Tag Archives: Dwayne Washington

by Matthew | August 26, 2014 · 9:07 pm

Your 2014 UW Husky Offensive Preview

Hey readers, long time no write! New content here has been next to non-existent for a while, but college football season always inspires The Good Guys. I can’t promise the inspiration will last, but we’ll at least get the season started right.

With Seahawk fever now a permanent Seattle epidemic, the Huskies aren’t getting a lot of attention yet. I don’t know whether that will change at all, but they deserve some buzz. This team has the potential to be the best Husky squad since the Tui-led Rose Bowl team. That’s not saying a ton, and this team has questions, but there’s the chance of something special on Montlake.

I debated what type of preview to write, but I think I’m going with a good old position-by-position write-up. While a lot of these players have been around, some of the focus is shifting from the departed offensive stars to lesser-known guys. I’ll start with the offense tonight. Here we go!

Quarterback

Most fans would say this position is the key to the Huskies season, and it’s hard to disagree. I don’t know that the Dawgs need elite QB play this year, but they need an unproved guy to be dependable and reasonably mistake-free. Who the QB will be is still somewhat in doubt. Jeff Lindquist gets the opening start in Hawaii. He’s big and athletic with a good arm but next to no experience. There’s no reason he can’t be effective, but game action is the only true determiner. Lindquist narrowly beat out freshman Troy Williams, who has maybe the biggest arm and most potential of the group, but the least experience. Should Lindquist struggle, Williams could see some time. Hopefully more likely, he’ll see mop-up duty in Hawaii.

Lurking behind these two is Cyler Miles, suspended for the opener for his off-season shenanigans. The common assumption is Miles will take over week two, but I don’t consider that a fait accompli. Miles brings a bit more experience and excellent running ability, but he’s generally considered to have the weakest arm on the roster and missed all of spring practice. Should Lindquist impress at Hawaii, it’s no given he’ll lose the spot just because Miles is available.

Running Back

Replacing Bishop Sankey is impossible, but the Dawgs have the talent to maintain an elite running game. Dwayne Washington will get the first carries. He’s taller for a back and fast, but runs with a good amount of power and violence. Fumbling issues held him down early last year, but he recovered to log the most yards of any back besides Sankey. His time as a receiver should theoretically be of benefit in the passing game. RS freshman Lavon Coleman has garnered raves since arriving in Seattle. He’s a big back with star potential.

Deontae Cooper and Jesse Callier are still around and should see plenty of carries. I’ve never been a huge Callier fan, but he’s a dependable change of pace from the bigger Washington and Coleman. It’s hard not to continue to hope for Cooper to regain everything he was rumored to have before his injuries. If he were to do so, he could easily take over the starting job and be one of the best in the conference. More likely, he’ll get a decent share of carries but not quite have the burst to be a star. No matter what, he’s one of the great stories of perseverance the Huskies will ever have.

Shaq Thompson looms in the shadows, awaiting the day the Dawgsignal summons him to the offensive backfield to deliver justice and retribution to Ducks and Bruins alike.

Receivers

This is a talented and fairly deep group, but how dominant they are could depend on how effectively Kasen Williams returns from last year’s injury. He’s not yet at full strength, but he’s close enough to play this week. Kasen’s size and experience is needed as a counterpoint to the speed of Jaydon Mickens, John Ross and friends. Mickens matured into a go-to receiver last year, and he could be a monster in 2014 if he can diversify his game a bit. Ross is the most electric player on the roster and could make a huge jump himself. There are capable bodies behind the three, but a breakout or two would be welcome.

Tight end is a little hard to figure, due to Austin Seferian-Jenkins departure and questions as to how a new staff will use the position. Josh Perkins showed himself capable of making big catches a year ago. Michael Hartvigson has never had the impact many expected, but he’s valuable as a blocker and might catch a few more passes this year. Darrell Daniels is easily the most talented guy here and one of the better athletes on the team. Hopefully he can translate all that into football skills. If he can catch the ball, he could be huge as a bigger threat to complement Kasen.

