Category Archives: Huskies Football

Posts dealing with Huskies football

by | August 6, 2012 · 9:12 pm

Here’s To Hoping

In the best sports news of the summer, college football is back!  The UW Huskies started their fall camp today and will play their first game in less than a month.  It’s hard to know what to expect from a Husky team with a bunch of new coaches and a still young roster.  They should be better, but maybe not enough to result in significantly more wins.  We’ll have a lot more coverage as the Mariners and summer winds down.

For tonight, let’s talk for a second about Deontae Cooper.  If you aren’t aware of the legend of Deontae, here’s the short version.  A running back in the 2010 recruiting class, Cooper took about two practices to whip Husky Nation into a frenzy.  Chris Polk had yet to become the unstoppable force he would be that year.  Running back was a bit of a question mark, as was the rest of the team, and Cooper looked like he might get a lot of snaps, if not challenge to be the starter.  He was extremely touted coming out of high school, with decent size, lightning speed and quickness, and excellent running instincts.  Hugh Millen is on record as saying he was the most talented running back to enter the UW since Corey Dillon.  Corey Dillon had 252 yards in one quarter, if you’ve forgotten.

Unfortunately, before the season ever started, Cooper blew out a knee.  It was disappointing, of course, but it happens.  He’d be back the next year, hopefully at full speed.  And then, before last season, he blew another knee.  When a running back has two knee surgeries, it’s hard to expect a lot from him in the future.  Even if he heals right, the explosiveness and speed might be gone.  It was entirely possible Deontae Cooper would never play a down in Husky Stadium.

Since the second surgery, most fans and media have stopped hoping for anything from Deontae.  It’s just too unlikely.  But still, there are whispers: “If Deontae could ever get healthy…”  and “Look out for Deontae.  If he can ever get on the field, he might run right past Callier and Sankey.”  The whispers grew louder as the season approached and he progressed in his recovery.  Several days ago, Steve Sarkisian said Deontae has been cleared for full participation.  Today, he took part in his first practice in what feels like years.  He’ll be limited for a while as they get him up to speed and used to playing football again, but the doctors have said he’s all clear, which is a bit of a miracle in itself.

It’s easy and appropriate to say that it’s great just to see him playing again, that any snaps he gets will be great, whether he has his old flash or not.  By all accounts, he is a great kid who has worked hard to come back when others might have given up.  Any reward would be deserved.  He’s a long way from actual game action, of course.  It’s possible that his knees don’t hold up and he is injured again or just becomes a bench player.  Everyone is hoping for the best, but anyone saying he’s a guarantee to be star or even a contributor is ignorant or naive.

This is the first day of camp, though, so let your imagination go for a minute.  Imagine that Deontae Cooper is back to the legendary skills he had coming out of high school.  Picture him slowly building up strength, and then, maybe in Eugene or Los Angeles, erupting for 200 yards and leading the Huskies to a huge upset.  It’s been a long time since the Huskies had lightning at tailback.  For everything Chris Polk did, that was not his game.  There’s something different about a running back flying around the tackle, bouncing outside, freezing a linebacker with a cut and outrunning the safety to the end zone.  Deontae Cooper can be that guy.

It’s likely that he won’t be that guy.  I hate to say it, but he faces an uphill battle until he actually plays half a season and sees how his knees hold up.  Sometimes these miracle comebacks actually happen, though.  Watch this one, because it has all the makings of a legendary story.

Here’s to hoping.

-Matthew

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by | July 22, 2012 · 9:35 pm

Getting To Know Your Dawgs – Quarterback

Matthew has recently been working on his series about the Mariners prospects at different positions.  This seems like a good idea.  I mean, Matthew does have his Masters Degree so that means he has some good ideas once in a while.  You never knew that the amount of good ideas you had were a direct correlate to the amount of education you have, did you?  That’s why 7 year old’s ideas are so dumb.  This is a tiny bit true although I’m mocking it.

Anyway, as Matthew finishes up his series about the M’s, college football season approaches!  Husky football is vastly more interesting than the Mariners these days so my series, which is on each of the 2012 Huskies positions, should be way better than Matthew’s.  This really wasn’t a competition until I started writing this.  Read his stuff too because he’s a better writer and, if you’re interested in the Mariners farm system, it’s much more revealing.

There’s a little over a month before the Huskies kick off against San Diego State on September 1st and only about 10 days until the Huskies fall camp starts.  It will be an exciting time, as this might be Steve Sarkisian’s best Husky team so far.  We’ll have more previews on the team as the season draws.  Today, I’ll just be talking about the quarterback and will move down the list of positions over the next month (content may continue to be light for the next few weeks because of vacations and such, it’s a busy time.  Sorry!).

The quarterback position will probably always be in good hands as long as Sark is here.  There were concerns about Keith Price last season but then he turned in one of the most amazing seasons in Husky history.  While that was going on, our coach brought in two 4-star recruits to sure up the future.  This  might be the most cheerful position preview you read, so enjoy it!

Keith Price (RS JR.)

Over the next couple of seasons, Keith Price could become my favorite Husky of all time (it’s a tie between Chris Polk and Tui, at the moment).  He has a great story, he’s a great player, and, most of all, he’s just happy to be on the field, playing some ball.  His smile has won over Husky nation and I’m not sure that anyone (even opposing fans) can really root against the guy.  Oh yeah, the numbers are pretty amazing too.  Last year he passed for 33 touchdowns, over 3,000 yards and had a 67% completion percentage to boot.  He did most of that on one good leg.  I do wonder if he’ll be able to stay healthy for an entire season but we saw what he could do in the Alamo Bowl with a healthy body.

Without Chris Polk around, some have questioned if Price will be as effective.  It’s an interesting argument that has some legs but I don’t have many concerns as far as that goes.  His numbers may not be quite as efficient but the yards may go up even farther and the Dawgs should be able to muster some sort of rushing attack.

Derrick Brown (RS FR.)

Brown will enter the fall as Price’s backup, if that stays the same for the season remains to be seen.  Brown could quickly become a forgotten man on this team because of the talented kids below him and the star above him.  With that being said, if Brown performs well he’ll play as Sark has shown a willingness to play the best player.  As a quick aside, remember when that wasn’t the case?  When Tyrone Willingham was coach I had no idea if the best player at the position was playing.  I know expectation are growing for this program, as they should,  but let’s be thankful that we made the right decision on this coaching hire.  Sark may not be the guy who coaches this team in the next golden age of Husky football but he has truly done an incredible job of getting us out of a deep, dark hole.

Back to Brown, he’s a 6-3, 230 lb. guy who is a fairly mobile guy.  He’s from California and was ranked around the number 20 quarterback prospect in the nation by recruiting services.  He’ll battle it out for the backup job during camp and I expect that he’ll be listed as the backup quarterback going in to this season.  Beyond that, I really have no idea.

Jeff Lindquist (FR.)

