Tag Archives: Keith Price

by | October 1, 2012 · 10:10 pm

One Last Review Of UW-Stanford

I promised a more thorough review of last Thursdays game and here it is!  Five days, a trip to Yakima and about 8 hours of homework later.  I did finally finish watching the game last night and I had a few thoughts about the game.  I’ll go by position and add in some thoughts about coaching here and there.  Before I begin, I think this was probably the best coached Husky game since Rick Neuheisal was coach.  Seriously.  I’ll get into more detail as the post goes, but as a whole this was an incredibly coached game for the Dawgs, scheme-wise, personnel wise and on the motivational side.  Anyway, here we go, by position.

Quarterback – Keith Price has been a somewhat forgotten man through 4 games this year.  He doesn’t have the numbers that he had last year and won’t end up with as impressive stats but he has progressed.  Last Thursday, Keith played the toughest football game he’s ever played.  It wasn’t his best but it was very good.  He was tackled in the pocket over 10 times, while only three of those turned out to be sacks.  This is a testament to him standing in the pocket and not rushing things.  At one point it looked like he couldn’t feel his right arm.  I’m not sure why Stanford was never called for a roughing the passer penalty because they went high and hard many times.  Anyway, Price was accurate and threw well even with the amount of duress he was under.  He had 3 passes dropped that would have given him about 40 more passing yards and 3 more first downs.  He generally had less than 2 seconds to throw.  Three plays before the Huskies game-winning touchdown Price lined up under center and killed the running play that was called.  This audible essentially sent the receivers deep.  The ball was snapped, Price dropped back and was pressured from the outside so he stepped up into the pocket.  His outside receiver (I couldn’t catch the number) made a double move and was about to break free but a Stanford linebacker got a hand on the ball.  It was a brilliant call by Price and a beautiful play, it was just a .1 of a second too late.  The game winning touchdown could have come 3 plays earlier than when it did and it would have looked a lot more conventional.  Price was a great decision maker and game-manager.  I hope his body feels okay.

Running Back – It sure looks like Bishop Sankey has found his niche.  He’ll never be Chris Polk.  He’s not a bruiser and isn’t as patient.  But, he’s hitting the hole harder and faster every week.  Hugh Millen pointed out on KJR today that the Huskies use more of a zone-blocking scheme this year instead of a weak-side pulling guard, man-blocking scheme.  This allows Sankey to hit the hole faster than we saw the last few years because you don’t have to wait for that guard to come across.  So, maybe Bishop didn’t find his niche, maybe Sark found his niche for him?  It takes a humble and good coach to adjust his scheme to fit his players and Sark has continually done this.  That’s overlooked an awful lot.  Moving Kendyl Taylor provided an unexpected boost to the Husky offense and he did some good things on Thursday.  I’m guessing he’ll see more and more time as we go.  The fun thing to think about is that these running backs are only going to get better.  No one playing right  now is older than sophomore status.  Sure, they’ll cause a few headaches but the more I think about it, the more I think this year is setting up for a special 2013.

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends – Quite a bit has been made of ASJ not getting only 2 receptions against Stanford.  There was no other tight end who caught a pass either.  What isn’t being said is that ASJ had a block on Chase Thomas that helped spring Bishop’s 61 yard run.  No one is talking about how Evan Hudson lined up at fullback a few times and got into the second level to give Sankey some other big runs.  The tight ends will be used in different ways as this season goes on but don’t think they played an insignificant role on Thursday.  Every receiver was fairly inconsistent aside from Kasen Williams.  Kasen turned 2 yard gains into 7 at least 3 times.  The plan was to get him the ball in space and he showed why that was a great game plan that Sark never went aways from even when it was getting frustrating.  Anytime another receiver wants to step up though, feel fee!

Offensive Line – Yes, the pass blocking was pretty horrendous.  It’s a big problem that needs to be solved right away.  But, they were playing a very good front seven.  To their credit, the line did run block well.  It doesn’t matter how you get yards and points as long as you get them.  No one expected the Huskies to be able to rush for 150 yards but they did and that was because the line opened few holes.  I do think they wore Stanford down a little bit.  Where the Oregon defense is used to being on the field a lot because their offense scores in a hurry, Stanford is exactly the opposite.  I imagine that the Cardinal generally win the time of possession battle and they didn’t on Thursday night.  The Huskies, especially in the first half generally were on the field for at least three minutes on offense every time they had the ball.  It doesn’t seem like much but that adds up, especially when your defense is getting three and outs.  I might be the only one, but I think the Stanford defense was tired and they looked it on the Huskies last drive.  Shane Brostek got his first career start at right guard and looked pretty good in run blocking.  Him and James Atoe next to each other is probably my favorite configuration of the line.  When they’re on the right side, holes seem to open up a bit more.  The Huskies most successful running plays were runs off-tackle or which would follow Atoe, Hatchie, and, on the final drive, Criste.  The right side of the line seemed to open more holes, as I mentioned earlier, but the left side of the line did pretty well too when I re-watched the game.

