Tag Archives: California Golden Bears

by Matthew | 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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Filed under Huskies Football, UW Football Recruiting

Tagged as Arik Armstead, Brandon Beaver, California Golden Bears, Cedric Dozier, Chip Kelly, Cleveland Wallace, Devian Shelton, Dylan Cozens, Jaydon Mickens, Jaydon Mickens announcement, Jordan Payton, Jordan Payton announcement, Kenny Walker, Oregon Ducks, Pio Vatuvei, Shane Brostek, Shaq Thompson commits, Shaq Thompson to UW, Shaquille Thompson, Signing day coverage Washington, UW football, UW football recruiting, UW recruiting thread, Zach Banner, Zach Banner announcement, Zach Banner USC

by Matthew | September 23, 2011 · 10:46 pm

UW vs. California Predictions

Let me take you inside the absolutely fascinating inner workings of Good Guy Prediction posts. I (being Matthew) send Danny, Andrew and Joe a text at some point on Friday that says, “Hey, send me your predictions when you get a second.” They all send me an email, and when I get home that night, I combine them in a post, write an incredibly exciting intro, and that’s that.

Ideally, this process would happen on Wednesday or Thursday, so that people could read the predictions before gametime and so my fellow Good Guys have a little more time to respond. Alas, I’m lucky if I think about this post before lunch on Friday, so occasionally you get a predictions post with two predictions instead of four, like today. Joe’s off hiking somewhere, which sounds great if you’re into that sort of thing. Andrew played a show tonight (which was great) and has his 21st birthday Saturday (happy birthday!), so he’s a little otherwise occupied. Dan and I will hold the fort for this week.

Edit: And Andrew pulls through with his email as soon as I posted this. Good job, the little guy! (That’s his nickname.)

Dan

After beating Cal on the road last season, it would seem unlikely that the Huskies would let the Bears return the favor tomorrow, especially considering UW appears to be improved from last year. But Cal may have finally found a playmaking quarterback, something they have lacked for the past couple years. Maynard is a dual threat QB whose game apparently resembles Keith Price. He has weapons to throw to in Keenan Allen and Marvin Jones, and I’d imagine the Bears will gobble up yards like most teams seem to do against UW. However, I have a hunch the Dawgs will yield less points than one might expect, if for no other reason than the defense is bound to come out hungry. This game is a virtual toss up in Vegas, but for no good reason I think the Huskies put all 3 phases together tomorrow, and Sark can finally smile. Maybe the homer in me is talking, but I think Cal is catching UW at the wrong time.

UW-45, Cal-27

Matthew

It’s hard to be completely sure about anything Husky related right now, but I’m pretty sure that if Keith Price and Chris Polk are on the field, the offense will score at least 30 points against almost anyone. The defense is anyone’s guess. They have the talent, but I think there’s a lack of confidence in the new linebackers that’s affecting the whole unit. Sarkisian’s comments about the defense were revelatory. Hopefully they cut loose this week and let their athleticism take over. I’d rather see big plays with a few mistakes than the steady drip of yards they’ve been surrendering.

The last two games between these two have been wins for the Dawgs, a blowout and last year’s game winning touchdown by Polk with no time on the clock. I’d love another blowout, but I’m expecting a close one. The Golden Bears are a talented team in almost exactly the same position as the Huskies, as an unproven team with talent. The winner becomes the front runner for third in the tough northern division. I think the Huskies pull it out.

UW 38, Cal 34

Andrew

I don’t know what to think of this game. It’s a very important game in this season where we’re trying to figure out if the Dawgs have taken another step forward. I have a lot of confidence in the offense, they are moving the ball very well the last 2 weeks. But, Cal also scares me. I’m not sure if they’ve earned me being scared of them (I’m not sure they care about me, in general so they are kind of jerks), but they have a strong defense and a decent offense. Against the Huskies defense, a decent offense is all you need it seems. But sooner or later, the defense will play better. It might be the year 2017 or it might be in this game. I have said almost nothing in this preview. This game seems even and whoever wins the turnover battle will win the game. Home field advantage will be a key. For some reason it sure seems to me like Cal is going to win. Maybe it’s because it’s my birthday and I’m not sure if the Huskies have ever won on my birthday. I hope I’m wrong and I hope Chris Polk, Keith Price, and Ta’amu run up to me in the stands after a blow out and deliver me a game ball along with a million dollars. But, for now I’m going to say Cal wins 35-27. Prove me wrong Dawgs! GOOOOOO!!!!! HUSKIES!!!!!

UW defeats Stanford, instant reaction

I want YOU to win the Pac-10 Tourney

First of all, the posterizing, straddle the fence dunk by MBA had me on the floor. What a savage jam.

Secondly, if the Huskies even have a modicum of offensive touch in the first ten minutes of that game, it’s a twenty point game right off the bat. Stanford hung around no thanks to themselves. Stanford’s defense was porous at best. The Huskies were solidly in brick city, an offensive fog. What saved them was there tenacious defense. The pressure they put on Stanford was like a leaky faucet, at some point the nagging dripping makes you insane, and Stanford finally lost their collective minds with about ten minutes to go in the second half. Then a playground style dunk-fest ensued, followed by silly bench hi-jinx. Good times for sure.