Lindquist is from Mercer Island and is a guy that I look forward to seeing over the next few years.  I know a few people over on the island and they all raved about Lindquist.  Not so much as a football player (although he was surely great in high school) but more as a person.  He seems to truly have his head on straight (which is another thing that Sark has done well, bringing in players with good character and running a pretty clean ship).  He’s around 6-4, 220 and reminded me of a Jake Locker type style when I watched him live a few times.  He runs pretty well, although not as fast as Locker, and has a strong-arm.  He was rated in the top 10 quarterbacks by most recruiting services.

Cyler Miles (FR.)

Miles is from Colorado and had an interesting recruiting experience.  He committed to the Huskies and then almost flipped to USC at the last second before announcing he was a Dawg.  I remember signing day well since I woke up at 6:30 for it…. Anyway, Miles has the best mobility of any U-Dub quarterback.  He’s a quick guy.  His passing might not be as strong in the passing game as Lindquist but he’s faster.  The recruiting services rank these guys very evenly and they’re usually ranked around number 10.  I have no idea who will turn out to play more.  There is no consensus on who’s better but Sark is working with some good kids and I have a lot of faith that one of them will turn out.

This position is probably the best on the team right now.  You can make an argument for the secondary but I don’t think it has more talent than this one.  I hope that Price is able to stay healthy and the young guys can redshirt.  Also, any of the backups playing this year might be a bit too soon.  Sark knows what he’s doing with them though and this position is the least of my worries.  That’s a blessing, considering that it’s probably the most important position.

Thanks for reading!

Andrew

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by | July 5, 2012 · 7:00 pm

A Recruiting Explosion!

I hope everyone enjoyed your holiday, ate lots of food and shot off some fireworks.  Speaking of fireworks, the Dawgs have had an explosion in the football recruiting world.  Since last Friday, the Huskies have picked up 8 verbal commitments.

Seven of those commits came last Friday during Washington’s Rising Stars camp.  Many recruiting experts expected the Huskies to pick up at least a few commits but no one thought the Dawgs would pick up 7.  Since the news broke, there hasn’t been a ton of information written about these new commits so I’ll review each of the guys with as much information as I can find (it won’t be a ton).  I used Scout for their rankings, although those rankings may be updated sometime soon as they enter the football season.

RB Lavon Coleman (Lompoc, CA) – 5-11, 210

Coleman is a 4-star recruit and ranked number 26 in the country at the position.  As a junior, Coleman ran for 2,038 yards and 28 touchdowns.  I don’t know if you put any stock in this but his team went undefeated and won the state championship.  Coleman is obviously well thought of, being ranked that high.  He had offers from almost all of the Pac-12 as well as Boise State.  From his video, he doesn’t seem to be afraid of contact and bounces off tacklers.

WR Demorea Stringfellow (Moreno Valley, CA) – 6-3, 195

Stringfellow is also a 4-star recruit and ranked number 11 overall at his position.  With this commit, the Huskies have wrapped up two of the biggest wide receivers on the west coast (the other being Darrell Daniels).  Demorea pulled in some offers from big name schools like Florida, Nebraska, USC, Michigan and most of the rest of the Pac-12.  He’s another tall receiver that is the kind we expect Sark to go after.

OG Andrew Kirkland (Portland, OR) – 6-5, 290

Kirkland didn’t commit with the rest of these guys but he did give his verbal 4 days later.  He’s rated as a 3-star recruit and number 43 overall at the offensive guard position.  He plays tackle in high school but the recruiting services see him moving inside because he moves well for his size.  Kirkland had a few offers out there and it was nice to take him away from the Oregon schools.

OT Poasi Moala (Moreno Valley, CA) – 6-5, 265

Moala is from the same school as Stringfellow.  He’s a 3-star commit and ranked 50th overall as an offensive tackle.  He has received an offer from about half of the Pac-12.  Moala doesn’t have the weight some of these guys do but he moves well and held his own against some big defensive linemen during the camp.

DT Andrew Basham (Lynnwood, WA) – 6-4, 305

Basham is listed as both an offensive and defensive tackle but it sounds like he was recruited on the defensive side.  He’s a big guy and is rated as a 3-star recruit and number 72 overall at his position.  Basham had received offers from Oregon State and Arizona State and I wouldn’t be surprised if more were to come.

DT Elijah Qualls (Petaluma, CA) – 6-2, 279

Qualls was a guy many had hoped would commit last week and, sure enough, he did!  He’s rated as a 4-star recruit and 16th overall at the defensive tackle position.  He seems to be a little raw but has all the physical gifts you could want.  He plays running back in high school so that lets you know how athletic he is.  Qualls seems like he could go play just about anywhere he wants, as his offer list is quite impressive.

DE Daeshon Hall (Lancaster, TX) – 6-6, 220

Hall was committed to Texas before deciding to look around.  Anytime you pull a guy away from Texas, you’re doing something right.  Hall did go to school in Seattle until a few years ago and may be moving back here for his senior year of high school.  He’s a 4-star recruit and ranked 18th overall at the defensive end position.  Hall is extremely athletic and profiles to be in the ‘rush end’ position (like Josh Shirley now.

OLB Caleb Tucker (Monroe, LA) – 6-2, 225

Tucker was the biggest surprise out of this group and is still kind of unheard of.  We don’t know much about him, as he comes from Louisiana.  I’d like to see how many Husky players have come from Louisiana.  Anyway, he’s a 2-star recruit (for now) and ranked 137th at the outside linebacker position.

Previously, the Huskies have received commitments from 8 other guys, including a 4-star quarterback and a 4-star wide receiver.  The team has 16 known verbal commits.  They will probably not keep all of those players committed, which is just the way it goes in this day and age.  They are off to a good start though and are in on some big names.  They’ll probably take about 25 guys in this recruiting class.

Thanks for reading,

Andrew

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by | June 27, 2012 · 8:24 pm

Reasonable Expectations

We’ve recently had a flurry of Mariners activity on the blog, which is surprising considering how boring the Mariners’ activity has been.  Matthew has been on a posting roll though, and I’m not about to stop him.  With that being said, I’m going to change pace for the night and talk about some Husky football.  What’s that, football?  You thought we forgot about you?  Sorry that you feel that way and that you felt neglected.  The Good Guys recognize your that you are only about a month and seven days from camp starting and we will proceed to talk about you more often.

There’s a reason I don’t write about college football much from spring football to the start of the fall camp.  All that’s happening in the college football world is endless speculation and I don’t care much about what national ‘experts’ have to say about the Huskies because it usually contains 3 topics, “Keith Price, ASJ, and a terrible defense.”  They aren’t usually wrong but they aren’t giving me any new information.  But, today I wandered down to the store and picked up my first college football magazine of the season.  I do enjoy reading those because it marks the start of the college football period to me and the part about local teams is generally written by local writers who know what they’re talking about.

Anyway, I was struck by how well thought of Shaq Thompson is.  I was stoked when he committed but, with the crazy amount of activity that goes on during signing week, the true excitement never really sunk in.  That got me thinking, what can we reasonably expect from Shaq Thompson this year?