Defensive Line – Stopping the run starts up front, so here you go.  I don’t know much about defensive lines so I won’t try to explain anything and there wasn’t a ton that stood out.  Pio Vatuvei got extensive action.  Josh Banks saw his first action of the season and made a very good tackle on Stanford’s last drive.  Not a lot shows up in the box score from these guys but they freed up space for the linemen to make plays.  It took Josh Shirley about a half to get his pass rush going but he was definitely felt in the second half.  This group continues to get better.

Linebackers – The Dawgs haven’t had linebackers tackle like they did in this game since who knows how long.  If you think back to the game, think about how many times Stepfan Taylor broke free from a tackle for extra yards.  It didn’t happen.  Even re-watching the game, I can’t think of a time.  Tutogi, Timu, Fuimaono (although he didn’t play as much), Feeney, and Shaq were all in position and made the tackles.  I’m still amazed.  Their pursuit was incredible, their tackling was the best I’ve seen from a Husky defense, and their effort was off the charts.  I don’t expect them to be able to keep this up but if they do then what was thought to be one of the Huskies biggest weaknesses has all of a sudden become one of the best positions on the team.  As one of my favorite wrinkles that Wilcox threw in, Talia Crichton played a hybrid linebacker.  He rushed the passer some but he was used to stop the run a good amount.  It was just another big body who wouldn’t be pushed around.

Secondary – Desmond Trufant was the only corner on the field about 30% of the time for the Huskies.  What a responsibility that was and he handled it extremely well.  Right now he’s an all-conference player and is deserving of All-American recognition.  Two pass breakups, one interception and shutting down one side of the field.  The other corner spot is a bit concerning still but they did okay this game.  Marcus Peters saw quite a bit of time on the field.  Especially in the second half.  Sean Parker played a great game, blowing up screens and flying around.  The defense looks fast and he is one of the players that looks the fastest.  Travis Feeney lined up as free safety sometimes to stop the run which was another wrinkle.  Justin Glenn also played a good game with a couple of pass-breakups.  There were a few blown assignments but that’s to be expected especially when there was such an emphasis on stopping the run.

Special Teams – Travis Coons was the first half MVP.  He made a career long field goal, had a pretty good yards per punt average and punted one left-footed which saved the Huskies field position.  That was a great play that I’m not even going to try to explain.  Marvin Hall is fast and will break a return soon.  He’s been very close in the last two games.  He’s a game changer and I’m glad Sark pulled the red-shirt off of him.  Not literally.  They don’t actually wear red-shirts.

After watching the game again, this game was something that all Husky fans should feel proud of.  But, it’s time to turn our attention to our bitter rival down south.  It’s been fun to bask in this game.  I doubt we’ll have this feeling next week but it seems like these Dawgs like to surprise.

Andrew

 

Advertisement

Leave a comment

Filed under Huskies Football, UW Game Recaps

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

by | September 27, 2012 · 11:23 pm

The Huskies Earn A Signature Victory

Growing up, I always heard and saw highlights of what a ‘Husky defense’ was supposed to look like.  The legend of the defense was talked about with every coach who was hired, and later fired, for the past decade.  Every coach wanted to restore what ‘Husky defense’ was supposed to be.  Sometimes there were glimpses.  The crowd would stand up, yell louder than they would for any touchdown, and the defensive ends would fire off the ball for a sack on 3rd down.  We saw glimpses but hardly ever complete games.

That Was Awesome!

In 2010 the Husky defense dominated a one-dimensional Nebraska team in the Holiday Bowl.  In that same year, the Husky defense kept the team in the game against Oregon State by shutting them down in the second half.  In 2009, the defense played pretty well against USC, Cal, and Wazzu.  We can go back farther.  The 2001 Rose Bowl team had a good defense who was opportunistic and often rose to the occasion.  But, as the college football game evolved, the offense has been ahead of the defense for most of the last 15 years.

Tonight the Huskies played their best defensive game since…. I don’t know.  Maybe the Holiday Bowl was more impressive to you?  Not to me.  This effort was complete against the most physical team in the Pac-12.  Stanford shoved their way to 65 yards and 6 points.  Stanford didn’t score a touchdown for the first time since 2007.  The Dawgs just didn’t let any plays break them.  Stanford didn’t have a rush for over 7 yards.  Last year, they had 10 over 15 yards.

