by | January 17, 2011 · 10:11 pm

Filling the Holes – Defense Line

The off-season and Spring symbolizes one thing in college football: Hope.  Hope that your team will get better or repeat the success of last year.  With the Washington football team, there’s a good amount of reason to hope.  We’re entering our 3rd year under a new coaching staff and that is when you see the argument of playing with “the old coaches players'” go out the window.  As Bob Condotta notes in a recent post, this is Sarkisian’s team now.

With that, comes getting to know a few players who will fill in where graduates left.  On defense, the Huskies lose three significant players, along with a few role players.  Here’s who they lose and who will fill the hole that has been left:

Defensive End

Who’s Gone: De’Shon Matthews
Matthews had an interesting career at UW.  He red-shirted his freshman year and showed a good amount of promise in the Spring game and Fall camp, he played sparingly his red-shirt freshman year.  In this time, because of a lack of depth at defensive tackle, Willingham decided that a 260 lb. freshman switch positions was a good idea.  It wasn’t.  From there on out, no one really heard from Matthews.  This year he played a little bit.  With injuries at defensive end, Matthews got some time towards the end of the year and got a start in the Holiday Bowl.  He played well at times, but the Dawgs have better players than him on the roster.

The New Guys:
The Huskies already have some players that have filled in at this spot.  Led by Talia Crichton, Everrette Thompson, Hau’oli Jamora (along with a few backups such as Kaleni Aldrich), most of the players you’ll see at this position next year will look familiar.  There are two guys who will make an impact who red-shirted this year, Andrew Hudson and Josh Shirley.

Hudson came to UW from California in last year’s recruiting class.  It came as a surprise that Hudson red-shirted this year.  He was thought to be the most physically ready of all incoming freshman defensive ends, but it was decided that he should red-shirt and put some weight on.  The roster lists him as only 230 lbs. but he has gotten bigger since then.  The coaches raved about him during bowl practices and said they see him making an impact next year.

Josh Shirley had a confusing road to Washington.  Shirley decided between UCLA and UW on signing day last year and Huskies fans were let down when he picked UCLA.  Then, Shirley ran into some legal trouble in his couple weeks at UCLA, was kicked off the team and immediately transferred to Washington.  Many thought he’d be a linebacker, but the coaches moved him to defensive end.  He was also thought to make an immediate impact, but that didn’t end up happening.  Shirley wasn’t big enough to play right away at defensive end so he took the year to develop.  He was raved about by the end of the year and will be a quick threat off the edge next year.  Expect him to make a big impact in the pass rush.

Defensive Tackle:

Who’s Gone:  Cameron Elisara
Elisara was another guy with an interesting career as a Husky.  He came to UW as a highly rated recruit but never really developed into that guy.  Blame it on a series of stingers that eventually ended his career a few games early.  The Huskies have already dealt with the loss of Elisara and it won’t greatly affect them because of the Alameda Ta’amu and Semisi Tokolahi combination.  I always have felt a little bad for Cameron.  It always seemed that when he would take a step forward he would suffer some nagging injury that would take him out.

The New Guys:
As I mentioned, the main guys at this position are Alameda Ta’amu and Semisi Tokolahi.  I also wouldn’t be surprised if Everrette Thompson moves back inside because of the depth at end.  There are two guys that I think will make an impact that we didn’t hear much from this year, Sione Potoae and Lawrence Lagafuiana.

Sione came to UW as the biggest defensive line commit in recent memory (think Danny Shelton this year, only more hype).  Because of a lack of depth at the position, Sione was forced into playing time.  He wasn’t dominated but he also did it make a big impact for the Dawgs.  Another year of development in the weight room and in practice could turn him into the player his potential suggests he can be.  If he can take a step forward like Tokolahi did this year, the Huskies will have their best group of defensive tackles in over a decade.

Lawrence Lagafuiana is a mammoth man.  He is only 6 feet tall but came to UW weighing about 35o lbs.  He has dropped weight since then, but still takes up a lot of room inside.  He is said to have lots of strength in his lower body, and with his weight he should be able to move people around.  He will add depth next year and will get some playing time.

I’m not including incoming freshmen in this because Matthew recently wrote a series of posts about them.  There are some intriguing commits that could be put in these positions though.  I’ll be back with linebackers and safety soon.