Thirdly, if the Huskies want to beat Cal, they must be more efficient on offense. Missing point blank layups will not cut it. The Huskies defense is there, Cal cannot touch them in that department. Offensively? Cal is very balanced, inside and outside they can kill you. That said, there is a vast athletic difference between UCLA and Washington. Cal won’t simply be able to spot up and shoot. Overton and Thomas will be all over Randle, Holiday on Christopher, and MBA’s defense has improved leaps and bounds over the past few weeks. I expect a very close game, right down to the wire, with the Dawgs winning of course, I am a homer, what do you expect?

M. B. A.

Fourthly, the tourney question. Joe Lunardi, as of right now, has the Huskies in the tourney. What is unknown is whether they make it if they lose to Cal. That answer depends on what other bubble teams do, like Minnesota and Mississippi State. If those teams somehow win their respective conference tournaments, it puts pressure on Washington to win to get that auto-bid. If those other bubble teams lose, I really like the Huskies chances in the event of a loss. Losing to Cal on a neutral court is not a bad loss, and I believe the Huskies have done enough over the past few weeks, i.e. winning on the road, to make it in. It will be close for sure, but I think at the end of the day, despite what the pundits tell us, the tournament committee will put two Pac-10 teams in, with Arizona State on the outside looking in (no tears there…).

Fifthly, the Oregon Ducks football program is an embarrassment to humanity, and I could not be more pleased. Good times.

–Joe

UW vs. Cal – Pac-10 Lead and Tourney Birth at Stake

Oski - The Creepiest Mascot in Sports.

At 6pm, Washington and California rumble in Berkeley for the Pac-10 lead. Some may scoff and say that leading the Pac-10 isn’t much to celebrate, but I beg to differ. We can all look at, and study, the RPI to death, but I usually like to judge teams based on how they actually look on the court, and then compare them to other teams across the nation. Cal and Washington are the two most talented teams in the Pac-10, no question. Cal has been consistent at home and away, with their only bad loss being the blowout at HecEd. The UW, on the other hand, has been dominant at home, 16-1 (how they lost to the Ducks is beyond me, lucky win by Ernie’s crew? Maybe…), and flat out bad on the road. In fact, they have regressed in many ways. Texas Tech and Georgetown were competitive games, on the whole, while their four conference road games have been clunkers.

The key, in my mind, to this game will be Jerome Randle. In the game at HecEd, Randle was lost. Literally. He could not pass, had no idea where his man was on defense, and Coach Montgomery noticed, benching him for long periods of time. He ended the game going 2-9 from the field. It was by far his worst game of the year. If Randle just has an average game Thursday (19.1 pts), things will be very different. Patrick Christopher had a big game that day. 28 pts, 8 boards, 14-18 from the line. He pretty much got the shots he wanted all day. That concerns me. Look, Justin Holiday can’t guard everyone. I think Cal is beginning to figure it out on offense. They are a three man team: Randle, Christopher and Robertson. Over the past couple games, these guys have scored 102 of the 135 points the Bears have scored. Cal is getting their identity in order, which means good things are in store for the crew from Berkeley.

One the other side we have the Huskies. Coming into this game, the Dawgs may have started to figure out who they are: a defensive team. Quite literally, when this team plays in your shorts, brash defense led by Venoy Overton (or Venoying as I like to call him), they are extremely hard to beat. There is no one in the Pac-10 who can hang with them when they are crazy on defense and crashing the boards. The problem, of course, is they don’t bring this defense on the road with them. The two losses in Arizona were

Plastic Man!

embarrassments. No one contested shots, no one got back, and what happened? Got run by 17 both times. Now, in both those games, Holiday didn’t play, and he is most certainly a difference maker. Just see the game up in Seattle against those same teams. Horne and Kuksiks were non-factors, largely due to Holiday playing his Stacy Augmon “Plastic Man” defense defense on them. I expect Holiday to play well Thursday, but it will be interesting to see who Holiday checks. He is taller than Christopher, but Patrick has him by 40 lbs. Robertson is a load at 6-6 230. I expect to see a lot of switching with Pondexter on these two guys. If the Dawgs let the Big Three go off, it will be a very long and frustrating night for the Huskies, so QPon, Holiday, and Venoy must bring their A games. I do think the emergence of Scott Suggs has helped this team gain confidence on the offensive end verses a zone. I have no idea what defense Cal was running in the January game. I watched the who game, and Cal didn’t play a lick of defense. That said, Suggs and Turner have been great zone busters with the ability to hit the corner three ball. Do it with some consistency, and they have a recipe for success on the road in a hostile environment. I know I haven’t said much about Isaiah in this post, and that is by design. If I.T. just lets the game come to him and plays his role, the Huskies are much better off.

In the end, this will be an extremely tough game for the UW to win. I cannot think of a scenario in which Cal comes out flat. I would think right away we must lock down Randle. Thomas is underrated as a defender, so I expect him to check Jerome. After that, the Dawgs better hope the refs let them play, or else they’ll have foul trouble quick, and Cal in the bonus before the 12 minute mark. The Huskies must withstand the initial emotion of the start, and just hang in there and give themselves a chance at the end. I feel very confident the Dawgs will come out playing well, I just think Cal may be slightly better because of the home court.