I could throw out stats all night that show you how well the defense played but I think you get the point.  This defense tackled better, pursued better, and played with  more effort than I’ve ever seen.  Tonight was maybe my best glimpse of what a ‘Husky defense’ is supposed to look like.  Do I expect them to go into Oregon next week and shut down the Ducks.  Not at all.  Hardly anyone does that and it will be a different type of game.  This was a giant step in the right direction though.

Later on, I (or another one of the Good Guys) will break down this game more thoroughly.  Tonight is for soaking in victory though.  We don’t need to think about how the offensive line can’t pass block or about the emergence of a 3rd receiver.  We can focus on a defense that was nothing short of phenomenal.  We can focus on a surprising running game.  We can focus on the play-maker Kasen Williams is turning in to.  We can focus on a quarterback who repeatedly gets taken to the ground while throwing balls on target and then gets up and smiles, no matter the outcome.  Tonight we saw a team who deserved to be a top-10 team.  And what do you know?  They did.

Go Dawgs!

Andrew

1 Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , ,

by | September 11, 2012 · 11:12 am

UW – LSU Recap

I’m a few days late on this but I was a bit busy and don’t have much to say about this game.  I’ll keep it short and then talk about the rest of the Pac-12 tomorrow.

Before I recap the disaster that was Saturday night, I’d be remiss to not mention the announcement that the Sonics Arena Deal will be passed.  Chris Hansen has bent over backwards to get this deal done and now, we’re only a few steps away from getting an NBA team here.  Hansen seems to be one of the most likeable guys around and the whole city needs to send him a few thank you cards.  Our city will be better because of this deal, not just because of the enhancement of the NBA being here but also because of the traffic problems being taken care of and the cleaning up of the Sodo District.  It’s a great day to be living in Seattle.

Also, I’d like to thank any veterans and members of the military on this day we remember.  Our thoughts and prayers are with the families who have lost someone on this day 11 years ago.

So, on to Saturday night.  There’s not much to say, because I generally try to stay positive.  The Dawgs were beaten, stepped on, beaten, and then curb-stomped a few times.  Sure, the game started well on the first play and the Huskies took an early lead, but the game was over once the Huskies had to settle for a field goal.  Who knows what happens if Bishop Sankey or Jaydon Mickens holds on to the ball and the Dawgs get a quick 7 on the board.  They still would have lost, but an early bit of confidence could do a young team wonders.   It was like LSU was going to play rope-a-dope with the Dawgs, then felt their measly jab to the ribs, and decided to just K.O. them sooner rather than later.

Thomas Tutogi and Danny Shelton had good games.  Otherwise, can you point to anyone who had a good game?  I can’t.  If you can, let me know in the comments.  Erik Kohler was lost to another injury.  Travis Feeney might be out for a few weeks.  The team was just dominated physically.

My general feeling is that I’m tired of watching that happen.  I thought this team would compete with the best this year and they definitely didn’t.  They’ve been bit by the injury bug, but that’s not an excuse for getting beat 41-3.  It’s one game, but for the first time in the Sark era, you have to worry about progress a little bit.  He’s done a great job with this program and by no means is in the hot seat but the team can’t keep getting blown  out in these games.

This week they need to throttle Portland State.  They need to beat them the way Oregon would.  It will put everyone’s mind at ease.  They need to average 5 or 6 yards a carry.  Keith Price needs to have a high completion percentage, look efficient and then get out of the game by the 4th quarter.  The defense needs to score a touchdown (they have in both games so far, unless you count that blown call by SEC officials) and limit yardage.  No, they don’t need to do these things to win but they need to do them for their own confidence and to keep the fan base patient.  Stanford comes in a few weeks later and the Huskies need to have shown that they’ll be ready.

Shane Brostek will play in his first game on Saturday.  He is a true freshman who will see time at right guard.  I wish he could have red-shirted but the offensive line needs help and if he can make them improve then I’m all for it.  This week is a chance for the Dawgs to get healthy and dominate in all aspects of the game.  Let’s hope they get that done.  After Saturday, they could use something that goes according to plan.

Andrew

1 Comment

Filed under Huskies Football, UW Game Previews, UW Game Recaps

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , ,

by | September 2, 2012 · 12:57 am

The Dawgs Defend And Win!

The last time we saw the Husky football team on the field, they were in the process of giving up 67 points to the Baylor Bears.  That night, the defense was incredibly bad.  So bad that I’ve washed most of it from my memory.  Tonight was the first time the Dawgs had been back in a competitive game.  They gave up 12 points.  67-12=55.  You could score 12 points in 5 football games and still be a touchdown and a PAT away from 67 points.  I’m good at math and it’s 1:20 in the morning.