Thanks for reading!

Andrew

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by | January 16, 2011 · 9:20 pm

Raise The Roof

Can we put a stop to the discussion of who is the best player in the Pac-10?  I’d take Derrick Williams and Klay Thompson on my team any day, even though Thompson drives me nuts, but no player is doing more better right now than Isaiah Thomas.  He’s gone from a very good shooting guard to the best point guard in the conference, and one of the best in the nation, in what seems like the blink of an eye.

As disappointing as it was to lose Abdul Gaddy for the year, and it would certainly be nice to have him around, his injury could be the catalyst for this team to jump to another level.  With Isaiah running the point to perfection, that allows UW to add one of their rangy swingmen to the line-up, which no team in the Pac can really match.  Or they play Overton and IT together and they can wreak havoc on the perimeter and in the lane.

Following Gaddy’s injury, Thomas seemed to take it upon himself to carry the team, and he has, despite the loss to Stanford.  IT spent the day before the first game without Gaddy proclaiming on Twitter that he was going to start the movement to bring back the Raise the Roof.  That night, he got his first dunk of his college career and started the movement.  He kept it up two nights later to win his first Pac-10 player of the week award, and tonight he posted his first double-double with 27 points and 12 assists, with only 1 turnover.  If the Huskies keep rolling to the conference title and IT plays anywhere close to this level the rest of the way, I can’t see how he doesn’t win the conference player of the year award. 

Keep it up, IT.  I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have running these Huskies.

Some notes after the jump! Continue reading →

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by | January 13, 2011 · 11:48 pm

2010 Predictions Champion–Dan!

In 2010, I posted the good guys’ predictions for the Mariners and MLB season, as well as the Huskies and NCAA football season. And what good are predictions if there is no follow up? So I compiled the results. I have only included the predictions that we got correct, to spare us the humiliation. I also awarded points so as to find a winner. Of course my fellow good guys will argue that my points system strategically favors me. While there may be some truth to this, I think the fact is that I am just the best predictor, plain and simple.

I would like to point out that all 4 of us correctly predicted the AL and NL Cy young award winners, which is quite impressive. In the not so impressive category, we guessed the Mariners would finish with 94, 92, 89, and 88 wins. So we were all about 30 wins off. Also, Joe had Mike Stoops as conference coach of the year, Andrew had Stanford finishing 5-4 in the Pac-10, Matthew had Texas winning the Big-12, and I had Jacorey Harris as a Heisman finalist. You win some, you lose some.

Continue to see the results!
Continue reading →

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by | January 13, 2011 · 6:24 am

The Situation at Montlake

By now most people have heard about the serious accusations being leveled against a member of the UW’s men’s basketball team. It’s a hot button issue, and only getting hotter since last night. King 5 news had an interview with the alleged victim’s father and the UW hoops team traveled to Stanford with a full roster, meaning the player in question will play tonight verses the Cardinal. I wanted to share my thoughts on this situation because frankly I think it’s a very simple and clear problem that can be addressed easily.

First of all, until charges are filed and a name is made public, Coach Romar simply cannot suspend the player. If he were to do that he could cause irreparable harm to the man’s reputation if the accusations are false or not enough evidence is found and therefore there is no case. He’d have that stigma over his head needlessly (Duke lacrosse comes to mind, slightly different, but similar…). So at this point Romar has no choice but to take the whole team. (I have a feeling this is coming down from the AD who was contacted by Seattle police, Romar isn’t making this call all on his own).

If charges are indeed filed and a name is made public, you suspend the player indefinitely. I think at that point the player has much bigger issues to deal with than a game of basketball. Innocence or guilt don’t come into the equation in this step. It’s the right thing to do for the alleged victim, the player, the team and the university. By suspending him then, he is out of the public eye and the case is allowed to progress normally, and the team can simply move.

The fact is if the accusations are true the player should be thrown off the team for good. The accusations are repulsive and disgusting. Coach Romar is above this and should act accordingly. One player does not define a program, and Romar has built this program on trust, honestly and integrity, and idiots like this player have no place in the UW program. Additionally, we need to remember this is one player, not the whole team. I hope fans and non-fans alike realize this and don’t lump the one idiot in with the other players and coaches. That’s simply not fair.

