by | February 3, 2011 · 5:11 pm

Reviewing Signing Day

In case you were in a coma yesterday, National Letter of Intent Day was going on throughout college football.  I had a thread going on during the morning and early afternoon, but now that all the dust has cleared, I thought it’d be a good time to go back over what exactly happened yesterday.  In the next few weeks we’ll take a look at some of the players the Huskies signed, but for now I’ll just give you a quick rundown of what happened yesterday.

What We Lost (heading into the week there were 3 players who were committed to the Huskies that signed with someone else.  Here’s who they were and where they went):

  • Pauley Asiata – Asiata was the number one ranked prospect in Hawaii and was an interior lineman.  He was considered, by most, the best offensive lineman the Huskies were going to sign until he changed his mind.  Asiata ended up signing with Colorado yesterday.  Out of the 3 players the Huskies lost, this one probably hurt the most.
  • Stephan Nembot – Nembot spurned the Cougars to verbally commit to the Huskies a few weeks ago and then spurned the Huskies to sign with Colorado.  He’s a linemen that may play on either side of the ball (probably defense).  Nembot, originally from Cameroon, could develop into a beast of a player but is looked as more of a project right now.  Stephan seemed completely overwhelmed by the recruiting process and I actually felt somewhat bad for him, seeing how this could seem quite foreign to him.
  • Kameron Jackson – Jackson had long been committed to the Huskies but instead switched to Cal early yesterday morning.  He’s from Cal Poly High School, who has a good pipeline to the Golden Bears.  He’s a cornerback, who earned a 3-star rating from Scout.

What We Gained (Signing Day did bring us one surprise):

  • Antavius Sims – Antavius Sims seemed to come out of nowhere on signing day.  He was more of a backup plan, but his athleticism makes him an exciting prospect.  Sims put up some good stats playing quarterback at JC, but he will most likely be a corner for the Huskies.  He’s 6’2″ 205 lbs. and reportedly runs a 4.3 40.  You can generally find a spot for a person like that on your football team.

Overview:

Many people have lost excitement about this class because of the 3 players the team lost yesterday.  What those people are neglecting is the stars that signed yesterday.  The Huskies locked up the best players in the state and added some quality players from out of it.  In light of the De’Anthony Thomas drama that went down yesterday, Dawg fans should be happy with the stars we signed.  It was a good day to be a Husky fan, and yesterday went a long ways toward helping our future.

Andrew

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by | February 2, 2011 · 7:40 am

National Signing Day Thread

NEMBOT TO COLORADO — The last piece the Huskies could have potentially added was Stephan Nembot, but he picked Colorado instead.  That leaves this class at 23 guys.

NICE RECAP — This is a nice little round-up of every player that has signed so far, via gohuskies.com.

PAUL WULFF — Here’s a Paul Wulff chat with some Cougar fans earlier today.  I know it’s hard to reflect excitement through typing, but he sure doesn’t try.  This seems like the opposite of Sark.

SURPRISE! — While I was away, taking a test, the Huskies announced that they signed a JC player named Antavius Sims.  I know nothing about him other than he will either play quarterback or safety.  He will be a junior.  Here’s his bio.  As far as names go, this is about as good as it gets.  I’ve always wanted to cheer on a player named Antavius.

I’ll have more notes after I watch Sark’s press conference. (12:40)

SLOWING DOWN — The news has stopped for a while and so I’m going to slow down on the blog for a while.  Sark’s press conference is at noon, and I’ll be back with some thoughts from that this afternoon along with any news that comes out.  Go Dawgs!

NUMBERS BY POSITION UPDATE —

QB – 1
RB – 1
FB – 1
WR – 4
TE – 1
OL – 2
DL – 3
LB – 6
CB – 1
S – 2

Just a few observations on those numbers:  Obviously, the thing that jumps out at you is the number of linemen.  There’s only 5 linemen so far.  That’s a small number but this was considered a very weak class of lineman on the west coast.  Last year was far better, and the Dawgs signed 5 offensive linemen last year.  Next year is also supposed to be better.  Hopefully, Nembot commits but I wouldn’t worry too much about the numbers there.

The coaches did a good job of loading up at linebacker, where the Huskies lost the most last year.