A lot will be made of how ugly the offense looked for the last 3 quarters of the game.  I’ll get to that in a minute.  A lot will be made about Rocky Long’s decision-making  in this football game.  His decisions were bad but he had said that his team would do this.  He stuck to his word, and it worked out for the Huskies.  After those two things, people will talk about the defense.  That’s a complete reverse of what it should be.  We’re all so cynical.

Justin Glenn is asleep.

The Huskies gave up 12 points, and 6 of those were on an illegal play.  Yes, San Diego State did drive for some yards and you could say that if they had settled for field goals, the game would have been much more uncomfortable.  That’s true, but remember that the Aztecs, on their only touchdown drive, went for it twice on fourth down.  If they settled for a field goal there, then they don’t get their touchdown, obviously.  There’s two sides to every coin.

Now, Ryan Katz and the San Diego State offense isn’t USC or Oregon.  But, they appeared to be a formidable foe, especially at some points.  The defense appeared faster than it has in a decade.  Desmond Trufant locked down his side of the field, until his injury.  The secondary was the best I’ve seen in… I’m still think about that because we haven’t seen a dominant secondary in a long time.  There was one blown coverage tonight and the trick play the Aztecs ran.  Can you think of any other time a receiver ran completely wide open?  Can you think of a time when bubble screens didn’t work against this team?  It was refreshing.  For most of the game there was a pass rush.  Containment on Ryan Katz wasn’t very good but I won’t be overly worried about that going forward.  The defense was good and people should talk about that first and foremost.

I’m going to keep this recap pretty short because I haven’t watched the game for a second time and it’s time for bed.  I’m just listing things about the defense now anyway and that isn’t beneficial to anyone.  I’ll just skip ahead to a few bullet points and then we’ll have a more thoughts as the week goes.

  • About the offense.  They were great in the first quarter.  They could do whatever they wanted and do it well.  Then, they kept moving the ball but didn’t score.  That truly is how I see it.  In my opinion, people are overreacting about an offense that was very vanilla and was saving things for next week.  Remember last year after the opener that Sark said he was embarrassed that they didn’t have a reception over 10 yards.  Then, the next game the Dawgs came out, threw vertically, and dominated offensively.  This was the same game plan.  How many times did the Huskies throw down field tonight?  I can remember 2.  One was a bad decision by Price and one was a touchdown called back that came on a broken play.  There were a couple of 20 yard passes but nothing that I would qualify as ‘taking a shot deep’.  This was Steve Sarkisian letting his playmakers beat the opponent and saving his intricate playbook for next week.  Of course, I could be proven wrong next week but I don’t think I will.
  • The one part of the offense that does worry me is the rushing attack.  They were bottled up in the second half and didn’t do much of anything.  Mike Criste struggled in trying to fill in for an injured Ben Riva.  Jesse Callier was injured.  There were things that didn’t break right for the rushing attack tonight but they need to be better than that.  They were pushed around and should be past the point of getting beat physically like that.
  • The injuries I mentioned above are the big ones.  Riva fractured his forearm and will be out for a couple of weeks.  Callier injured his knee and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s out for the year.  Knee’s just aren’t a good thing to injure.  Trufant is a little banged up but he should be fine.  Princeton Fuimaono may have suffered a concussion but I can’t confirm that.
  • I worry that the defense may struggle against power running teams like they did last year.  They are clearly fast and will do better against a spread team but the Aztecs seemed like they could have run the ball pretty effectively.  The numbers don’t support that but that’s the impression I came away with.  Also, the open field tackling against the running back was not good enough.  Give him some credit, but that can’t happen next week.
  • Keith Price was good and this was a bad day for him.  If that doesn’t make sense, just know that Price is very good.  Let’s hope that the offensive line can keep him healthy.  He took way too many hits tonight.  Slide, young fella!

Final comment:  I’ll just summarize by saying that these are the type of games we should start to expect from Steve Sarkisian openers.  Try to hold the opponent at an arm’s length away and don’t show much offensively.  Next week, I expect to see many wrinkles in the offense.  It may not be enough, but the offense will take more chances next game.  The defense won the game for the Huskies and it’s been a long time since we’ve been able to say that.  They really played well.  There were a few mistakes but they were miles ahead of last year.

Again, one of us will probably add some more thoughts about the game in the next couple days but I thought I’d throw out some of my thoughts before I get some much-needed sleep.  We’re 1-0!  11 more to go!  Go Dawgs.

Thanks for reading!

