Tag Archives: Jesse Callier

by | September 2, 2011 · 10:21 pm

UW vs. EWU Predictions

It’s finally here.  Without further ado, here are the Good Guy predictions for the battle royale at Husky Stadium tomorrow.

Joe

Eastern is no slouch, and I don’t think the Huskies will treat them as such. I believe Sark has the Huskies focused and prepared to play the Eagles at a high tempo and tons of emotion. I expect the Eagles to come out jacked and just as prepared, which I think will help the UW get “up” quicker than normal, especially when playing a perceived easy win. I honestly see the Huskies running the ball early, then working the middle of the field with ASJ. I expect Callier to get the bulk of the carries, even if Polk somehow plays or Fogerson. I’d be all for Callier getting a ton of carries. I think the Huskies WRs corps could be unstoppable, how EWU will combat that I have no idea. Defensively the Huskies will be fine, EWU hasn’t seen this level of talent in FCS. There won’t be a shutout, but I don’t expect EWU to move the ball at will. Early season game, lots of jitters, emotions, there will be crazy plays, blown assignments, timing will be off, and the Dawgs will win:

UW 31 – EWU 14

Dan

Even when Washington tries to schedule a cupcake for once, they fail. Eastern is no slouch, and if this were a week 2 game, or god forbid it was being played on the red turf, I’d be very nervous. But the Huskies are at home, and given that this is the first game, the players have had all offseason to think about the Eagles. Bo Levi Mitchell is a legit QB and he has a veteran group of receivers to throw to. I expect Eastern will move the offense through the air, and rack up decent passing totals between the 20s, but the Huskies are too deep, too talented, and too hungry to start 1-0. They can’t lose this game, and they won’t.

Washington–30, Ea. Washington–20

Andrew

If you follow the Huskies at all, you know this week the theme by the coaches has been “1-0.”  In fact, Sark has said that this was the theme since fall camp began.  “1-0.”  The Huskies haven’t started the season with a win since 2007, and if you remember that it wasn’t a feel good win.  We’ve also heard all week about how good Eastern Washington is.  It seems every person in the state has said, “Eastern is going to surprise on Saturday.”  I have no doubt that Eastern is a very good football team that is in the FCS.  But, they’re no match for the team they’ll face on Saturday.  They don’t have as much depth, talent, and it will take a minor miracle for them to win this game.  I’m sure the Dawgs are sick of hearing how Eastern is going to surprise them.  I’m sure they’re sick of Eastern players saying, “The Huskies don’t respect us” or things to that extent even though no Husky player or coach has come close to saying that.  It’s a Saturday on Montlake and Husky football is on its way back.  The Dawgs make it a bit stressful but then dominate.  Welcome back Huskies, I’ve been waiting for this since a certain night in late December.

Huskies 38, EWU 13 

Matthew

Eastern is certainly scarier than the typical FCS team, but I think their talent is maybe getting a bit overblown.  Could the Huskies lose this game?  Sure, it’s possible, I guess.  Will they? Not a chance in the world.  Eastern might score a few points, but I can’t see this being close.  My only question is how long it takes the Huskies to break away.  In past years, they’ve started slowly in the few blow outs they’ve had before pulling away later.  This Saturday, I’m hoping the first quarter has Jesse Callier running through 10-foot holes, Jermaine Kearse 20 feet behind the EWU secondary, and Bo Levi Mitchell flat on his back after every play.  Go Dawgs!

UW 48, EWU 17

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by | October 14, 2010 · 9:38 am

Quick Husky Observations, Through 6 weeks

Positive observations—
– Chris Polk and Jesse Callier are an excellent backfield combo. They need more touches!
– Our margin for error is very, very small. It seems like the defense needs to hold the opponent under 24 points, while the offense needs to score more than 24. One of these two typically occurs each game, but having them coincide has been a challenge.
– Locker is one heck of a leader, and doing just about everything he can out there given the hand he’s been dealt. Jake deserves more. He deserves a bowl game, a defense that can occasionally shut out an opponent, an o-line that will protect him, and receivers that will catch the ball consistently.
– We have the right coach leading the program. Recruiting, developing, charisma, and of course in-game coaching, he has it all.

Negative observations—
– Our offense is great at times, and very out of sync other times. Inconsistency is a theme on this team.
– Defense lacks big play potential, and still does not have the athletes to fair well in pass coverage and – – Fundamentals leave much to be desired: tackling, pass catching, kickoff coverage to name a few
– Our defense is like the Mariners offense; multiple contributors must play above their ability, and timely plays need to be made in big situations. Typically this doesn’t happen.
– The void at tight end is being felt. Kavario Middleton took some plays off here and there, but he commanded attention, and had big play potential.
– There is still not enough speed on this team, especially on defense.
– Desmond Trufant is not the shut down corner we saw glimpses of last year, and Quinton Richardson has a few bonehead moments every game it seems. The secondary, which many had thought might be the strength of the defense, is not performing well.
– In a year where the Pac-10 is as strong as ever, the Huskies are close to getting lost in the shuffle, which also means the pre-season bowl hopes are fading quick.

To summarize, the Huskies have 1 predictable win (Syracuse), 1 unexpected win (USC), 1 predictable loss (Nebraska), and 2 toss up game losses (BYU and Arizona State). That leaves UW at 2-3, when 3-2 is probably what we had hoped for at this point. So of course there are more negatives that positives. . Of course, a win on Saturday will change everything!

-Dan

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by | September 12, 2010 · 1:34 pm

Huskies Post Game: Syracuse

The Huskies got their first win of the year last night at Husky Stadium against Syracuse, 41-20. The Dawgs’ struggled early on; there wasn’t any offensive rhythm and special team’s mistakes led to an early 10-0 lead for the Orange.  But, then the Huskies found it.  They played like the team we had planned on seeing this year.  They outscored Syracuse 41-10 through the rest of the game and it wasn’t much of a contest after the first couple plays in the second half.

Jermaine Kearse had a monster day (9 receptions for 179 yards), as the offense used big plays to dominate.  The defense was solid too.  They gave up two or three big plays but the two touchdowns Syracuse scored were because of a special teams penalty and a turnover.

I’ll review this one by taking a look at each position.  I haven’t been able to find a replay anywhere yet, FSN decided to show a replay of Wyoming and Texas instead, so I won’t be as thorough as I’d like to be but these were my first impressions from being there.  Continue reading →

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by | September 5, 2010 · 9:01 pm

Huskies Post-Game

Well, I guess it’s time one of us do this.  We’ve had over 24 hours to digest a disappointing loss and now I am a little more rational than I was a night ago.

Let me start off by saying that this wasn’t the team we planned on seeing.  This wasn’t the team that had taken a step above last year’s.  Sure, there were some aspects of the team that improved (more on that later) but as a whole this wasn’t the team we expected to see.  This was the Husky team that lost to Arizona State and UCLA on the road last year.  That team wasn’t terrible, but wasn’t good either.  We saw moments where the Huskies looked like a team that was about to take it to the next level but those moments didn’t last.  Will the Huskies become that team?  There is no reason to give up hope on that after the first game.

The game started off the way it was supposed to.  The Dawgs were clearly the better team.  They were faster.  They had more weapons.  They looked like they wanted it more.  Then everything bounced BYU’s way.  A couple of stupid penalties led to a field position switch and the good bounces for BYU became evident with every punt.  Seriously, think about the game (assuming you watched it) and try to remember a bounce that went the Huskies way.  It was unbelievable.

With that being said, you have to put yourself in position to get good bounces and credit BYU for doing that.  The Cougars were better than any of the good guys thought and will go on to win 9 or 10 games this season.  They were a very physical football team and extremely well coached.

Also, the Huskies did put themselves in a position to win the game.  The defense made stops to get the offense the ball.  The offense drove far enough to give us hope.  Who knows?  If the last pass of the game wasn’t tipped we could be talking about a comeback win that will start a season of magic.  Instead, we’re stuck thinking, “Here we go again.”

It’s not all doom and gloom though.  We’ll take a look at that after the jump.

Continue reading →

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by | September 4, 2010 · 1:38 pm

Good Guys’ 2010-11 NCAA FB Predictions

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by | September 1, 2010 · 1:53 pm

UW Huskies Offensive Preview

In 2009, the Husky offense was largely inconsistent, often showing excellent playmaking ability up until the time they needed to score on the goal line or keep a drive going late in the game.  The hope is this year they will find that consistency and become the high-powered threat that their talent suggests.

Quarterback

Starter: Jake Locker  Maybe you’ve heard of this guy.  Senior starter who passed up millions to try to lead his team to a bowl game and make a run at the Heisman trophy.  He could be the best quarterback in the country, but he does need to make improvements, chiefly with his accuracy.  Sarkisian has him aiming for a 70% completion rate and 3/1 touchdown to interception ratio, which would be a season for the ages.  He likely won’t quite make that, but there’s no bigger threat at the position in the country.

Depth: Keith Price & Nick Montana  The two backups are still fighting for the job, although it appears Price has pulled ahead for now.  Price is more of an athlete who has struggled with his accuracy at times.  Montana, son of Joe, has the smarts but maybe not quite the arm strength or physical maturity yet.  Price will likely backup on a game to game basis, but if Locker went down for an extended period, either might take over.

Analysis: If Locker stays healthy, it doesn’t get much better.  If he goes down, it’s hard to say what would happen with Price or Montana under center. Continue reading →

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by | August 23, 2010 · 9:26 pm

Who Are These Guys: Jesse Callier

“Who Are These Guys?” is a series the Good Guys are doing on the Husky football freshman class.  We’ll be telling you a little more about the guys who we think will play this year in this series.

Jesse Callier is a little different from all the guys that I’ve featured in this series because he came in early for spring football (more on his spring in a second) and therefore has been in the program longer.  Callier came to U-Dub by way of California where he led the state in rushing yards.  He had 3,010 yards last year.  That stat never ceases to amaze me.  Another fun stat: Callier ran for 447 yards in one game.  In high school he was very durable and got a ridiculous amount of carries over the season.  He’s a shorter guy, 5-10, who has added about 15 pounds since spring ball to get up to 205.  Obviously he won’t need to be as durable this year but it’s nice to know that he has that in him.

The Huskies are closer but still not back to their rich, powerful running tradition.  They have had 2 players rush for over 1,000 yards in the last 3 seasons but it’s hardly been like the days of Napoleon Kaufman and Corey Dillon.  More of this has to do with the offensive line than the running backs but it’s not like the running back has been a position of strength in the last decade.  But, the times are changing.  With the emergence of the underrated Chris Polk, a very capable backup in Johri Fogerson, exciting freshmen in Deontae Cooper and Callier, the running back position appears to have a strong present and a bright future.

When Chris Polk was out in the spring, the backups showed that they are quality depth.  Fogerson looked solid but wasn’t talked about a ton because of the great showing by the freshman.  Through 2 weeks the Cooper and Callier were neck and neck with each other.  One day Coop would have the better day, then Callier would come right back.  They were the highlight of the spring but then Callier got hurt and couldn’t participate in the last week of practice.  He also missed the spring game so fans didn’t become so familiar with him.

Now, with Cooper out for the season Callier is thrown into the spotlight.  In my opinion, Callier will take the backup position with Fogerson being ta 3rd down back.  I don’t think the injury to Cooper hurts the Huskies a ton.  Cooper will be a really good running back but I think Callier will be just fine in the backup spot.  Cooper is a downhill running back, a lot like Polk, while Callier has more of that lightning type style.  He makes guys miss and has the breakaway speed.  I think he’ll add the lightning to Chris Polk’s thunder and who knows if we’d gotten to see that if Cooper was healthy.

Now, I could be way off.  Playing running back as a true freshman is not an easy task.  Playing as a true freshman at any position is not an easy task.  But having been here for the spring should help Callier and bringing a change of pace to the running game when he spells Polk should help too.  Hopefully, he is one of the best backups in the Pac-10 so we don’t have to hear about all the Ducks’ backups all season.  12 more days until gameday!

Andrew


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by | April 17, 2010 · 5:11 pm

Huskies Practice Report – 4/17/2010

The Huskies completed their 3rd week of practices this afternoon.  There was a little rain as the practice began but then the sun poked through the clouds, Nirvana and Jimi Hendrix came through the speakers, and I became very thankful that I live in Seattle.  There were about a thousand people at the practice including quite a few high school and junior college coaches who were attending the UW coaches clinic.  I spotted Paul Wulff trying watching the coaches, trying to figure out how to coach his own players (that was a joke and completely false).

To tell you the truth, there wasn’t a lot to report today.  During the team drills there was a lot of work on special teams.  Most of the practice was pretty typical and then there was about a half an hour scrimmage at the end.  The offense dominated early in the practice and then the defense had the upper hand in the scrimmage portion. 

Nick Holt was even more animated than usual today.  At one point he made the entire second string defense do up-downs after a 10 yard play by the offense.  The coaching staff has to be in such great shape because they sprint everywhere.  They really set the tone for this team.

The defense used a few different looks today.  Alvin Logan rushed off the edge quite a bit in the scrimmage and was quite effective in doing so.  He might be playing defensive end on 3rd downs this season.  They rotated linebackers a lot more today than they usually do.  I imagine they are just finding who is best where and when.  They also went to a 3-4 at times today, it seemed to work pretty well.

At this point in spring everyone seems to be settling in on where they should be in the depth chart.  Sure, every once in a while someone will bust out with a great practice but it’s usually the same suspects every practice now.  It’s nice to see that consistency because I don’t know if there were players who would consistently have good practices on the Huskies a few years ago.

With that said here are my players of the day:

  • Jermaine Kearse was great today.  He scored 6 touchdowns in a row during drills.  I think he ended up with about 10 on the day.  The Huskies don’t have a corner who can defend him and I don’t know if anyone in the Pac-10 does. 
  • James Johnson also made some very good catches.  He got called for two offensive pass interference penalties but one of them was extremely questionable.  In the offenses only touchdown drive in the scrimmage, Johnson came up big several times.  He is pretty physical and looks bigger than he did last Fall.
  • Chris Robinson is a red-shirt defensive tackle who has played well all spring.  He continued to do so today, getting into the backfield and making some tackles.  I think him and Tyrone Duncan may have played themselves into the rotation for next season. 
  • Demetrius Bronson had a few very physical runs today.  He may not carry the ball very often because he is switching between fullback and running back right now but, I think Bronson would be very good at the goal line as long as he takes care of his fumbling problems.  With that being said, Polk and Cooper are/will be very good at the goal line also. 
  • The freshman running backs were good.  I’m going to stop putting this in the practice reports and you can all assume that they were good.  I can’t wait for my fellow good guys to see them in action and then say how excited they are about them.  If they play like they’re capable of on April 30th people will be buzzing about Jesse Callier and Deontae Cooper through the whole summer.  

Other guys were good too but you already knew that because their names are Jake Locker, Mason Foster, and Cort Dennison.

Two more weeks of practice to go.  I like what I’ve seen overall but I’ll save that for another post.  Now, it’s time to watch the Mariners and Justin Verlander (if the Mariners get shut down tonight, which is entirely possible, take a minute to enjoy how good Verlander is.  He is the Tiger’s Felix.  Should be fun to watch regardless of what happens).  Thanks for reading!

Andrew

Andrew

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