The Huskies only lost one cornerback from last year, so only signing one there isn’t a problem.

Also, the running back position is pretty loaded, so only signing one isn’t a surprise at all.  Dezden Petty isn’t necessarily just a fullback either.  Some people envision him as a Lendale White type of guy (the USC version).

VAN ACKEREN GONE — Bellevue high senior, Kendrick Van Ackeren,  has signed with Hawaii.  I thought he’d be offered late by the Huskies with Jackson ending up at Cal but it might have been too late if that happened.

IS THIS IT? — The Huskies have received 21 LOI today (22 if you count Tutogi) and everyone who was expected to sign has.  Now, we’re waiting on Stephan Nembot and Pauley Asiata to officially announce.  The Dawgs seem to have a much better chance with Nembot than Asiata.  Anyone else who signs with the Huskies would be a surprise. (9:27)

ANNOUNCEMENT TIMES — Stephan Nembot, an offensive lineman, is set to announce whether he’s going to Colorado or UW at 2:00 today.  Because of the lack of lineman in this class, this is a pretty important player to pick up.  Jacoby Brisset, who is a long shot to pick UW, is set to pick his school on Friday.  (9:21)

BIO’S — I haven’t been linking many bio’s lately because I’m usually posting before they update.  They are on this page, just scroll down a little bit.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT…. —- In baseball news, Chris Jakubauskas has signed with the Orioles.  Bummer.  (This is a joke)

WOODWARD ON KJR — Scott Woodward, UW’s athletic director, will be on KJR in just a couple of minutes.

5 TIMES’ BLUE CHIPPERS IN — All 5 of the Seattle Times’ Washington state blue chip recruits have now signed with Washington.  Condotta reported that this is the first time that’s ever happened.  Those 5 players are ASJ, Kasen Williams, Danny Shelton, Bishop Sankey, and Taniela Tupou. (9:09)

DANNY SHELTON IN — Another highly rated guy from Washington is in and that is Danny Shelton.  The Huskies won the battle for Shelton’s services with Oregon.  He’s a defensive lineman.  (9:05)

JAMES SAMPLE IN — S James Sample is in.  He’s a highly rated S out of California.  He’s expected to compete with Taz Stevenson and Sean Parker in future years at the SS position.  That area has really become a strength of the team.  (9:00)

UP TO TWENTY — I think that puts this class at 20.  Things will probably slow down now.  There haven’t been any surprises so far, aside from Jackson to California.  Condotta is doing an interview on KJR right now.  He has pretty good insight into some things.

MARCUS PETERS IN — The first cornerback of the class has now signed, Marcus Peters.  He’s also from California.  (8:55)

FEENEY AND TUFUNGA IN — Travis Feeney who is either a safety or linebacker has just signed.  Also, Siosifa Tufunga, an OL from California, is now in.  He’s just the second offensive lineman to sign as of right now.  (8:52)

LINKS — Here’s a link to the live chat they have going on at gohuskies.com.  Here’s another link to Bob Condotta’s Husky blog.  Everyone’s reporting pretty much the same thing, but they’re probably doing a little bit better job of it than me.

LYON’S IN — Matthew Lyon’s, a linebacker out of California, has now signed with Washington.  ROAR!  (8:47)

SANKEY IN — G00d news, as Bishop Sankey has signed his LOI now.  He’s the only, true running back in this class and is one of the highest rated backs on the west coast. (8:39) Here’s his bio

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by | February 1, 2011 · 4:58 pm

Catching Up

The Good Guys’ are a little busy lately, and you may have noticed by the lack of posting.  Last week was the busiest week of my life.  Matthew is in school, observing school, about to teach school, and working all at once.  Joe is keeping up his busy life.  And Dan trumps us all by being a new father.  That should explain the lack of fresh material.  So, here’s the short end of what we missed this last week (going by teams):

Seattle Mariners: We didn’t miss much… They signed Jamey Wright, which is fine and fits in with all the other minor pieces that add depth to the roster.  They had FanFest, which is pretty cool.  Chone Figgins was about to be traded, and then he wasn’t.  Maybe the most exciting bit of news that’s coming out lately is all of the prospect lists that include Mariner prospects.  Most of the “Top 100 Prospects”  lists include 3 Mariners, and those are Dustin Ackley (second baseman), Michael Pineda (starting pitcher), and Nick Franklin (shortstop).  There are still some pretty significant lists to come out, but all of them are sure to include these 3 players.  Ackley has generally been in the top 5-20 prospects.  Pineda is usually somewhere in the top 10-30 prospects and Franklin generally comes in around 35-50.  This is something to be excited about if you’re a Mariners fan.  The depth in the organization is in a better place than it has been in years and is further proof that I think Jack Z is one of the best GM’s in the game despite the lack of results the big-league club has shown.