I’ll start off (because the last three paragraphs were for the benefit of getting my brain working and didn’t actually count as part of this post.  Tricked you!) by saying the Huskies have never had an incoming freshman as highly ranked as this.  Old news, right?  Well, yes but it’s easy to forget and something we have to think about to do research on past players of this magnitude.  Recruiting ranking services have only grown in the last few years but have been around for a long time.  I’ll take my research back until 2002 because that’s how far Rival.com and Scout.com have their data going back to.  Since 2002, the Huskies have only had one defensive 5-star recruit.  So, this is kind of unprecedented territory for the Dawgs.  Here is the names and the amount of success the Huskies 5-star commits have had since 2002 (all rankings were from Scout because I like their local scouting more than Rivals).

Donny Mateaki (DE) 2002 – Mateaki was ranked 4th overall at his position and 44th in the top 100.  Mateaki was a starter throughout most of his career but never was at an all-conference level.

Jon Lyon (TE) 2003 – Lyon was ranked at 40th overall and 4th at his position.  He was at a JC though  Lyon was also a starter but wasn’t close to a star.

Kavario Middleton (TE) 2008 – Middleton was ranked 3rd at his position and 29th overall, as well.  We know the story here, Middleton was clearly talented but didn’t mesh well with coaching staffs and left UW without making much of a mark.

Kasen Williams (WR) 2011 – Williams was ranked 2nd at his position and 22nd overall.  That makes him the highest on this list.  Obviously, he’s only played one year and started in the latter half of the year.  He has a promising future.

Austin-Seferian Jenkins (TE) 2011 – ASJ was also second at his position and 32nd overall.  The same goes as above, promising but not proven.

Wow, what a terrible list.  Sure, Kasen and ASJ look good thus far but the rest of this list is not much to write home about.  None of them had a significant NFL career, although I’d be shocked if that didn’t change with ASJ and Kasen.  This doesn’t bode well for Shaq but, then again, those guys weren’t ranked in the same league he is as far as the ratings go and this is just some bad luck.  It does go to show that 5-star guys aren’t always sure things.  All 5 of these guys did contribute in their true freshman season though.  The next list is the top rated safeties (what Thompson was) dating back to 2002.

2002 – Pat Watkins, FSU – Watkins didn’t play until his sophomore year in college but then did go on to have a pretty successful career.  He was drafted in the 5th round and played for about 5 years in the NFL.  Watkins wasn’t at the highest college level but he was a very good player.

2003 – Brandon Owens, Minnesota – Owens was injured his junior year and didn’t return from the injury.  He played as a true freshman and was good but not a star.

2004 – Drew Kelson, Texas – Kelson played 4 years in Texas and played as a true freshman.  He was a draft prospect but didn’t have much of an NFL career.

2005 – Kenny Phillips, Miami – Phillips played his true freshman year and had the most successful career of any guy so far on this list.  He was drafted 31st overall in 2008 and has been successful in the NFL.

2006 – Myron Rolle, FSU – Rolle played right away as well and a very successful college player (although probably not to the level of Phillips) and was drafted in the 5th round.  He was great but I think the guy behind him was probably more well thought of.  That guy is Taylor Mays.

2007 – Chad Jones, LSU – Jones was very successful and played on offense and defense.  We could see some of that from Thompson.  He was drafted in the 3rd round.

2008 – Will Hill, Florida – That’s a cool name!  Hill played right away for Florida and was named to the All-SEC freshman team.  He had a successful career but wasn’t at an all-conference level.  He was signed as an undrafted free agent after playing arena football and is now with the New York Giants (the last 4 guys have all played for the Giants at one point or another.  Weird).

2009 – Craig Loston, LSU – Loston’s career at LSU will probably last until 2014 and he’s been injured in the past 3 seasons.  There still seems to be some promise in him.

2010 – Keenan Allen, Cal -Allen is a wide receiver at Cal and I debated whether I should move him to the number 2 ranked safety.  I decided no, obviously, because Allen has been so successful at Cal.  He started right away and has been awesome for them and for Matthew who is his Pac-12 fantasy football league owner.

2011 – Ha’Sean Clinton-Dix, Alabama – Clinton-Dix (which is a hilarious name when you think about it) seems to have red-shirted last year, but at a place like Alabama that’s not so surprising.

So, that was a list of 10 guys.  There weren’t any huge superstars (aside from maybe Allen and Phillips) but only 2 of the 10 red-shirted their freshman year.  Most of them made the NFL and several played on both sides of the ball.  This list is a lot more promising than the Huskies group of 5-star guys.

For the last list, I compiled all of Scout’s recruits (since 2002) that were ranked number 3 overall.  I’m not going to provide any analysis on them until the end.  In 2003 and 2004, Scout didn’t rank the top 300.

  • 2002 – Devin Hester
  • 2005 – Eugene Monroe
  • 2006 – Sam Young
  • 2007 – Marvin Austin
  • 2008 – Julio Jones
  • 2009 – Jacobbi McDaniel
  • 2010 – Robert Woods
  • 2011 – De’Anthony Thomas

I didn’t include analysis because the only thing I can really add is that these guys are really good.  Sam Young may be the worst of the group and he was on the freshman All-American team and has had a decent NFL career.

All of that information and partial analyzing leads me to believe that Shaq Thompson is likely to play this year.  In all of the players that I listed, all but 6 played in their true freshman year.  I don’t think we can expect him to be a star right away though.  Even De’Anthony Thomas went through growing pains in his first year.  With that being said, Thompson is likely going to be the best defensive talent we’ve seen on the Huskies since the 90’s.  Sure, sometimes these guys flop but looking through the history of recruits ranked this high shows that most have a high success rate.

Don’t expect the Huskies defense to be great because Shaq Thompson is on the field.  It takes 11 guys and even Shaq will have a few problems but the Huskies are a lot better with Thompson than they are without him.  Keep your expectations reasonable but be excited, especially when you read those pre-season magazines.

Thanks for reading,

Andrew

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by | June 16, 2012 · 7:20 pm

Some Random News

The Mariners are winning 2-0 right now, but they’ve done little else lately to make me want to write about them, at least at the big league level.  So, here’s a post about a whole bunch of other stuff!  By the way, did anyone make it to the Sonics rally?  None of us could make it, and I’m really regretting it.  It sounds like it was incredible.  If you were there, please put your thoughts in the comments.  Would love to hear a first hand account.  On to the news!

Mariners Draft

The Mariners have signed the majority of the draft picks they are likely to sign.  Of their top 11 picks, only two are unsigned.  One is Mike Zunino, the third pick overall.  He’s currently playing in the college world series and will likely sign immediately after it’s finished.  The other is 8th round 1B Nick Halamandaris (I think I spelled that right).  He’s likely to not sign and go to college at this point.

If you read any of our posts or any thing else about the draft, you’ve probably heard about the new bonus pools to which teams have to adhere.  Simply, each pick through round ten has a value attached to it, and teams have the sum total of their pick values to spread around to those guys.  This led to some strategic drafting, with some teams taking guys they knew they could sign for cheap who aren’t as talented, so that they would have more money for other guys.  The Mariners went the opposite way and took a lot of the better players that other teams were passing on.  Right now, the Mariners are also way over their budget right now.  That should be rectified when Zunino signs, because it’s expected he’ll sign for quite a bit under slot value.