Andrew

Leave a comment

Filed under Huskies Football, UW Game Recaps

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , ,

by | August 31, 2012 · 12:37 pm

Tomorrow’s Dreams

This post is not a preview of what I think will happen this season.  It is a detailed post of what could be possible.  This was inspired by Jeff Sullivan of Lookout Landing.

Looking back, maybe we shouldn’t have been so surprised.  We all thought this team was one year away from the big-time national scene.  We could settle for another trip to the Holiday Bowl, or, dare I say it, the Sun Bowl, this year if it meant bigger things next year.  Us fans knew that the Dawgs were young and expecting too much felt somewhat unreasonable.  Now, we see that the phrase ‘Next year’ may be uttered far too often in Seattle sports.

Before I get too far ahead of myself though, the Alamo Bowl still isn’t out of the question.  In fact, it’s a very strong possibility.  Tomorrow, the 30th of November, the Huskies will play USC for the Pac-12 championship.  If they lose, another trip to San Antonio is likely.  If they win though…  Man, if they win.

Back to the expectations at the beginning of the season.  Sometimes, I don’t think we allow ourselves to dream quite enough.  But, the early season didn’t give us many reasons to.

While the Huskies won fairly easily in their opener against the Aztecs, the game didn’t provide many answers to questions.  The defense allowed too many yards.  The running game didn’t amass as many yards as we hoped.  Keith Price just made plays, which is what Keith Price does.  But, one man can’t win every game and we saw that the next week.  LSU brought pressure off the edge and sacked Price 6 times.  The defense, while improved, just didn’t make enough stops and the SEC proved dominant, once again, as our Dawgs lost by 17.  It wasn’t a catastrophe but it wasn’t the statement we wanted.

An easy win against Portland State followed but Portland isn’t even a state.  Then came a Thursday night game against Stanford, who came in with a record of 2-1 (the loss being to USC).  People talk about turning points in a season all the time in sports.  After years of observation, I’m not a real believer in them.  Sure, sometimes it feels like all momentum shifts to one team and that team is unbeatable.  Remember the Mariners 8 game winning streak way back in August?  But, most of the time, I think turning points are an easy way for the media to write a story.  I don’t know what exactly happened on September 27th, 2012 but it changed the Huskies season.

The team had of course been blown out by Stanford the previous years and, while this game wasn’t a blow out, the Dawgs still lost.  They weren’t physically dominated like before and the defense had obviously made improvements.  The Huskies lost by seven but if there ever was a loss to feel good about, it was this one.  Right when Husky fans had made up their minds about that, reports started to surface about yelling in the team locker room.  Sark had evidently got after the team pretty good and said, “I don’t care if that’s better than we did last year!  Losses aren’t acceptable.  They won’t be tolerated anymore.”  And then, they weren’t.

Of course, this all seemed ridiculous.  It seemed like coach speak, at best.  Playing at Oregon was up next on the schedule and that was followed by USC.  Most fans, including myself had losses penciled in on the schedule.  I don’t need to recount the Oregon game play by-play.  You all have heard about it enough by now.  Keith Price scrambling for a touchdown with 36 seconds remaining and Sean Parker’s clinching interception 3 plays later.  Those were plays that will be held in Husky lore.  Eight years of torture were ever.

USC came to town next and were ranked number one.  They may not have looked as amazing as everyone thought they’d be but they still hadn’t lost a game.  This was the week the Clink went from being a temporary home to a gathering pl ace.  Yes, home field advantage was present in the three previous games but once the sell-out was announced on Tuesday of game week, there was a buzz in Seattle that we don’t hear unless the Seahawks are in the playoffs.

The whole game was a party.  Although it was a fairly close game, it felt that the Huskies had control of it the whole way through.  Winning by 14 felt easy.  There were Keith Price’s 3 touchdown passes compared to Barkley’s 2.  There was the defense causing 3 turnovers.  There was the Josh Shirley sack on the first USC offensive play in the second half that let us know that our team wasn’t letting up.  Then, there was the Shaq Thompson kickoff.  For years, it has felt like USC has been having those kind of special plays against us, with their superior athletes, now it was our turn.  On that day, we were better than USC.  USC hasn’t lost since then and looks to claim a spot in the national championship with a win tomorrow.  They’re good.  But, maybe we’ll be better again.The rest of the season felt euphoric.  UW – 45, Arizona – 28.  UW – 49, OSU – 24.

The showdown in Berkeley on a Friday night, on national TV was another highlight.  California had been talking all week long about Tosh Lupoi and how payback was going to be sweet.  Shaq Thompson stuffed the box score (1 interception, 1 sack, 2 tackles for a loss, and 7 tackles total) and shut up Cal.  UW- 35, Cal -17.  The defense had improved emphatically.  They weren’t your dad’s Huskies but they were good in a conference of bad defenses.  A day later, USC beat Oregon in a barn burner.