Spring Training starts in a couple of weeks and that will give us more meaningless news to talk about.  Yes, you read that right.

Husky Basketball: A week after a very strong showing against the Arizona Wildcats, the Huskies played their worst game of the season in losing to Wazzu on Sunday night.  It was not fun to watch, which is something we don’t say about this team very often.  They played extremely sloppy and couldn’t make a shot to save their lives in the 2nd half.  Lots of people are pretty worried about the way the team looked, I’m not.  That was the most hostile environment the Huskies will play in all year (don’t get me started on their fans), and the Cougars played the best I’ve seen them play.  Frankly, I think the dawgs just had an off-night.  I also think it’s pretty telling that the Huskies played their worst game of the year, the Cougars played one of their best and it was still only a 7-point loss.  We’ll get them back at Hec. Ed.

Husky Football: Here’s what we really missed.  Every year in college football, recruiting gets more hectic, and that has never been more telling than the last 2 weeks.  I won’t go into detail about recruits who will be signing tomorrow (because I plan to be having a live thread throughout the morning and afternoon that will be about the recruits) but there seems to be a new rumor every hour.  Today’s special rumor includes De’Anthony Thomas (who some services have as the number 1 recruit in the nation) coming to UW along with about half his team.  I’d be willing to bet a lot of money that this won’t happen, but it’s nice that the Huskies are in the center of all these rumors and shows that the program is becoming relevant again.  I have a feeling that tomorrow could yield some special surprises.  And if not, this class is still great!

By the way, tomorrow should be a national holiday.  I plan to make it a holiday for myself.  I will be running a live thread throughout the day (aside from going to one class for a test and having to stop by work for 15 minutes).  If you have any questions on recruits or anything Seattle sports related, stop by and put something in the comments.  If all goes as planned, I should be starting around 7 or 7:30 in the morning, so stop by!

Thanks for reading!

Andrew

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by | January 23, 2011 · 9:08 pm

My Plea to Sign Vladimir Guerrero

For the second year in a row, Vladimir Guerrero is un-signed in late January, and his options to be a full time DH are vanishing quicker than a Mariners lead. Recently it seemed as though the Rays or Rangers would sign Vladdy, but then Texas signed Beltre, forcing Young to DH, and the Rays signed Damon and Ramirez. The Orioles appear to have some interest, but even they are pretty set with Luke Scott at DH and Felix Pie in LF. I know the Mariners signed Jack Cust to DH, and he is a horrible defender, but there’s just something weird about Jack Cust being the reason you don’t pursue Vladimir Guerrero. The fact is the Mariners have the worst offense in baseball, and they have not done much to improve it this off season. So how do you not seriously consider Guerrero, especially if he is willing to come on a 1 year incentive laden contract?

Okay so now comes the concern about a right handed pull hitter playing at Safeco. We’ve heard this before, but Vlady is the exception. In fact, stats show that he loves Safeco. In 55 games, he has a .350 average and a 1.011 OPS. And his 13 HR at Safeco rank 2nd most for any visiting stadium in his career. What about his health? His legs are pretty much useless, and he should not play an inning in the field, but Guerrero has played at least 100 games in 13 consecutive seasons. I know he will play 2011 at age 35, but has everyone forgotten that last year he batted .300 with 29 HR and 115 RBI? Even if those numbers regress to something like 20/75, the Mariners would welcome those numbers.

Seattle missed a chance to grab Guerrero last year, and instead another AL West foe benefited. This guy is a Mariner killer, always has been. All the more reason to bring him in. Please, Jack, hear my plea.

-Dan

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by | January 21, 2011 · 5:47 pm

A Few Quick Things

A couple of news items are coming in today, two significant ones.  They don’t have anything to do with each other, aside from both being good news, in my opinion.  But, since I don’t have a ton to say about either of them and it’s a Friday night, I’ll clump them in to the same post.