It’s been interesting to watch their signing and draft strategy, but it’s not really important that you know any of that if you don’t care.  All that’s important is that the Mariners don’t spend more than 5% over their bonus pool, because then they start losing picks.  I would be absolutely shocked if they do that.  If you hear anyone panicking about this, just disregard them and realize that the Mariners know what they’re doing.  They can’t play baseball, but they can definitely handle a budget!

By the way, lots of the draft picks are playing in Everett, if you’re in the area.  Zunino should be higher up, depending on when he signs, but the Aquasox have an interesting roster this year.

The Minors

I’ll keep this short, but Danny Hultzen is essentially the most dominating pitcher for his level in all of organized baseball at the moment.  The other day he struggled a bit and still threw a shutout.  He’s starting his league all-star game and will likely go to Tacoma, if not Seattle, immediately after.  Nick Franklin is also having a pretty ridiculous year and could be at shortstop in Tacoma before long.  Taijuan Walker and James Paxton, the rest of the Big Three, are struggling and injured respectively, but it’s nothing to be too concerned about.  Not a lot of other pressing news at the moment.

Husky Recruiting

Husky football received a huge commitment today from Cali WR Darrell Daniels.  He’s 6’3″ 210 and the best WR on the west coast, according to Scout.com.  They have him as the 5th best WR in the country and 35th player overall, and he’ll be a 5-star guy when they update their rankings.  This is a huge pickup.  He’s similar to Kasen in size and prestige, but looks a little faster on his tape.  It’s a long way to signing day, but if Sark can hang onto him, he should be an immediate contributor in 2013.

Daniels was visiting this weekend with a few other top prospects, including DE Joe Mathis.  I’ve seen speculation that they could have another commitment or two before long, so we’ll keep you posted.  The Huskies now have 8 commits, and it’s shaping up to be one of their best classes in a while.  They added a 4-star QB, Troy Williams, last week, who is often compared to Keith Price, but more advanced coming out of high school.  Half of the group is from in-state, which is good, although the top two uncommitted guys, LBs Myles Jack and Danny Mattingly, from Bellevue and Spokane respectively, could be tough to land.  Still, the Huskies are in on a lot of big time guys from California as well and shouldn’t have any problem filling what’s expected to be a smaller class with elite talent.

-Matthew

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by | February 3, 2012 · 4:10 pm

Reviewing the 2012 Recruiting Class – Quarterbacks

As you know, if you’ve follow this blog or sports in general, yesterday was National Signing Day in college football.  I tried to keep up with the news all day with a live signing day thread but I didn’t go into much depth on reviewing any of the players.  That’s  because I’m going to review the players in their own separate posts.  We’ll start with quarterbacks today and as the days pass, I’ll make my way down the list of positions.  Some posts will be longer than other because of the amount of players, obviously.  I get most of my information from what the recruiting web sites say, watching video and hearing what Sark said about them.  With that being said, I’ll try to throw in some of my own opinion into the review and what it will mean to the Huskies.  I’ll give each position a review in terms of recruiting, although don’t take them too seriously.

Matthew has been reviewing the players that are already on the Huskies, by position (the latest one being wide receivers).  I won’t include any thoughts on those players aside from general comments.  This will strictly be about the incoming players who signed yesterday, but if you have any questions about the Huskies leave them in the comments and we’ll get to them.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, your newly signed Washington Husky quarterbacks:

  • Jeff Lindquist:  Lindquist is a kid from Mercer Island High School.  I’ve been to a few football games there in the past two years and was shocked at how few of players they had on their team.  They are a 3A school but only have 30-40 people on their team.  Lindquist turned them from a the bottom of the conference team to one who competed in a very tough league.  Jeff has a very strong-arm with good touch, from what I’ve seen.  He’s a big kid, 6-3, 230 lbs., and reminds some of Jake Locker.  He’s not as fast as Montlake Jake but is a much more polished passer at this phase in his career.  He did a lot of read-option stuff in the games I saw him in, along with some pro-style offense.  He’s rated as a 4-star prospect by most quarterback services and went to the elite 11 camp (a camp for, what are considered the best quarterback prospects in the nation).  Lindquist committed to U-Dub way back in April, as he was deciding between the Huskies and Stanford.  He has some pretty good stats from high school (as do all of these prospects).  Jeff was 141-255 passing this year for 1,908 yards and 22 touchdowns.  He also added 826 yards and 12 more touchdowns on the ground.  I’ve met Jeff once and know many people who are friends with him over on Mercer Island.  They all speak volumes about his character and how he’s a great person.  Coach Sark said the same thing in his press conference on Wednesday.  Lindquist is one of the top prospects in this class, but people seem to have forgotten how big it is that this guy has signed since he committed a long time ago.
  • Cyler Miles:  Miles will come from Denver, Colorado and is another top quarterback prospect.  He’s a little bit smaller than Lindquist but not much at 6-2, 220 lbs.  Miles, like Lindquist, committed back in the spring but his recruitment was a little more interesting.  After Doug Nussmeier left for Alabama, Miles considered going to USC.  He reaffirmed his commitment once and then on signing day he went silent.  He again considered USC and then finally decided on U-Dub.  Maybe he was just making fun of Jordan Payton, “You committed to 4 different schools?  Well, I’m going to commit to the same school 4 times!  Haha!”  If Miles doesn’t end up doing anything U-Dub I will associate him with keeping me up on signing day when I could have been taking my nap.  Fortunately, I don’t think that will happen because he’s pretty darn good.  Miles is considered to be another top-15 quarterback in the nation.  He’s rated as a 4-star recruit by most recruiting services.  If you’re wondering, he’s rated higher than Lindquist on some sites but lower on others (more on that later).  Miles has a bit of a strange release but I would expect that to be taken care of when he steps on campus.  He’s a very fast runner, he’ll probably be our fastest quarterback when he steps on campus.  I don’t know exactly what kind of offense he ran in high school, but it’s said that he’s taken a lot of snaps under center, so I’m guessing it was a sort of pro-style offense.  I’ve heard several times that he’s Keith Price-like in that he always keeps his eyes down-field while being elusive.  He played in the Army All-American game and did quite well, passing and rushing for a touchdown.  Miles is another one of this classes jewels and it’s a very good thing that we kept him.

Overall Grade – A

If I gave out A+ grades I’d give this position one.  I don’t give out them because A+’s are for kids who are always trying to 1-up each other and that’s annoying.  Take a break and watch a movie or go play catch, kids!  Anyway, it’s rare for a team to take 2 top-15 (maybe even higher) quarterbacks in one class.  They’ll immediately compete for a backup job against Derrick Brown and I wouldn’t be surprised to see one of them not redshirt.  I have no idea who’s better at this point.  I like Lindquist a little more right now, but that’s only because I’ve seen him play more.  They both have a lot of potential and it will be fun to watch.  I don’t know what will happen with them, especially if Max Browne from Skyline picks UW next year (although it sounds unlikely at this point).  But, it’s nice to have quarterback depth and both of these kids could be very special.