Utah caused the biggest scare, the rest of the way.  The whole game, they stuffed the run and made the Huskies one-dimensional.  At this point, Sankey and Callier both had gone over 500 yards on the season and made up a balanced offensive attack.  We found that Keith Price couldn’t do it all even if he had to.  But, the thing about memorable teams is there’s always a unit that steps up.  In this game, it was the defense.  Nate Fellner and John Timu bottled up John White, thanks in large part to Danny Shelton and Semisi Tokolahi.  Desmond Trufant showed why other quarterbacks never throw to his side of the field, as he collected 2, of his season total 5, interceptions.  The safeties proved why they were all conference.  The team held Utah to 17 points and as Keith Price took over on the Huskies 30 yard line with a 1:26 remaining, he was smiling.  He marched down the field to Utah’s 12.  Perfect passes to Kasen, Smith, and Mickens.  Heck, even Bruns had a first down catch.  That set up for Travis Coons game-winner that barely made it inside of the upright.

As the Huskies played Colorado, and proceeded to blow them out, most Dawg fans had their eyes on the Oregon-Stanford game.  For once, we were all Duck fans and for once they did what we willed them to.  Oregon beat Stanford easily and the Huskies controlled their own destiny in the Pac-12 North.

Wazzu was next and that didn’t prove to be much of a challenge.  There was much hoopla leading up to the game but it was mostly due to the Huskies being on the verge of clinching a spot in the Pac-12 championship.  While it was clear that the Cougars had improved as the year went on, their defense was put to shame by the Huskies attack and the Dawgs won 52-28.  Purple flooded the field in Pullman and now we’re here.  A day away from the most important Husky game in 11 years.

Sark’s boys have moved up to number 7 in the BCS.  But, the rankings don’t really matter.  If the Huskies win they’ll be in the Rose Bowl, if they don’t it’ll most likely be the Alamo.  I don’t know what will happen.  No one predicted that this was how the season would turn out so there’s not much point in predicting how tomorrow will go.  Yes, we beat USC once but it will be tough to repeat the Huskies most complete performance since 1994.  I hope, I pray for a win.

I guess the moral of this year is that maybe we should stop thinking about next year.  Oh, next year will be great.  While Price won’t likely win the Heisman this year, next year he comes in as a top 3 favorite.  The defense will be one year older and only graduates 3 starters.  There’s a top-15 recruiting class coming.  The future is lit up, but how dumb would it be to dream of 2013 when we’re a 60 minutes away from grabbing roses.  We don’t know if Justin Wilcox will be here next year.  We don’t know who will be injured.  So, instead of next year there’s tomorrow.  Who could ask for anything more.

1 Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , ,

by | August 29, 2012 · 10:49 am

2012 UW Huskies: It’s Time for Football

I feel like I should write some kind of preview for the Huskies, but I can’t think of any clever or particularly interesting way to do it.  There are tons of previews out there, most of them much better than anything I can offer.  Still, the best day of the year comes this Saturday, so here goes nothing.  I’m just going to give the things I’m concerned with for this year’s team and the things I’m excited about, with the (potentially) bad stuff first.  In no particular order…

Things That Make Me Nervous

  • The new defense.  This one’s complicated, because I think the defense will be much improved (see below).  The problem is that they have a long way to come.  One of the coaches noted that, while the team has looked great in practice, sometimes players get into games and forget what they’re supposed to be doing, especially with a new scheme.  The talent looks improved enough to be at least average, other than possibly the…
  • Linebackers.  The bane of last year’s defense (at least on the field) do look improved, but they have plenty of issues as well.  After receiving a bunch of new bodies from the safeties this spring, they proceeded to average an injured linebacker a day through much of fall camp.  Nate Fellner and Jamaal Kearse are still out for a couple of games, but everyone else is now back.  The enlarged John Timu at middle linebacker has been drawing accolades and should be the one constant throughout the year.  Princeton Fuimaono is probably the number two guy right now.  Former safety Travis Feeney is holding down Fellner’s spot, although Shaquille Thompson will take over a good share of the time in the nickel package.  There’s talent, speed and athleticism here.  Now it just needs to translate to tackles.
  • The offensive tackles.  File this under lack of experience as well.  Both tackles, Micah Hatchie and Ben Riva, left and right respectively, have seen little or no game action.  They have lots of talent and the practice reports are good, but only games will show if they’re actually ready.  I’m optimistic, but without Chris Polk, this line needs to be a strength.  Unless these two excel, it will likely be average at best.
  • The new home field.  Century Link is a great place to play, and it should still be plenty loud, but it’s tough having to adjust to a new routine and a new home.  You know those first couple of months after you move into a new house or apartment?  No matter how nice a place it is and how excited you are to be there, it takes a while to feel completely comfortable.  Hopefully, the adjustment for the Dawgs will be short and easy, with no effects on the field. Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under Huskies Football