  • The University of Washington announced today that Coach Sarkisian has signed a 5-year extension.  His contract now has him at U-Dub though the 2015 season.  This move wasn’t a surprise and was mainly a reward for Sark turning a no-win program to Holiday Bowl champs in two seasons.  He has received a raise.  Hopefully this is just the first of Sark’s extensions at UW.  As of right now, I think we all want him to be here for a long time.  (Side note:  This news got me thinking about the last Husky football coach to receive an extension.  Clearly Ty (although he was frightfully close at one point) and Gilby didn’t receive extensions.  Neuheisel signed an extension in 2002 that was supposed to keep him here through 2008 and had a 5-year option through 2013.  He was then fired in 2003.  That one didn’t work out.)
  • The other bit of news coming in today has to do with one of the Mariners’ rivals, the Angels.  Today they traded Mike Napoli and Juan Rivera to the Blue Jays for Vernon Wells.  As a Mariner fan, I love this deal.  Vernon Wells had a pretty good year last year but has a monster contract that he is not worth, in my opinion.  His contract has him making $86 million over the next 4 years.  The Angels off-season have had a terrible off-season, which is good news for us folks up here in Seattle.  They missed out on Carl Crawford, didn’t add any of the main pitching targets on the market, and missed out on Adrian Beltre.  Today, Vernon Wells became the highest paid player in Angel history.  I hope that sentence made you laugh.  This might also hurt the Angels next off-season when Pujols and Fielder could potentially be on the market and money will be important.  It’s still unclear if Toronto is sending any money to the Angels.

So, a happy Friday it is!  I’ll be back in a while with a recap of the Husky victory last night, that I attended.  Until then, thanks for reading!

Andrew

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by | January 21, 2011 · 12:41 pm

UW Recruiting Updates

After a quiet few weeks, UW Football recruiting has gone crazy the last two days.  Here’s a quick rundown of the developments:

The biggest news is two new commitments.  One is Marvin Hall from Dorsey HS in California.  I wrote a bit about him in my WR wrap-up, but Hall is a little guy (5’10”) who could end up at either WR or cornerback.  He’s supposedly lightning quick and is likely to make an immediate impact in the return game.  We seem to hear that every year for some player, and the Huskies have had a terrible return unit for years now, so hopefully Hall really is a difference maker there.  Either way, he’s a good guy to have and brings some different skills to the table for this class.

The other new commit was a big surprise.  That’s big in two ways, as Stephen Nembot is 6’8″ and 280 lbs.  He also was previously committed to WSU, and it’s alway fun to steal one from them, especially out of the blue like this.  He could end up on either line, but it sounds like UW coaches have told him they plan to start him at defensive tackle.  He’s a native of Cameroon and should be a fun guy to cheer for.

Other notes after the jump! Continue reading →

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by | January 20, 2011 · 6:30 pm

Matt Hasselbeck and Seattle Star Treatment

This post probably carried more weight a couple weeks ago following the Seahawks win over St. Louis, when Charlie Whitehurtst was trending well in Seattle, and Matt Hasselbeck was not. The same Charlie who completed one pass that traveled more than 10 yards. But anyways, onto my point: Matt Hasselbeck, the greatest quarterback in franchise history, seems to be a polarizing name in Seattle. Most agree he is a great guy and all, but for whatever reason, a lot of people aren’t fans of him. This is a perplexing topic and a major pet peeve of mine. I realize this sort of thing happens in other cities (i.e. Donovan McNabb), but for as few championships as Seattle has seen, you’d think Matt and the few stars we have would be well loved. Some are and some aren’t, but I am particularly curious why Matt is not unanimously loved like an Edgar Martinez or Steve Largent.

My two all time favorite athletes are Gary Payton and Matt Hasselbeck. My reasoning is simple. Twice in my lifetime have I seen a Seattle professional franchise reach the championship. In 1996, Payton (and Kemp) led the Sonics, and in 2005, Hasselbeck led the Hawks. Payton is a well liked name in Seattle, and you won’t find many fans who disliked him. But Hasselbeck, despite his 5 playoff wins, witty humor, and general likeability, still has plenty of haters.

