Some quick Husky notes as the team prepares to fly out to San Diego:
- Tight End Chris Izbicki has left the team. He’s leaving of his own accord, for reasons that aren’t fully clear, as far as I’ve seen. His lack of production surely factors into the decision. After Middleton’s dismissal before the year, I thought there was a good chance Izbicki could have a small breakout this year, but it clearly was not to be. He only had two catches on the year, although one was the glorious Price to Izbicki touchdown early in the year. Good luck to Chris in whatever he’s planning to do now.
- While Izbicki was listed as a starter for the Holiday Bowl, the loss isn’t a huge one. Marlion Barnett has been a bit more of a pass-catching threat, and Daniel Kanzcugowski has played more than either as an extra blocker. The position should improve greatly in the next couple of years. Michael Hartvigson would likely have been playing extensive minutes by now if he hadn’t been injured earlier in the season. Austin Seferian-Jenkins is also likely to have some kind of impact immediately. From what I’ve heard, he spent much of his high school career split out wide, so he likely has good pass-catching skills. Given his size (6′ 6″, 260 lbs), if he starts the year in good condition, he could make an immediate difference.
- The team leaves for San Diego tomorrow, if I remember correctly. They’ll spend the next week practicing and seeing the sights. It’s a pretty cool deal for the players, even if they miss Christmas with the family. I wonder if any of them get upset about that. A good portion of the team is from southern California though, so it’s good for them, and everyone got a few days to go home in the last week.
- Recruiting is starting to ramp up as the February Letter of Intent Day is coming. The most recent commit for the Dawgs is MLB Thomas Tutogi. He’s a big dude coming from a junior college and will have 4 years to play 3. Usually with juco guys, they’re there for a reason (grades, character issues), but Tutogi was just not highly recruited out of high school and wanted to try to raise his stock. He certainly did that, garnering an offer USC as well, among others. Tutogi has a decent chance to step right into a starting role in the Huskies’ depleted linebacking group.
- We’ll have more extensive posts on recruiting in the next month, but the big one to keep an eye on for now is DL Danny Shelton, a local kid. He’s deciding between UW and Oregon, and is the top remaining recruit in the state. Chat board opinion is that Shelton prefers Oregon while his mom prefers UW, but who knows what the case really is. It sounds like he’ll announce a decision fairly soon. Given the fact that UW has three DTs for the bowl game, some playmakers at the spot are crucial in this class.
All for now.
-Matthew
andrewlong7
dpscansen
Joe Loughery
Matthew
The Good Guys Sports Blog 
Thanks for the update Matt, I was drafting a similar post, but yours is much better! Kinda quiet this time of year, things will ramp up next week with the Holiday Bowl and Pac-10 play starting in hoops.
I have read up on the Shelton recruitment. I think he goes to Oregon. I think he liked his visit there better. I always have a slight beef with these types of recruitments. I mean, UO and UW are not friendly and this kid is choosing between both as if it’s 50/50. I doubt it. I think he’s wanted to be a Duck all along. They have a better program right now and they are playing for a NC. I think so many times these kids just like the attention, so they drag out these things as far as they can, then select the school they’ve wanted all along.
Just my 2 cents…
Yeah, it’s hard to say without knowing the actual kids, but it sure seems like a lot of them like the attention. I can’t decide if that’s bad or not, though. It’s annoying to follow, but I’m also one of the ones giving them attention, to some degree. It’s not how I’d do things, and there are some who take it too far, in my opinion. I can’t totally blame them though, in most cases.
I think he goes to UW. Just a hunch.
I hope you are right, that would be a great blow against Oregon.
On KJR today, the Dawgman guys were fairly sure that Shelton will be a Husky, so I guess we’ll see. If they could get him and pull Sankey away from WSU, they couldn’t ask for much more in state this year.
Haha, yeah I listened to the Dawgman guys all morning, and they were almost all sure Shelton would go to the UW. One of the guys made a great point: When Shelton talks about Oregon, it’s all about the facilities. When he talks UW, he talks about home, family, and how great the coaches are. Those are the things I like to hear. Yeah Oregon has the best team money can buy, but I think Sark and the boys are more personable, the players love playing for them. After listening the KJR today, I feel way more confident they’ll land Shelton.