In short, this is a very clear situation: No name, no charges? Can’t suspend or make public. Charges filed with the player identified? Suspend him for the betterment of all involved and simply move on without him.

-Joe

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by | January 10, 2011 · 12:27 pm

National Championship Poll

Bob Condotta has this same poll on his blog, so I thought I’d throw it on here.  Tonight’s championship should be a pretty entertaining game, but it contains two fairly unlikeable teams, at least in my opinion.  Usually, cheering for a team from your conference is the way to go, but usually that team isn’t Oregon. 

So, the question is, do you want to see Oregon win a national championship or not?  I’m sure not all reading this are Husky fans, but Oregon isn’t exactly widely liked throughout the rest of the northwest, or the Pac-10, for that matter.  Some positives of the Ducks winning:

  • Helps with the perception of the Pac-10, which is always good.
  • Hopefully would shut up the SEC people a bit, who might be even more annoying than Oregon fans.

Negatives:

  • It’s Oregon trying to win the national championship.

Ultimately, I don’t care too much, but for the record, I’m picking Oregon 52-41.

-Matthew

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by | January 9, 2011 · 9:33 pm

UW Recruiting- Defensive Line

On to the defense.

Defensive Tackle

Commits

Danny Shelton  6’3″ 286 lbs.  Auburn HS (WA)

Maataua Brown  6’5″ 295 lbs.  Paramount HS (WA)

Possibilities

Uriah Grant  6’1″ 285 lbs.  Fullerton JC (CA)

According to Scout, Grant is the only remaining DT with a UW offer.  They also say UW is currently in the lead to land him, so we’ll see how it plays out.  He would really complete this class.

Overview

The Huskies missed out on several elite DT recruits before landing Shelton.  He was one of the most important commits in the class, as a local guy at a position of need who was also considering Oregon, among others.  Brown is a big, good prospect, but it sounds like it’s a toss up whether he’ll have the grades to get into school.  Grant would be a good pick up if Brown doesn’t make it in, although adding JC guys is always dicy in itself.  This is a good group, if not quite what Husky fans would have liked when DTs like Viliami Moala and Todd Barr were still considering UW.

Defensive End

Commits

Taniela Tupou  6’2″ 260 lbs.  Archbishop Murphy HS (WA)

Aubrey Coleman  6’6″ 215 lbs.  Walnut HS (WA)

Connor Cree  6’4″ 220 lbs.  Skyline HS (WA)

Possibilities

UW still has a number of offers out, but none of them are overly noteworthy.  I don’t expect this group to change much before signing day.  Then again, I know pretty much nothing about it, so who knows.

Overview

This looks like a sneaky good group.  Tupou is a four star guy, Scout’s 26th DE in the nation.  He committed so long ago that he’s become something of a forgotten man to a degree.  Coleman is one of the more intriguing players in the class.  ESPN has him in the top 150 recruits in the country, but Scout’s not quite as high on him.  He sounds like a freak athlete who plays wide receiver for his high school, but his position in college is unclear.  DE seems the most likely, but he could end up at TE, WR, or even some linebacker hybrid type position.  Cree is another local boy who looks like a good athlete as well.  Once again, I don’t know much, but I’d expect this group to make some noise in a few years.

-Matthew

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by | January 8, 2011 · 7:58 pm

My Favorite Seahawk

I’ve never been a big Seahawks’ fan.  I grew up in the state of Washington and never liked a team more than the Seahawks but I had a sense of apathy when it came to watching NFL games on Sunday.  After long Autumn Saturdays, in which I’d travel with my dad and sister across Snoqualmie Pass to Seattle, watch the Huskies (probably lose), and then drive back home, I didn’t have enough in me to passionately care about the Seahawks like I do with the Huskies or the Mariners.

I would always know their record and place in the standings.  I would always cheer for them if I was watching.  Knowing these things were more a product of being an avid sports fan instead of a Seahawks’ fan though.  Of course, I was sad when the Seahawks lost the Super Bowl, but I wasn’t heart-broken like some of my fellow Good Guys.  The NFL game just didn’t draw me in like the college game, it still doesn’t, and I would often opt for a Sunday afternoon nap instead of watching a football game on the edge of my seat.