Offensive Line

For the first time in a long time, UW is deep, talented and experienced on the O Line. Six guys have extensive starting experience, and there’s some young talent behind them. Tackles Micah Hatchie and Ben Riva are dependable if unspectacular. LG Dexter Charles, the lone junior starter, has been considered an awards candidate in waiting since his freshman year. Colin Tanigawa supplanted Mike Criste at C this fall, potentially a good sign since Criste was a solid starter all of last year. That move could be largely about getting mammoth James Atoe into the line-up at RG. This line might not be as dominant as some of the great lines of Husky days past, but they should be better than anything the Dawgs have had lately. Count me as one who believes the coaching change could have a huge effect here too, both in performance and recruiting. Dan Cozetto’s lines never seemed to reach their expected level, and new guy Chris Strausser is renowned as a teacher.

That’s enough for tonight. Defense is next in a day or two. Go Dawgs!

Washington-Illinois Review

The Dawgs moved to 2-0 on Saturday night against a feisty Illinois team. From the get go it was obvious that U-Dub was the better team but the game was in doubt as late as the fourth quarter. If you’re reading this, you probably have already read/watched/heard about the game so I’m not going to tell you what happened. I’ll just add a few notes here and there and move on to this week. Unfortunately, there isn’t a replay on TV (with it being on the Big-10 Network) and I’m not sure I want to hear those announcers for another 3 hours anyway. In other words, I’m not going to do quite the breakdown I did against Boise. I’ve made this weird little outline that pretty much encapsulates the main notes I have on the game. Enjoy!

Distractions: First, this trip seemed a little hectic for the Huskies. On the radio show today, Sark said their bus showed up late at the airport when they landed. He also mentioned that Northwestern University (their mascot is the Wildcats, if you need any more proof that they are stupid) cancelled on letting the Huskies having a walk-through on their field. This led to the Dawgs having a practice in a large, public park in downtown Chicago.

Dumber Distractions: Then, the officials happened. Yes, the Huskies committed too many penalties, without a doubt. The Huskies ended with 12 penalties for 104 yards. I can remember 4 or 5 penalties I don’t particularly agree with. ASJ was called for holding without touching anyone. Danny Shelton was called for a late hit on a guy that was still in-bounds (although he did launch himself, this will usually be a penalty). Jaydon Mickens was called for a late hit and was shown walking around while the player was being tackled, so I don’t know how it could be a late hit. Josh Shirley was called for a roughing the passer penalty because he was pushed into the quarterback and his arm touched him. There were a few other holding penalties that didn’t seem quite right. If you take away just three of the four penalties I mentioned, the yardage is down to about 70 yards. That’s not good but it’s not nearly as crippling, obviously.

Dumbest Distractions: The Huskies also fought off a number of trick plays. There was around ten trick plays the Illini tried. Most of them worked for about ten yards. One led to a big first down on a pivotal play and went for about 40 yards. Other than that, the Huskies survived. I hate those plays. Not as much as my fellow Good Guys hate them but I can’t stand them. It seemed fitting that the Huskies pretty much ended the game by intercepting a double pass.

The Real Story: When you take into account and consider these first three points, the Huskies really dominated the game. The offense racked up over 600 yards, led by a running back who should be considered for the Heisman Trophy. The defense played fast in the first half and looked like the same team that played against Boise. They had their lapses (more on those in a minute) but they dominated a team that played with a lot of confidence and tenacity.

Cause For Concern – Offense: As I said, there were lapses on both sides of the ball. First the offense. In the Red Zone, the Huskies settled for field goals twice. At the end of the half, the Huskies drove down into the red zone before stalling there. The drive ended because of some really questionable play calling. There was no running plays once the team got in there even though they had all their time-outs and there was plenty of time on the clock. The other drive that resulted in a field goal ended similarly. I know Kasen and ASJ are great Red Zone weapons but right now Sankey is our best weapon. He needs the ball no matter where we are on the field. I think Sark will remedy this problem but it’s something to be aware of.

Another Cause for Concern – Offense: After really impressing in the opener, Dwayne Washington really struggled on Saturday. He had 2 carries and 2 fumbles. Not exactly the ratio you want. Dwayne will get it right, but it was a tough day for the freshman and the Huskies need him to be effective as the season goes on.

Cause for Concern – Defense: The big plays that were prevented against Boise came against Illinois. The defense had a few blown coverages and Ducre was burnt for one long touchdown. That touchdown kept Illinois in the game when it looked like the Huskies were about to put it away completely. After being so sound defensively in the opener, the Huskies need to clean up some assignments and their mental game to prevent the big play.