More reviews on the positions later!

Andrew

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by | February 1, 2012 · 7:02 am

Live Signing Day Thread

Notes From the Press Conference:

  • The only early player who will be here for spring ball is linebacker (who could play running back) Ryan McDaniel.
  • Kalei Auelua may greyshirt so all of the bloggers and writers can have an extra year to learn how to spell his name.  Actually he might greyshirt because of a knee injury.  (A greyshirt means that he would sit out this season and enroll for winter quarter next year).  Everyone else will enroll in the summer.
  • Sark discussed fans contacting recruits via social media.  In a nutshell, he said that he was against it.  That’s not very surprising and I think most coaches would take that stance.  The sad thing is that not everyone takes that stance.

Sark broke down every player that committed and it was very interesting.  You can rewatch it at GoHuskies.com or read about it on Condotta’s blog (although he hasn’t added much from the press conference yet, he will soon).  For now, I’m going to call it quits on here and take a nap.  I’ve heard sitting on a laptop from 6:30 AM – 3:30 PM isn’t exactly healthy!  Leave any questions in the comments and I’ll get to them soon.  If there’s anymore news I’ll get to it.  Thanks for following along!  It’s been fun.  Go Dawgs!

More On Beaver – Beaver is 6-0, 176 lbs.  He’ll play cornerback for the huskies.  What an amazing last 48 hours it’s been for the future of the U-Dub secondary.  Here’s some video.

Brandon Beaver Commits! – Sorry I was out to lunch… I should have known better.  Anyway, Sark announced at his press conference that Brandon Beaver is a Dawg.  Another great get by Sark and company.  I know we lost Payton, but this was a great day for the Huskies.  It seems to be all over now and Sark more or less confirmed that in his press conference.  I’ll have a few notes from his press conference in a bit.

Miles Video – Here’s a video of Miles.  Glad he’s a Dawg!

Cyler is a Husky – Right as I pushed update, Miles announced that he is still going to attend and play at the university of Washington.  So, the Huskies keep both of their 4-star quarterbacks and only lose one player today, Jordan Payton.  Overall, a great day.  I think there will be another two or three commits before it’s all said and done.

Still Waiting On Cyler – As of 1:26, we’re still waiting on a Cyler Miles decision.  No one seems to know what’s going on right now.  People are speculating that USC is close to running out of room in their class but I don’t think it’s an issue.  We should know any minute what his decision is.  Also, there’s a rumor that the Huskies might be in play for cornerback Alphonso Marsh.

Shaq Thompson On KJR at 12:20 – Tune into Softy’s show at 12:20 to hear the bright, new star for the Huskies.

Announcement Times – Cyler Miles will announce around 1.  Goforth will announce around 2.  Brandon Beaver will announce around 3:15.  Stay tuned for those.

That Could Be It – It’s possible the Huskies will receive more letters (the most likely are Cyler Miles, Goforth and Beaver) but that might be it. It’s been a pretty successful day and the Huskies have gained more than they’ve lost.  If Miles goes elsewhere, we may have to reevaluate that but as of now, it was a good day!  Things might slow down here for a little bit.  If any news breaks, we’ll let you know.

Jaydon Mickens’ Letter Arrives – There’s only so many ways to say a letter of intent has come.  Anyway, Mickens is a receiver who committed last night.  He’s 5-11, 175 lbs. and is known for his speed.  Here’s video.

Kalei Auelua Officially In – Auelua is a defensive end who’s 6-1, 233 lbs.  The Dawgman guys were just talking about him and said he has great speed for a defensive end.  Here’s the video.

Breakdown by Position – Over the weekend I’ll go in depth on the prospects at the positions.  For now, here’s the numbers (of course, there’s a few more guys that will probably join soon).

QB – 1 or 2 (Depending on Miles)

RB – 2 (including fullback, Wooching)

WR – 3 (including Mickens)

TE – 0

OL – 5 (6 if you include preffered walk-on)

DT – 2

DE – 2

LB – 3

DB – 2 (3 if we get Beaver)

S – 1

P/K – 2

Breakdown by State – Here’s the breakdown of players who have signed by state

California – 13 (Jaydon Mickens would be the 14th)

Washington – 5

Hawaii – 2 (But another one should be coming anytime with Aeulua bringing the total to 3)

Arizona – 1

Cyler Miles is from Colorado if he picks UW over USC.

Another Blog to Follow – Ted Miller’s ESPN Pac-12 blog is a great blog to follow if you want to know what’s going on around the conference.  You can find it here.

Brandon Beaver- Beaver is also one to watch, as he’s thought to be a UW lean.  Although he seems to not have any idea based on his twitter account.

Three Guys Left – With the announcement that Jordan Payton is going to UCLA, there are 3 guys on UW’s commit list who haven’t got their letters in yet.  They are Cyler Miles, Jaydon Mickens and Kalei Auelua.  Of course, there are rumors going on with Miles.  I don’t know what the deal is with Mickens but I haven’t heard any rumors of him going elsewhere.  Auelua lives in Hawaii and should be in shortly.

Softy on KJR – Softy is on KJR now with some recruiting experts and Dick Baird.  They have a lot more information than what was happening earlier on that radio station so listen along if you can.

Payton officially to UCLA – In one of the stranger things I’ve seen, Jordan Payton committed to U-Dub on national TV yesterday but has now changed his mind and is going to UCLA according to his high school AD.  This is a bummer, and the kid clearly doesn’t know what he wants.

Psalm Wooching, Best Name Nominee – This is my favorite name in the class.  Psalm Wooching is a 6-3, 217 pound fullback.  He’s a Hawaiian.  GoHuskies reports that he can also Fire Dance.  And here’s some real video.

Who’s All In?  If you’re just catching up, this is a list of guys who have got their letters in:

Kendyl Taylor
Darien Washington
Pio Vatuvei
Shaq Thompson
Nathan Dean
Taylor Hindy
Blake Rodgers
Dwayne Washington
Erich Wilson
Jake Eldrenkamp
Damion Turpin
Jeff Lindquist
Cory English
Ryan McDaniel
Cory Littleton
Korey Durkee
Shane Brostek

And add Cleveland Wallace to that, so it brings the number to 20.  I have video of most of the guys posted below, so feel free to scroll through.

Cleveland Wallace is Official! – Surprise number 3!  A DB from California, Wallace comes to UW because of the hiring of Keith Heyward.  He’s 5-11, 165 lbs.  Great pickup for the Dawgs.  Here’s some video.

Slowing Down a Bit – It seems that the letters are slowing down some.  There are a few rumors flying around that we have covered (Miles, Payton, and Wallace) but nothing new on those.  It’s been about 2 hours since the letters started getting reported.

Brostek Video –  I didn’t post this earlier with his name so here is some video of Shane Brostek.

Rumor:  Cleveland Wallace to UW – Oregon State verbal commit, Cleveland Wallace, sounds as if he’s decided on UW.  There hasn’t been a letter received but several sources say that’s where he’s headed.

Cozens to Arizona – One of the last guys the Huskies were in on, Dylan Cozens, has committed to Arizona.  This isn’t a big surprise but it would have been nice to get the defensive end.

Shane Brostek Is In –  Shane is the 19th guy who has a letter in.  I’m excited about this guy.  He’s a 6-3, 300 lb offensive lineman from Hawaii.  His dad was a Husky and he kept his recruiting quiet.  It’s thought he would be ranked higher by scouts if he had attended more camps.

Cyler Miles Will Decide at 1 P.M. – Multiple sources have confirmed that Cyler Miles will announce whether he’s going to UW or USC today at 1 P.M.

Josh Banks – Josh Banks is a defensive tackle from California.  He’s 6-3, 274 lbs. He was at a JC in California for 2 years.

Korey Durkee Punts His LOI In – Durkee is a punter from Gig Harbor and no, he didn’t punt his letter in.  Wouldn’t that be cool though?  He’s a big guy, 6-3, 215 lbs.  We’ve got some big special teams guys!

Jordan Payton Is Wavering – Sounds like UCLA might steal the coveted receiver away from the Huskies.  That’s 2 4-star commits that we’ll have to keep an eye on as the day continues.  Things are getting pretty interesting.

Cory Littleton Is In – With the 16th letter, Littleton comes to UW as a linebacker from California.  He’s 6-4, 218 lbs.

The Class is Shaping Up –  Just from writing this, I’ve become amazed at how solid this class is all of a sudden.  It’s happened in the last 3 days, but the class has really come together with linemen and play-makers.  If we can add some DB’s (mostly just Brandon Beaver) I’ll feel great about this.  Good  depth just about everywhere that it was needed.

Ryan McDaniel – With the 15th letter, McDaniel is a linebacker out of California.  He’s 6-0, 225 lbs.  Here’s his video.  McDaniel is one of my favorite under the radar guys in this class.

Adding Some English to the Kick! – And now the headlines are going down hill.  Cory English is now in as the 14th letter.  He’s a 6-3, 284 lbs. offensive lineman from Auburn.  I don’t see many video on English unfortunately.

Kicking Has Arrived! – Travis Coons, who was ranked as the top JC kicker by several services, now has his letter in. He’s big for a kicker, 6-2, 205 lbs.  I don’t think you want to watch video of a kicker.  If you do, you’re really cool or really lame.  I haven’t decided which yet.

Where We’re At – It’s a few minutes after 9 AM and the Huskies have 12 letters in, with more rolling in every minute.  12 is probably close to half the amount the Huskies will end up with.  We’ve had 2 surprised in Pio and Lindy.  Pio is one to be really excited about and Lindy seems to be a backup plan to Banner.

Jeff Lindquist With Number 12 – Lindquist, the big name quarterback from Washington has his letter in now.  He’s one to be excited about.  He’s 6-3, 215 lbs. and has a cannon.  Here’s some video.

Damion Turpin is In- That rhymed!  Turpin is a defensive tackle from California.  He’s 6-5, 265 lbs. so clearly he has a bit of weight to gain.  Welcome to the Dawgpack Damion!  Here’s some video.

Jake Eldrenkamp – The offensive lineman from Bellevue is in as number 10 and the third offensive lineman.  He’s 6-5 and 295 lbs.  Here’s some video.  Love the big guy.

Erich Wilson is In, Number 9 – Erich Wilson is 6-1, 190 lbs.  He will either play running back or linebacker and we’ll probably find that out during Sark’s conference.  He came from the same high school as Tom Brady and Barry Bonds.  If he plays like a mix of those two then he’ll be on steroids and really annoying.  I think I’ll like him a lot more than those two though. 

Here’s Some extra Info on Lindy – The relatively unknown Lindy, is definitely a sleeper.  I don’t mean he likes to sleep (although he might), I mean the coaches are rolling the dice on him.

Dwayne Washington In The Fold – This brings the number of letters to 8 and the number of players named Washington to 2.  He’s a 6-2, 210 lbs and a receiver out of California.  Here’s his video.

Cyler Miles Uncertainty – Sounds as if no one knows what Cyler is doing.  Hopefully we’ll know something soon.

Blake Rodgers, #7 – Blake Rodgers, 6-2, 215 lbs., a middle linebacker from California is in.  Here’s his tape.

Letter #6, Taylor Hindy! Surprise? – This seems to be a surprise? I don’t know much about him but he’s an added offensive line commit. He’s a big boy, 6-5 and 295 lbs.  Here’s his tape and I’ll try to add some information about him as we go.  He will bring the number of offensive linemen to 5 (6 if you count the walk-on).  Good news there.

Nathan Dean Is In – Nathan Dean, an offensive lineman from Juanita High School in Kirkland, is now in.  He’s 6-7, 274 lbs. and here’s some video.

Virtual Highlights- GoHuskies.com has some weird virtual highlight thing going on in their website.  It’s a bit strange but kind of cool too.  Check it out there if you’d like to.

Shaq Thompson Officially In – We’re up to number 4 now and it’s Shaq Thompson, which is awesome.  Here’s some video of Shaq, who clearly has some good film.

Jeff Lindquist on KJR – The Husky quarterback commit from Mercer Island is on KJR with Mitch right now.

Surprise! Pio Vatuvei! – The first surprise of the day is Pio Vatuvei.  He has committed to U-Dub after formerly being committed to USC.  He’s a defensive end out of California who is 6-3, 272 lbs.  Great get and way to start, here’s his video.

Cyler Miles may be Rethinking- The highly rated quarterback commit for the University of Washington may be rethinking his commitment to the Huskies.  Obviously, that’s not great news but we’ll see what happens.

Pretty Awesome Video – Here’s a pretty cool video of Darien Washington laying out some guy.

Darien Washington Next – Darien Washington (6-1), a receiver out of California, is now officially a Husky.  He’s listed as a CB by scout but it looks like GoHuskies may have him a receiver, which would come from Sark.

Kendryl Taylor is the First One in – Washington has just announced that Kendryl Taylor (5-10, 196 lbs.), a receiver from Arizona, has got his letter in.  Here’s some video on him.

Shaq Thompson’s LOI is Signed – According to Joe Davidson on twitter, Shaq Thompson has signed his LOI and it will arrive a U-Dub shortly.  That is good news because we won’t have to worry about him flipping to Oregon or anything like that.  This is at 7:58 AM.

Press Conference at 2 – Sark’s press conference is at 2 P.M. today.  I don’t think I passed that along until now.  I’m not sure where it will be streamed but I would guess GoHuskies will have it.

From the GoHuskies Live Chat –  “Folks, still waiting to hear official confirmation on the LOIs. Just need to make sure all the T’s are crossed and the I’s are dotted.”

Dumb Debates – One of the best parts of signing day ending will be the end of all the dumb debates about whether schools should stop talking to a recruit after they verbally commit.  It doesn’t matter.  It’s not going to happen unless there is an early signing period and only the NCAA will allow it to happen if they want it to happen.  ‘Stealing’ recruits has been happening for longer than any of know.

Also, KJR needs to stop comparing Shaq Thompson to Terrance Jones.  Completely different situation and there is not really a comparison in the way they changed their minds.

Michael Rector to Stanford – Rector had been a UW commit has decided to sign with Stanford.  He was thought to be leaning that way after getting accepted earlier this week.  This doesn’t come as much of a surprise, and due to the slew of wide receiver commits in the last 2 days, it seems as if the Husky coaches may have known.  It’s a loss, but not a huge one.

Where UW Ranks – As of right now (7:38) the Huskies rank 4th in the Pac-12 and 21st in the nation with their recruiting class on Scout.  Of course, these rankings don’t exactly matter but, you’d rather have a highly rated class than not.

Pac-12 Top Classes – Scout and ESPN have Oregon as the number one ranked class in the Pac-12, as Oregon has made an early push this morning.  Rivals has USC as number one in the Pac-12.

Number One Ranked Classes –  For those who are curious, Alabama is ranked as having the number one class by ESPN and Rivals.  Scout Recruiting has Texas as number one in the nation.

Live Chat – At gohuskies they have a live chat going on.  As far as I can tell that will be the first way to hear about a letter coming in.  As of right now, 7:27, there are no letters in.

Why Shaq picked us – Condotta linked this article a few minutes ago, and I found it pretty interesting so I will do the same.  Although, if you’re following this blog without following his I’d suggest changing that quickly.  Anyway, here is what Shaq said about why he chose UW. (Shaq Thompson is the highest rated recruit U-Dub and the number 1 ranked safety in the nation).

ESPN3 – ESPNU (which you can find on ESPN3) is also streaming live coverage of prospects announcing.  I’m not sure if any UW prospects will announce on there but it’s still fun to follow.

7:11 – It’s 7:11 and we’re waiting as far as I can tell.  7-11 and a doughnut doesn’t sound too bad.  Then again, it doesn’t sound too good either.

No Fax Cam – Unfortunately, Gohuskies.com has done away with the fax cam.  This camera strictly just was set on the fax machine at UW and showed any letters coming in.  It was quite boring.  But, it’s the end of an era and it’s all over.  Goodbye fax cam, we’ll miss you.

No recruits in different time zones – Letters can be signed at 7 AM by players, so some schools have had letters come in already (Trey Griffey, the son of Ken Griffey Jr. has had his letter come into Arizona at 5 AM this morning) but the Huskies all have players in the pacific time zone (aside from a few in the mountain time zone) who are deciding.  So, anytime some will trickle in.

The Day Is Here – Good morning all and Happy National Signing Day!  The letters of intent are just a few minutes away from rolling into the University of Washington, and we’ll soon know who will be the incoming freshmen of 2012.  I’ll cover today by putting all new information at the top of this post as everything happens.  As we’re about to start, here’s a list of links to some of the blogs and information that’s worth following.

Here’s the Good Guys Recruiting Thread from the last couple of days, if you need to catch up.

Gohuskies has a ‘Signing Day Central’ feature on their website.

Bob Condotta’s (Seattle Times) Husky Football Blog

Ryan Divish’ (News Tribune) Husky Insider

I’m not sure if they’re doing anything specific, but UW Dawg Pound is a nice blog to follow.

The recruiting services, Dawgman and Realdawg will have information as well.

There you go, and we’re off!

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by | January 29, 2012 · 9:05 pm

UW Recruiting Thread

Update 1/31 10:25 P.M.  Matthew recapped the day pretty well below.  I’d recommend reading that because I won’t be analyzing any of these guys tonight (that will probably happen this weekend after they actually sign their letters of intent).  Needless to say, this was an amazing day.  The three weeks prior to this are the reason I hate recruiting.  There’s too much drama and too many fans up in anger about players they’ve never seen play, never researched, and don’t take the time to scout.  But, today was just simply fun.  We don’t know what Shaq, Payton, Brostek, or Mickens will do in the next 3, 4 or 5 years at U-Dub, but from reading scouting reports and watching plenty of tape there’s quite a bit to be excited about.

So, what will come in the morning?  A Good Guys running blog of signing day!  That’s what!  Oh, you were talking about the Huskies?  Well, the Dawgs sit at either 22 or 23 verbal commits.  The ‘or’ is because of Michael Rector, who is a receiver from Tacoma.  He had committed to the Dawgs but was accepted into Stanford and many think he will jump to them.  I believe UW will add 3-5 more guys tomorrow but I don’t know who they are.  Here’s some news on guys that will decide tomorrow and leftovers from a very eventful day:

Kenny Walker, who tripped to UW last weekend, has verbally committed to UCLA.  It sounds like he was offered as a receiver and his scholarship may have been pulled after Mickens and Payton committed today.

There is a rumor that there’s another big surprise commit tomorrow morning.  I think that it’s nothing more than a rumor, but at this rate anything is possible.

I think Brandon Beaver is a UW lean but no one knows for sure.  He may be the biggest name left out there that the Dawgs are in on.

Cleveland Wallace is also deciding between OSU and UW, but I think he is an OSU lean.  Both Wallace and Beaver are DB’s.

Devian Shelton, who seemed to have a little interest in UW, was offered by USC today and it sounds like he’ll be going there.

Dylan Cozens will be deciding tomorrow between UW and Arizona.  I don’t have much of a read on this one.  Matthew thought that earlier this week the Dawgs were a leader but I have no idea.

Pio Vatuvei was a former USC commit but has looked at the Huskies.  We won’t know until the morning on him either, but I don’t hear or read many rumors of him being a Dawg.

That’s some of what we have to look forward to tomorrow.  It should be a fun morning and I’ll try to keep the pace with the LOI that will be coming in.  I’ll be on here starting at about 6:45 tomorrow as I camp out here in Maple Valley.  Yes, I do proclaim tomorrow a holiday.  I suggest you should to.  That’s all for now.

-Andrew

Update 1/31 8:40 P.M. I wish we could have had some more updates throughout the day, but Andrew and I were almost as busy as I’m sure the Husky coaches and recruits were today.  And what a day it was.  The Shaq Thompson news broke last night, but if you throw him in with the other three commits today, that accounts for probably 4 of our 6 top recruits in this class so far.  I could talk about Shaq all day, but I’ll save that until he actually signs.  For now, here are the other three new Dawgs:

  • Jordan Payton is a receiver from the L.A. area who committed this afternoon on ESPNU.  He’s ranked the 15th WR in the country and sounds an awful lot like Jermaine Kearse: 6’2″, 205, good body control and leaping ability, not quite elite speed.  He’s said to have good hands, so hopefully those carry over to college and he doesn’t have Kearse’s drops problem.  Payton was a USC and Cal recruit previously who says UW felt like the place he was supposed to be.
  • Shane Brostek, the Hawaiian Bigfoot, as I saw him called today because of his lack of communication with the media, committed shortly after Payton.  His dad, Bern, was a Husky lineman.  Brostek is rated at 2 or 3 stars, but that’s probably partly due to lack of exposure.  They played his recruiting process as close to the vest as any I’ve ever seen.  I can’t vouch for this personally, but some people will tell you he’s a legitimate 5 star talent if he had gone to camps and stuff like most recruits.  Either way, Brostek’s a big boy with a lot of power and a reported nasty streak.  I’ve heard that he’s likely to start at center, but I wouldn’t be surprised by guard or defensive tackle either.  I’m excited about this one.
  • Jaydon Mickens, another wide receiver, just committed a few minutes ago.  He’s only 5’9″, but he’s quick and elusive.  Plan on seeing him in the slot and on end arounds and especially in the return game.  He’s another four star who had a big showing in a recent all-star game.  He should be a fun guy to watch.  We haven’t had a receiver who really makes people miss in a while.  Maybe I’m off, but I’m thinking in the mold of De’Anthony Thomas, although nowhere near as incredible.

As Andrew Tweeted a bit ago, this might be the best 24 hours of recruiting the Huskies have ever had.  I doubt they’ve ever had 4 players of this caliber commit in a day, anyway.  They’ve brought the UW class from about 45th in the country to the top 20.  That doesn’t mean a lot in the long run, but it gives you a good idea of their talent.  I’m betting Andrew will post his thoughts when he gets home in a bit, but if not, he’ll have a running blog up by around 7:00 tomorrow morning.  Go Dawgs!

-Matthew

Update 1/30 10:30 P.M.  SHAQ THOMPSON COMMITS TO U-DUB.  An absolutely huge get for the Dawgs tonight and seemingly out of nowhere.  I’m waiting for this all to be fake because of everything that’s happened lately on twitter, but this seems real since Sark just woofed.  I won’t be able to write anything very well right now because I’m too excited, but Shaq is rated as the top safety in the country.  He should get a chance to play right away.  This might be the biggest commit Sark has gotten since coming here.  I won’t completely believe this until his letter of intent arrives on Wednesday, but this seems real.

I’ll have more on him in the next couple of day, but this is huge.  It seems like this could be the start of some momentum to close this class.  Good night Dawg fans, today ended quite well. (I’ll be back on if anything else breaks tonight, but keep checking this thread tomorrow.)

Update 1/30 4:30 P.M.:  I’m about 2 hours late on this but, if you haven’t heard, Zach Banner has picked USC which is close to what everyone expected.  It really is unfortunate but we wish him well and it seems like he’ll have a good amount of success as a Trojan.

As Matthew mentioned in the comments, it sounds as if U-Dub has a chance with receiver, Jaydon Mickens.  In fact, it sounds like a good shot.

One more update is that Jordan Payton will announce his choice of school tomorrow at 1:30 on ESPNU.  Lets hope that the Huskies can land a few of these big names and finish in the middle of the Pac-12 recruiting rankings.

Update: 1/30 9:30 A.M.: Hi ho, Andrew here!  Happy Signing week.  I just have a few quick things to add to this recruiting thread, and I imagine we’ll be back on here at around 3 p.m. or so.

First off, I’d like to announce that we’ll have a live signing day thread starting Wednesday at about 7 AM.  We hope that you’ll follow along all day.  If you’d like to, add questions in the comments of that post (or this one) and we’ll try to answer them, preferably about recruits but anything about Seattle sports is fine with us.  You can also send us questions on our facebook page or twitter accounts.  I hope you’ll follow on what looks to be a very interesting day.

As Matthew mentioned last night (see below), Zach Banner, the last recruit in Washington who’s uncommitted and has an offer from UW, will announce his decision today at 2:30.  He’s a five-star recruit and would give this class a significant boost.  Unfortunately, it seems as if he is leaning towards USC.  I will say that most of everything that circles around right now is based on speculation and rumors.  As we learned in middle school, that’s not the most reliable source of information.  From the little I know about Zach Banner, he values family quite highly.  I think this is a big factor in his decision but I don’t know if it’ll be enough to go to UW.  He was often at Husky practices that I attended in the Spring and Fall and back then, I thought he would certainly be a Husky.  Right now, it’s not looking so good but I wouldn’t be completely surprised if he has picked to become a Dawg.

Dan always texts me and asks for a percentage or chance we have on a recruit.  Today, I think it’s around 30%.  So cross your fingers and toes Dawg fans and one of us will be back around 3 p.m. to give you the story of what happened.

-Andrew

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Signing day for recruits is three days away, with lots of news and rumors coming out all the time.  We’ll use this as a general recruiting post and update it as information comes out.

It’s currently Sunday night, and today saw the elimination of two major UW targets and a few interesting rumors.  The big news was five star lineman Arik Armstead of Sacramento announcing he would be an Oregon Duck.  I didn’t really expect UW to land the big man, but it would have been nice if he went to Cal instead of Oregon.  It’s easy to see why recruits like the Ducks right now, though, so I can’t really fault him.  We’ll see what happens if sanctions are levied and Chip Kelly leaves in the next couple of years.  Armstead seems like a good kid, and we wish him personal success and happiness with a whole lot of losses.

Also making news today was Lakes High’s Cedric Dozier.  Dozier has been committed to Cal, but has recently been looking at UW and WSU.  it was thought he’d take a trip to UW this weekend, but he stayed home and will now choose between Cal and WSU later this week.  It would have been great to have him as a Dawg, but there were a lot of variables here all along.  Originally, UW wanted him as a cornerback, but he wants to play receiver, which is why he chose Cal.  UW recently told him he could play receiver, but it’s hard to know the reason for that.  Add the fact that he hasn’t always lived in the state and has lots of family in California, and this is just one case where there was too much to get past for him to be a Dawg.  That’s the way it goes sometimes.

On a possibly more positive note, safety Shaquille Thompson reportedly took an unofficial visit to UW this weekend, possibly with receiver Jordan Payton.  Shaq is deciding between UW, Cal, Oregon and UCLA on Wednesday, and it would seem this is a good sign.  Or it might work out the opposite way.  There’s no way to predict these things.

Also, rumors are that lineman Shane Brostek told some people that he is planning to come to UW.  These are very unreliable rumors, as I read them in a comment on UW Dawgpound, and they were about third hand at that point.  Story goes that, while on a visit to U. of Hawaii this weekend, he told some other players he will be a Husky.  Who knows.  I’m really hoping he’ll be a Dawg, because he looks like a beast.

Tomorrow, Zach Banner is announcing his choice.  I’m expecting USC, but I think UW still has a good shot.  Which is a weird thing to write, because he’s already made his decision, he just hasn’t announced it yet.  If he’s picked USC or Oklahoma, the Huskies have no shot.  So I guess I’m just hoping he’s picked UW and think it’s possible.  I really know nothing.

We’ll have another update tomorrow.  Until then…

-Matthew

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