Today was different though.  I tuned into the Seahawks game this afternoon in my dorm room, expecting nothing.  Maybe the game would be competitive, maybe not, but it would be a little break from playing Assassin’s Creed.

The game started how I expected.  The Hawks looked like they were going to get manhandled.  Facing an early 10-0 deficit, Seattle made an impressive drive and there was little bit of hope.  In fact, that was the spark in what turned out to be one of the most entertaining first halves I’d seen in an NFL game.  Forget the underdog aspect, this was just a fun game.

As I made a quick Wendy’s run at halftime, I couldn’t help but think, “If Seahawks games were always like this, I would be passionate about this team.”  Still, I almost missed the Seahawks first touchdown of the second half because I was listening to Lorenzo Romar’s pre-game interview on KJR.  Needless to say, I wasn’t completely drawn in.

The second half was just as entertaining as the first though.  The Seahawks went up by 14 and the Saints came roaring back, looking like the defending Super Bowl Champs that they were.  I was stunned when the Saints were held to a field goal in the 4th quarter, when a touchdown would have tied it up.  Still, they had lots of time to win the game, which was exactly what I expected to happen.

I’m a Young Life leader at Mercer Island and a about a month ago we had the opportunity to have a meeting at the Seahawks training facility.  As if that wasn’t enough, Marshawn Lynch had agreed to speak to our high school students.

That night, I watched a man who I was taller than, speak to high schoolers about how everyone told him that he was too small.  His high school coach asked him to change positions because he was too small.  He signed a couple of months after Letter of Intent day because schools wouldn’t offer him a scholarship because of his size and lack of breakaway speed.

He spoke softly, but with the confidence of a man who had proven many people wrong.  He thanked God for getting him as far as he said he worked harder than any of his teammates.  As I saw him stand at the same height of high school freshmen, as he posed for pictures, it was easy to believe him.  That night I gained a great deal of respect for the Seahawks running back and decided I would follow him no matter where his career would take him.

That brings us back to the game.  Seattle was trying to run the clock out.  If they had gotten a first down the game would be close to over.  Lynch decided to do something even better.  On a second down play, Lynch broke 2 tackles at the line of scrimmage and then dodged one in the secondary.  Still it looked like he would be brought down, he didn’t have the breakaway speed.  Lynch broke another tackle.  As he bolted down the sideline, another Saints defender looked like he would bring him down.  But, Lynch then gave the best stiff arm I’d ever seen.  He literally threw a guy out-of-bounds with this move.  Then, there was one more guy to break through to get to the end zone.  Sure enough, he did.  Too slow?  Nope.  Too small?  Nope.

The Seahawks would hold on to win the game.  And that play was the icing on top of it.  No, Lynch wasn’t the reason Seattle won, Hasselback played out of his mind and it was a team effort.

Marshawn Lynch didn’t become one of the Seahawk greats this afternoon, but he did become my favorite Seahawk.  The announcer called his run “the greatest efforts he’d ever seen by a running back.”  In what was one of the greatest runs in Seahawk history, Lynch showed us that effort sometimes outweighs the intangibles.  In some people’s eyes, Lynch is too slow and too small to be a good running back in the NFL, but the greatest upset in NFL playoff history proves that they’re wrong.

Andrew

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by | January 8, 2011 · 7:00 pm

Seattle Sports Twilight Zone

Amazing day in Seattle sports. I’m not really sure all of this happened:

The Seahawks win despite being largest home dog in NFL Playoff history, continuing their improbable run deeper into the NFL playoffs.

Matt Hasselbeck looked like a spry 23 year old out there dropping dimes to Stokely and Williams. Hard to believe since he had his hip drained this morning.

Marshawn Lynch’s run was the greatest ever. Period.

The Huskies hang 63 on the Beavs in the second half en-route to a 31 point blowout and a 4-0 start to Pac-10 league play.

The Huskies football team land a big commit, James Sample, today during the Army All-American bowl. Things just keep getting better for Sark and the Dawgs on the recruiting trail.

I am certain something good happened to the Mariners today, I’ll back to you on that.

One day closer to the Hornets moving to Seattle.

And finally, Bennett Scansen’s first big sports day. Can’t get any better than that! (I’m eagerly awaiting your first post big guy!!).

-Joe

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