Another Darn Cause for Concern – Defense: In the second half, John Timu sat out because of a shoulder injury. It is expected that he’ll be able to return, if not this week, next week. It was apparent that Timu is very important to the defense. In the second half, Illinois moved the ball pretty well and often ran right up the middle. The defensive line got pushed around a little bit and the linebackers weren’t as effective because of that. I’m curious to see if power teams will have success running right at us, even with Timu in.

Lots of Offensive Good News – Now that we have the lowlights out-of-the-way, let’s get to the good stuff. The whole offense played really well. I’ll just go position by position here. Price played a great game. He was very accurate and made good decisions. He made a few really good plays and otherwise simply controlled the game. At running back, Bishop Sankey was the star. The guy is on fire and might be the best player on the team, right now. Jesse Callier had a great return and added a few huge plays. The receivers weren’t quite as good as the opener but were still dynamic and exciting. Mickens and Smith continue to look fantastic. I expect a big game from Kasen soon, as he seems to catch the ball every time it’s been thrown at him ASJ looked a little tired and didn’t perform his best. He was on the field for over 80 snaps, which probably wasn’t the best move for his first game. The offensive line had one of the best games in recent memory. They gave Keith sufficient time and dominated the line of scrimmage. Price was sacked twice but one of those he literally ran to the defender on his right and made sure he was tackled by him. It was as weird as it sounds.

Don’t Get Defensive, There’s More Good News! While the defensive came out to be the weaker link this week, they still did plenty of things right. On the defensive line, Shirley had maybe the best game of his career. He recorded three sacks, but what I think is more impressive is his two tackles for a loss. Shirley has been called a liability against the run but he proved to be solid against it on Saturday. Danny Shelton is not putting up numbers but the defense is noticeably worse when he’s taking a rest. Hau’oli Kikaha continues to get better and better. The rest of the D-line was so-so and many of the pressures were due to good coverage. The linebackers looked very quick in the first half and were often in good position to make plays. Their tackling, again, wasn’t the best but they are still one of the best groups on the team. Timu truly makes a huge difference. The secondary has played really well so far. Ducre gave up the touchdown, but that was a great play by the offense, and then came back and sealed the game with an interception. There were a few more blown coverages but the man-to-man defense was great.

Review and Preview: All in all, it was a great victory by the Dawgs. After the horror of the Apple Cup last year, the team didn’t buckle when Illinois made a run at them. The Huskies toughened up when they needed to and ultimately dominated the game statistically. As they move ahead they get an easy game this week against Idaho State and a home conference opener against Arizona. The Huskies should be 3-0 and about to breach the top 15 by the time they open Pac-12 play. It’s been too long since we’ve gotten to say that.

Until next time, go Dawgs!

Scott Lawyer!!

– Andrew

Looking At The Dawgs – Offense

In past years, I’ve tried to do position previews before Husky football season kicked off. Usually these previews fizzled out somewhere between the linebackers and the secondary. In an attempt to end this, I have simplified the previews this year. I will be previewing the offense in one post and the defense in the next. I will do a general overview of each side of the ball first and then break down the position groups (although I’m not going to make those all that in-depth). I don’t plan on listing all 90-plus guys on the roster over these but I will try to give an idea of what I think about the starters and the depth at each position. With these things in mind, let’s get started with the offense!

Offensive Overview:

Heading in to 2012, the Husky offense was thought to be a strong point of the team. They had lost their top receivers and one of the great Husky running backs of all time but they had a stud tight-end, a few exciting prospects at running back, a returning offensive line, a decent receiving group, and a Heisman contender at quarterback. Things didn’t exactly go to plan.

Before the season began, the Huskies were already down a few offensive linemen. That continued throughout the season and caused the offense to fall apart. The tight-end was great. A star was found at running back. But, the offensive line couldn’t pass block, a second, third and fourth receiving option was never found, and Keith Price went from a Heisman dark horse to a guy that some people wanted benched. The offense was a disappointment, but it was one that people could make excuses for.

In the spring, the Huskies started to implement a no-huddle offense. This has continued and will be used this season. Apparently, the playbook is close to the same. While they may have simplified it some, Sark has not moved to a spread offense. I will talk about how this affects the defense in the next post but it has yet to be seen how it will affect the offense. If the playbook really hasn’t changed much, I think the offense has a chance to special. Sark has always been good at taking advantage of match-ups on the offensive side and as long as this is the focus of the offense and not just ‘going fast’ I feel confident in what the team can do. The offensive line returns almost everyone and the depth of the whole offense could make running the no-huddle effective.

Position Previews –

Quarterback:
Starter – Keith Price (RSr.)
Keith Price was extremely efficient and productive in his first year as a starter in 2011. Last year, he was a shadow of himself. Price couldn’t move around very well, was constantly pressured, and made questionable decisions. His efficiency in the red-zone, which was what made him great in 2011, slipped dramatically. Price seemed to want to be too perfect at times and played scared at other times. I’m hopeful that playing in the no-huddle offense will limit his thinking and get him back to just playing ‘Keith Price’ football. He is only a few touchdown passes short of breaking the UW career record. He’s had an amazing career, regardless of the last two games of 2012. Here’s hoping he gets back to his improvising, accurate ways. I’m glad he’s our quarterback.
The Depth – Cyler Miles (RFr.), Jeff Lindquist (RFr.), Troy Williams (Fr.)
It seems like what is listed above is the pecking order. Miles has separated himself as the backup. He is a good athlete and a play-maker. His weakness seems to be his arm strength. Lindquist came in with Miles and, while he may have fallen behind him now, appears to be in the running for the starting job next year. Jeff is from Mercer Island and has a stronger arm but maybe not the big play ability of Miles. Williams is a true freshman and was highly recruited around the country. He is mobile and said to throw the best ball out of all of the quarterbacks (maybe not the most accurate, but the strongest and best spiral). Expect Williams to redshirt unless everything falls apart. Unlike last year, the quarterback depth appears to be in solid shape and they seem to be capable backups. Continue reading →

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Filed under Huskies Football, Huskies Position Overviews

by Matthew | December 3, 2012 · 9:35 pm

Catching Up with the 2012 UW Freshman, Pt. 1

The Husky football season is largely over and temporarily stuck in that weird purgatory bowl game and the end of the season. The Husky coaches spent most of last week out recruiting, and there are visitors scheduled for the next few weekends. We’ll get into recruiting more in the coming months, but I thought this would be a good time look at last year’s recruiting class to see what they did this past season.

I’ll start with the redshirts, the guys who didn’t play this past season. Depending on how much I feel like writing, the guys who played might come in a later post. We’re just going to have to see how this goes!

The Offensive Linemen
Jake Eldrenkamp, Taylor Hindy, Nathan Dean, Cory Fuavai
I’m lumping all of these guys together because they’re offensive linemen and I therefore know hardly anything about them. No offense, guys. Eldrenkamp is the most highly thought of, and probably would have been the next to play if the Great Injury Plague of 2012 had continued. Dean was considered a tackle prospect during recruitment, and the Huskies need those. Fuavai used to be Cory English, but changed his name last summer. Still confuses me sometimes. I look at the roster and say, Who’s that guy? So confusing. Hindy was a surprise commit right at signing day.

This group was conspicuous for the lack of some major local recruits like Josh Garnett and Zach Banner, but it’s a solid class still. That redshirt year is standard and necessary, and hopefully the only reason any of this four will have to play in 2013 is for exceptional talent. Another year to get better and stronger is almost always needed for players in this position.

The QB’s
Cyler Miles & Jeff Lindquist
Both Miles and Lindquist were among the best QB recruits in the country as big, mobile guys with good arms and intelligence. Miles drew raves all through the season and is reportedly further along than Lindquist. I’ve even seen some suggest Lindquist might change positions, but that seems premature. Both have outstanding talent, but it takes players different lengths of time to acclimate to college football. Both will have a shot to find playing time in 2013, but it would be best for all involved if Keith Price could get back to good football. Starting a freshman quarterback is rarely a good option, but these two are not the typical freshman quarterback, or so we’ve been told. They were the highlight of the class on signing day and have done nothing to tarnish their appeal. Continue reading →

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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Tagged as Blake Rodgers, Brandon Beaver, Cleveland Wallace, Cory Littleton, Cyler Miles, Damion Turpin, Darien Washington, Dave 'Softy' Mahler, Dwayne Washington, Dylan Cozens, Erich Wilson, ESPN3, fax cam, Husky football recruiting, Jake Eldrenkamp, Jeff Lindquist, Jordan Payton, Josh Banks, Kendryl Taylor, KJR, Korey Durkee, Michael Rector, Nathan Dean, National signing day, Pio Vatuvei, Psalm Wooching, Randall Goforth, Ryan McDaniel, Shane Brostek, Shaq Thompson, Steve Sarkisian, Taylor Hindy, Travis Coons, Trey Griffey, University of washington national signing day