete of the Year and Blaise Didier Newcomer of the Year in the Pac-10 Conference's end of season awards. A total of four Husky men and one woman were named to the all-conference teams.
Track and Field
Junior Jared O'Connor had a remarkable second-place finish in the pole vault and seniors Norris Frederick and Carl Moe ended their illustrious Husky careers with All-American awards at the NCAA Track and Field Championships hosted by Drake University.
The Huskies enjoyed a memorable day three at the national meet, including a 400m dash semifinal victory from junior Jordan Boase. Spectators numbering 11,228 saw the Husky men score 9.33 points, bringing their total to 12.33 with two finalists on Sunday.
Frederick (Seattle, Wash./Roosevelt) placed seventh in the high jump final, battling through an ankle injury with three dramatic third-attempt clearances before bowing out of the contest with a best of 7-1 ½. He earned the adulation of the crowd with his repeated final jump clearances.
The seventh-place finish brings Frederick's final tally of All-American honors to a stunning nine, including one for his sixth-place long jump finish yesterday. Frederick's nine awards tie Ryan Brown (2003-07) for the second-most in Washington history, trailing only the 10 of Ja'Warren Hooker (1998-2001). Frederick was an All-American indoors and outdoors in both the high and long jumps this year, the only collegiate athlete that accomplished the feat. His four All-American awards in one season also ties Brown (2006) and Hooker (1998) for the most by a Husky.
Bavasi Gets the Axe
The Mariners fired Bill Bavasi today in the first of what will be one of many moves to get the franchise going in the right direction. The next guy that needs to go is Howard Lincoln.
Everytime Bavasi made a move I just winced, the capper of course was the Bedard trade this season which decimated the farm system.
What the M's need to do is have an old fashioned fire sale and get rid of as much dead wood as they can so they can start over next season. Money isn't the problem when you have a $117 million dollar payroll.
The current state of the M's can be traced back to Bob Melvin's first season as manager. The M's should have gone young at that time like the Indians did to rebuild, instead the M's started wasting money on over valued free agents blocking any form of youth movement.
I think most of us are M's fans, and this has been tough to watch, but any team that has that much money to spend can rebound under the right management.
The AD hunt is still going on without many leaks coming from the UW at this point. Hard to say who they are going to end up with, but we should find out pretty soon. Hill from Utah is supposedly the leading candidate, and they offered him the job last time, but if he was all in the decision probably would have already been made. My bet is on a young up and comer who will be a surprise at this point.
Dick Baird wrote a ditty in Dawgman about the lack of wisdom signing LSU to a home, and home starting next season. I lean toward Dick's reasoning on this one even though you can make a case either way. UW doesn't need to have the toughest football schedule in the country every single year, and I can't think of a single program that needs to do that.
On the other hand LSU will draw a lot of out of town fans which continues to build the case that UW football brings in a lot of money to the region each week during the season. That of course goes hand in hand with the argument that UW should be eligible for tax money to help remodel the stadium.
Romar Signs a Wing
The Washington Huskies have received their second commitment for the recruiting class of 2009, this one from a 6-9 1/2, 220-pound junior college forward from Los Angeles. Charles Garcia Jr. said today as he was getting ready to fly back home after taking a visit to UW over the weekend that he would sign with the Huskies.
Garcia is slated to replace the bulk we lose when Jon Brockman graduates next season.
Husky Football TV Schedule Shaping Up
The University of Washington football program has received significant regional and national exposure over the years and the 2008 season promises to be no exception, according to the early-season television schedule released by the Pacific-10 Conference today.
Seven of Washington's 12 games have been pre-selected to appear on television through the league's contractual obligations with FSN, ABC/ESPN and Versus. With the exception of the Sept. 27 game against Stanford University, the remaining games will available for telecast through the conference's agreements and will be determined either 12 or six days prior to the game.
For the first time in school history, all 13 of Washington's regular-season games during the 2007 season appeared on television. Indications are positive that all 12 games this year could also be televised.
Washington's August 30 season-opening contest at the University of Oregon will kick-off at 7 p.m. and will be televised live by FSN. A broad national distribution of the game through the various FSN regional networks is expected due to the primetime start.
The Huskies' home opener on Sept. 6 against Brigham Young University will begin at 12 Noon and will also be televised by FSN, while the Sept. 13 home game against the University of Oklahoma will kick at 4:45 p.m. and will feature a national telecast via ESPN.
The Stanford game is expected to be televised by FSN Northwest, Washington's local television partner, since there will be no selections by FSN or Versus that day through the league agreement. Once FSN Northwest and the Seattle Mariners determine the major league baseball club's telecast schedule for that day, they will release a game time.
Washington will make its first appearance ever on the Versus network on Oct. 18 with its homecoming contest against Oregon State University that will begin at 4 p.m. The Oct. 25 game against the University of Notre Dame will kickoff at 5 p.m. and will be televised by either ABC, ESPN or ESPN2.
In addition, the Pac-10 announced that Washington's Nov. 22 Apple Cup contest at Washington State University will kickoff at 12 noon and will be televised live from Pullman, Wash. by FSN.
The Dec. 6 Washington game at the University of California will begin either at 12 Noon on FSN or 5 p.m. on ESPN or ESPN2. Specific television plans for that contest will be announced 12 days prior to the game.
UW game times and coverage that have not yet been determined include the Oct. 4 contest at the University of Arizona, the Nov. 1 game at USC, the Nov. 8 game at home against Arizona State University and the Nov. 15 home finale against UCLA.
Huskies at the US Open
Washington sophomore Nick Taylor shot 4-over 75 and former UW player Rob Rashell carded a scorching 1-under 70 during the second round of the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course, Friday, but neither Husky was able to make the cut when the field was narrowed down to 80 players.
Huskies Sweep Pac Ten Rowing Awards
Men's rowing coach Michael Callahan was named Coach of the Year, Heath Allen Men's Athlete of the Year and Blaise Didier Newcomer of the Year in the Pac-10 Conference's end of season awards. A total of four Husky men and one woman were named to the all-conference teams.
Track and Field
Junior Jared O'Connor had a remarkable second-place finish in the pole vault and seniors Norris Frederick and Carl Moe ended their illustrious Husky careers with All-American awards at the NCAA Track and Field Championships hosted by Drake University.
The Huskies enjoyed a memorable day three at the national meet, including a 400m dash semifinal victory from junior Jordan Boase. Spectators numbering 11,228 saw the Husky men score 9.33 points, bringing their total to 12.33 with two finalists on Sunday.
Frederick (Seattle, Wash./Roosevelt) placed seventh in the high jump final, battling through an ankle injury with three dramatic third-attempt clearances before bowing out of the contest with a best of 7-1 ½. He earned the adulation of the crowd with his repeated final jump clearances.
The seventh-place finish brings Frederick's final tally of All-American honors to a stunning nine, including one for his sixth-place long jump finish yesterday. Frederick's nine awards tie Ryan Brown (2003-07) for the second-most in Washington history, trailing only the 10 of Ja'Warren Hooker (1998-2001). Frederick was an All-American indoors and outdoors in both the high and long jumps this year, the only collegiate athlete that accomplished the feat. His four All-American awards in one season also ties Brown (2006) and Hooker (1998) for the most by a Husky.
Bavasi Gets the Axe
The Mariners fired Bill Bavasi today in the first of what will be one of many moves to get the franchise going in the right direction. The next guy that needs to go is Howard Lincoln.
Everytime Bavasi made a move I just winced, the capper of course was the Bedard trade this season which decimated the farm system.
What the M's need to do is have an old fashioned fire sale and get rid of as much dead wood as they can so they can start over next season. Money isn't the problem when you have a $117 million dollar payroll.
The current state of the M's can be traced back to Bob Melvin's first season as manager. The M's should have gone young at that time like the Indians did to rebuild, instead the M's started wasting money on over valued free agents blocking any form of youth movement.
I think most of us are M's fans, and this has been tough to watch, but any team that has that much money to spend can rebound under the right management.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Poll Question
How many yards per game will the Huskies gain on offense this year?
475 7% (5 votes)
450 12% (8 votes)
425 46% (31 votes)
400 18% (12 votes)
375 3% (2 votes)
350 3% (2 votes)
325 6% (4 votes)
300 1% (1 votes)
Other: 4% (3 votes)
The majority of you guys went with 425 which would be a pretty good average with a completly new set of skill players surrounding Jake Locker in 2008.
This weeks question:
Who is going to be the new Athletic Director?
This is the list of candidates that have been talked about in the press so far, but I am sure there are a couple of other names on the list that haven't become public yet. So feel free to add your own write in candidates.
Chris Hill Utah
Bob Stull UTEP
Bill Moos Oregon (Retired)
Steve Lopes USC
Bubba Cunningham Tulsa
Craig Angelos Florida Atlantic
475 7% (5 votes)
450 12% (8 votes)
425 46% (31 votes)
400 18% (12 votes)
375 3% (2 votes)
350 3% (2 votes)
325 6% (4 votes)
300 1% (1 votes)
Other: 4% (3 votes)
The majority of you guys went with 425 which would be a pretty good average with a completly new set of skill players surrounding Jake Locker in 2008.
This weeks question:
Who is going to be the new Athletic Director?
This is the list of candidates that have been talked about in the press so far, but I am sure there are a couple of other names on the list that haven't become public yet. So feel free to add your own write in candidates.
Chris Hill Utah
Bob Stull UTEP
Bill Moos Oregon (Retired)
Steve Lopes USC
Bubba Cunningham Tulsa
Craig Angelos Florida Atlantic
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