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

by | July 22, 2012 · 9:35 pm

Getting To Know Your Dawgs – Quarterback

Matthew has recently been working on his series about the Mariners prospects at different positions.  This seems like a good idea.  I mean, Matthew does have his Masters Degree so that means he has some good ideas once in a while.  You never knew that the amount of good ideas you had were a direct correlate to the amount of education you have, did you?  That’s why 7 year old’s ideas are so dumb.  This is a tiny bit true although I’m mocking it.

Anyway, as Matthew finishes up his series about the M’s, college football season approaches!  Husky football is vastly more interesting than the Mariners these days so my series, which is on each of the 2012 Huskies positions, should be way better than Matthew’s.  This really wasn’t a competition until I started writing this.  Read his stuff too because he’s a better writer and, if you’re interested in the Mariners farm system, it’s much more revealing.

There’s a little over a month before the Huskies kick off against San Diego State on September 1st and only about 10 days until the Huskies fall camp starts.  It will be an exciting time, as this might be Steve Sarkisian’s best Husky team so far.  We’ll have more previews on the team as the season draws.  Today, I’ll just be talking about the quarterback and will move down the list of positions over the next month (content may continue to be light for the next few weeks because of vacations and such, it’s a busy time.  Sorry!).

The quarterback position will probably always be in good hands as long as Sark is here.  There were concerns about Keith Price last season but then he turned in one of the most amazing seasons in Husky history.  While that was going on, our coach brought in two 4-star recruits to sure up the future.  This  might be the most cheerful position preview you read, so enjoy it!

Keith Price (RS JR.)

Over the next couple of seasons, Keith Price could become my favorite Husky of all time (it’s a tie between Chris Polk and Tui, at the moment).  He has a great story, he’s a great player, and, most of all, he’s just happy to be on the field, playing some ball.  His smile has won over Husky nation and I’m not sure that anyone (even opposing fans) can really root against the guy.  Oh yeah, the numbers are pretty amazing too.  Last year he passed for 33 touchdowns, over 3,000 yards and had a 67% completion percentage to boot.  He did most of that on one good leg.  I do wonder if he’ll be able to stay healthy for an entire season but we saw what he could do in the Alamo Bowl with a healthy body.

Without Chris Polk around, some have questioned if Price will be as effective.  It’s an interesting argument that has some legs but I don’t have many concerns as far as that goes.  His numbers may not be quite as efficient but the yards may go up even farther and the Dawgs should be able to muster some sort of rushing attack.

Derrick Brown (RS FR.)

Brown will enter the fall as Price’s backup, if that stays the same for the season remains to be seen.  Brown could quickly become a forgotten man on this team because of the talented kids below him and the star above him.  With that being said, if Brown performs well he’ll play as Sark has shown a willingness to play the best player.  As a quick aside, remember when that wasn’t the case?  When Tyrone Willingham was coach I had no idea if the best player at the position was playing.  I know expectation are growing for this program, as they should,  but let’s be thankful that we made the right decision on this coaching hire.  Sark may not be the guy who coaches this team in the next golden age of Husky football but he has truly done an incredible job of getting us out of a deep, dark hole.

Back to Brown, he’s a 6-3, 230 lb. guy who is a fairly mobile guy.  He’s from California and was ranked around the number 20 quarterback prospect in the nation by recruiting services.  He’ll battle it out for the backup job during camp and I expect that he’ll be listed as the backup quarterback going in to this season.  Beyond that, I really have no idea.

Jeff Lindquist (FR.)

Lindquist is from Mercer Island and is a guy that I look forward to seeing over the next few years.  I know a few people over on the island and they all raved about Lindquist.  Not so much as a football player (although he was surely great in high school) but more as a person.  He seems to truly have his head on straight (which is another thing that Sark has done well, bringing in players with good character and running a pretty clean ship).  He’s around 6-4, 220 and reminded me of a Jake Locker type style when I watched him live a few times.  He runs pretty well, although not as fast as Locker, and has a strong-arm.  He was rated in the top 10 quarterbacks by most recruiting services.

Cyler Miles (FR.)

