Huskies Practice Report – 4/27

It was a cold and windy day through most of practice today.  They must have been the winds of change, as Mark Emmert announced his resignation today (sorry I couldn’t help but put a terrible ‘winds of change’ line in).  The sun did end up poking through towards the end and gave me hope that the spring game on Friday won’t be absolutely freezing.  The team was in shorts, shoulder pads, and helmets today.  This was the shortest practice of the spring and there isn’t a ton to report.  Thursday will be another short one as they prepare for the Spring game on Friday night. 

There are no new injuries to report.  Sadly, it looks as if Jesse Callier will be out for the game on Friday.  I did see him do some running today which is a good sign but there is no reason to rush him back.  Even with the injury, Callier had a great spring and has set himself up to be in the rotation next year. 

Jermaine Kearse gave everyone a scare while going up for a deep ball from Locker and coming down grasping his ankle.  I thought that he broke his ankle but after laying on the ground for a minute he got up and walked off.  Turns out he just tweaked his ankle. 

As I mentioned, there isn’t a lot to report from this practice.  Jake was good.  Kearse was good.  Johnson was good (unlike his cross-town rival, Rob).  The defense did do a better job against the run today but struggled a little more against the pass.  Izbicki made a great, diving catch and impressed me all day.  Middleton got yelled at all day.  Backup defensive ends, De’Shon Matthews and Peter Follmer, made back-to-back sacks in the scrimmage portion.  They’ve each grown this spring.

A few more notes about practice and the resignation of Mark Emmert after the jump.

• Johri Fogerson had a really nice run today.  I don’t think I’ve mentioned him enough on this blog because I’ve truly been blown away by the two freshmen but Fogerson has had a nice spring.  He has come on strong the last two weeks.  He’s still very good catching out of the backfield and has also been impressive on carries.  I fully expect him to get a decent amount of playing time next year. 
• You may be asking how will all these backs get a decent amount of playing time?  This is a very valid question.  There will be some games where I think Polk will carry a good share of the load just like he did last year.  But, I think the coaches will answer this question by going to a two back formation more this year.  Without going into much detail, there have been several formations where I’ve Cooper and Fogerson or Cooper and Callier on the field with each other.  This could be effective; speed kills in this game.  When you have two good running backs on the field along with Kearse, Aguilar, and the best quarterback in the nation, this offense is scary.
• Will Shamburger was starting at free safety today.  A few days ago I said that Nate Fellner appeared to be the best free safety this team had.  I think Sark might be messing with me.  They are both equally impressive and will battle it out for the job come Fall along with Sean Parker.  (Sometimes I forget that Sean Parker is a Husky.  Once I remember that he is, I smile.)
• As I mentioned earlier, Mark Emmert is moving on from his job as president of the University of Washington.  Some people had a problem with Emmert, others liked Emmert.  I didn’t really care either way.  Obviously, the Tyrone Willingham hire was terrible but the Sarkisian hire appears to be a good one.  Emmert came in with a reputation of really caring about the athletics at a school, I don’t really know if he proved that he was.  The truth is that there is a whole lot more to being a University President than athletics.  It’s easy for us as sports fans to sit around and pick apart decisions we don’t like but we have to remember that there’s a reason why we’re the ones sitting and there the ones with the jobs.  This is especially true when talking about jobs that have to do with more than sports, like University President.  Sure, Emmert did some things that I didn’t like and he may deserve some of the blame for the downfall the football program took but he also did some good things.  College is about academics more than it is athletics and Emmert helped keep UW one of the most prestigious schools on the west coast.  (That is something that Tyrone Willingham and Bill Bavasi can’t say and that’s why it’s much easier to be upset with the job they did.)  I understand why people don’t like Emmert but try to keep those things in mind.  Not to mention, he was involved in hiring Sark and that could be one heck of a present he gave to us football fans.  I wish Mark Emmert the best in his next job, thanks for being a Dawg. 

Thanks for reading! 3 days until Cliff frickin Lee!, the spring game and (gulp) Terrance Jones decision!

Andrew