I had multiple sports debates surrounding Matt Hasselbeck this year. Like I mentioned, he is up there with Gary Payton as my all time favorite athlete, so of course I am biased towards defending him. Even so, I couldn’t believe the amount of ignorant fans calling for Charlie Whitehurst, and booing Matt Hasselbeck this season. This guy took us to a Super Bowl. He’s played in 3 pro bowls, and he is the greatest quarterback in franchise history! I know that it’s about “what have you done for me lately,” and sports are results driven. Fans aren’t remembering 2005 when they boo Matt, I get that, and I was frustrated as any fan watching Matt committ 13 turnovers during a 4 game stretch this year. But all you need are a good pair of eyes and a 1/2 functioning brain to see that Matt still gave us the best chance to win.

This past season, Ken Griffey Jr, despite all his past greatness, reached a point where he was not helping the team. Lots of fans, including me, felt that his everyday DH role should be taken, but I didn’t hear many fans booing him or trashing him on sports radio. In this circumstance, fans treated Griffey well until the very end. I wish the same could be said for Hasselbeck and some of our other stars. I’ve seen this star treatment, or lack thereof, play out numerous times. Shaun Alexander, Ichiro, Jake Locker, and Mike Holmgren to name a few. They are all Seattle sports legends that have given this city plenty to cheer about. Alexander and Ichiro each won an MVP in Seattle. Locker committed 5 years of his life to re-build a university that he owed nothing to. Holmgren coached the Super Bowl team, and led the Seahawks to 5 division titles and 6 playoff appearances in 10 years. Fans should love players and coaches like this. They all deserve statues in my opinion. And yet, plenty of “fans” criticize these icons, even dislike them.

My point is this. If you must boo, then direct it towards Richie Sexson, TJ Houshmandzadeh, Carlos Silva, or the whole team’s performance. Trash them in the chat forums and on the radio if that’s your thing. But respect the guys who have worn Seattle on their jersey for many years, played in all star games, and taken our teams to championship games. We are on the map because of these guys, and frankly, we don’t have a lot of them, so please, embrace the few icons that we do have–guys like Matt Hasselbeck.

-Dan

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by | January 19, 2011 · 4:01 pm

The Streak

It’s not very often in sports that you feel invincible.  If you’re a big enough sports fan, you probably follow multiple teams.  And unless you’re from New England, those teams don’t usually all do well at the same time.

But, for a few weeks, us fans here in Seattle got to feel invincible and it came against pretty high odds.  Up until last Thursday (when the Huskies lost at Stanford) the Husky football and basketball teams, along with the Seahawks, didn’t lose a game from December 26th to January 13th.

  • The Seahawks lost badly to Tampa Bay on December 26th.  It was ugly and there wasn’t much reason to hope their season would last another 3 weeks.  It did.  The Seahawks would beat the Rams the next week and then beat what seemed to be insurmountable odds the next week against the Saints.  Yes, they lost last Sunday.  But, no one thought it would last that long.
  • The Huskies football team only played one game during this stretch but it was a game for the ages.  Facing a team that they’d already lost to by 35 points this season, they dominated the Nebraska Cornhuskers in an old-school defensive performance.  Actually, the Husky football team hasn’t lost since the 6th of November.
  • The Huskies basketball team hadn’t lost a game in over a month.  Since losing to Texas A&M on December 11th, the Huskies went on to win 6 in a row, including two tough games against USC and UCLA.  That ended against Stanford on last Thursday but they quickly got back on track on Sunday against Cal.

18 days.  For 18 days everything went right for a sports town that many have called the worst in the country.  Now, in the midst of a Milton Bradley arrest, a UW basketball police investigation, and an off-season of uncertainty for the Seahawks, things appear to be headed back to normal.

Then again, maybe not.  Maybe it’ll be good for the Mariners to rid themselves of Bradley.  Maybe the police investigation will blow over and maybe the Seahawks will improve just like they did last off-season.

Seattle has gotten a bad sports reputation for the better part of this decade and will always be an afterthought in places like New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles.  But, in those 18 days we were better than everyone.  Things are looking up and there’s hope that maybe it’ll last for more than 18 days in the future.

Thanks for reading,

Andrew

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