Miles is from Colorado and had an interesting recruiting experience.  He committed to the Huskies and then almost flipped to USC at the last second before announcing he was a Dawg.  I remember signing day well since I woke up at 6:30 for it…. Anyway, Miles has the best mobility of any U-Dub quarterback.  He’s a quick guy.  His passing might not be as strong in the passing game as Lindquist but he’s faster.  The recruiting services rank these guys very evenly and they’re usually ranked around number 10.  I have no idea who will turn out to play more.  There is no consensus on who’s better but Sark is working with some good kids and I have a lot of faith that one of them will turn out.

This position is probably the best on the team right now.  You can make an argument for the secondary but I don’t think it has more talent than this one.  I hope that Price is able to stay healthy and the young guys can redshirt.  Also, any of the backups playing this year might be a bit too soon.  Sark knows what he’s doing with them though and this position is the least of my worries.  That’s a blessing, considering that it’s probably the most important position.

Thanks for reading!

Andrew

3 Comments

Filed under Huskies Football, Huskies Position Overviews

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

by | January 8, 2012 · 8:06 pm

UW Quarterbacks

I’m going to run through positional overviews for the Dawgs for next year, starting with quarterbacks.  I thought about waiting until the new recruits are in, but most of them will redshirt and, as I said in my last post, I don’t really know much about them anyway.  I’ll mention recruits if I think I have reason to, but the aim of these posts is to see what the Huskies have on hand for 2012.  Enjoy!

Who They Lose

No one.

Starter

Keith Price– Junior: Price just completed his first season as starter, and it’s hard to imagine what he could do for an encore.  His 2011 was arguably the best season by a Husky QB in history.  He set virtually every single-season record except for yardage, which Cody Pickett holds.  It did take Pickett a lot more attempts than Price, so I’d argue that Price’s season was better.  He showed a significantly stronger arm and better accuracy than most expected, and his impressive knowledge of the offense was a popular topic of conversation.

The lone drawback with Price is a lack of durability.  He only missed one game, and he probably could have gutted that one out, but he spent nearly the entire season with leg injuries that hampered his mobility.  The Alamo Bowl provided a glimpse of Price’s running ability, and if that can be a more permanent part of his game, he’s going to be incredibly scary.  It’s easy to say that he’ll put on 15 pounds this winter and be more durable, but I don’t know if he can even do that or how much it will help if he does.  Whether he can run free or not, another year to continue to mature and improve, coupled with the progression of Kasen Williams and Austin Seferian-Jenkins, should make Price into one of the premier college QBs in the country.  This position is in better hands than any other on the team.

Depth

Nick Montana– Sophomore

Derrick Brown– RS Freshman

Thomas Vincent- RS Freshman

Entering 2011, Montana and Price both had a shot at the starting job.  Price won it, of course, and when Montana filled in a few times later in the season, it was easy to see why.  Montana looked mostly overmatched, with arm strength and accuracy issues.  Starting him over Price against Oregon State, when Price was hobbled with bad knees, probably cost the Huskies the game.  It was easy and popular to say that Montana would never be an elite quarterback in the Pac-12, and many speculated that he would transfer now that Price has cemented himself into the position seemingly until Montana’s senior year.

No one will argue that Montana was unimpressive, and it’s hard to say what he’ll become.  It’s easy to forget that he was only a redshirt freshman, though.  He has plenty of time to improve, and most people who know think he will.  It’s possible that he transfers, but there’s been no indication that he is thinking about it.  I would expect that he’s here to stay, and I think he’ll be dramatically improved and serve as a solid backup in 2012.  Brown was a somewhat unheralded recruit in 2011, but he’s drawn some raves since stepping on campus.  He’s a big, athletic guy with possibly the strongest arm currently on campus.  Hopefully, he won’t be needed this year, but he shows a lot of potential.  Vincent is a walk on who will likely never see the field in his career, but he sounds like he has some genuine talent and athleticism, even if it’s only ever used to run the scout team.  He walked on with the Huskies over some lower level offers, which is always welcome.

Incoming Recruits

Jeff Lindquist and Cyler Miles

As I said, I won’t mention too many recruits, but these two are hard to pass up.  Both committed early to the UW, and both are ranked around 15th among quarterbacks in the nation, and that may be a little low with the way they’re playing in the postseason events.  Both are athletic guys with big arms.  Both won the MVP awards in national high school all star games last week.  It’s pretty rare to get two elite quarterbacks like this in the same class.  Both seem very solid in their commitments to the Huskies, but every school on the west coast will be coming hard at them this month.  Lindquist, from Mercer Island, seems certain to stick with the Dawgs.  Miles seems like more of a question, but only because he’s from Colorado.  He’s given no indication of looking elsewhere.  Right now, they are the gems of the UW recruiting class and should keep the Husky quarterback position in good hands for the next half a decade.

-Matthew

Leave a comment

Filed under Huskies Football, Huskies Position Overviews, Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , ,