Tag Archives: Mason Foster

by | April 6, 2010 · 7:28 pm

Huskies Practice Report – 4/6/2010

I learned my lesson after the first two days of practice that I attended, dress warm.  So today I made my way over to the U District, put my North Face on over my long sleeve shirt, put my jacket on over my north face, put my beanie and gloves on and then began my trek over to the stadium.  To my surprise, it was a little warmer today than it was last week.  The wind wasn’t blowing as hard and the sun even poked through once or twice.  It was easily the most enjoyable practice of the year so far.

I arrived about 45 minutes late because of a guitar lesson but I think I only missed some stretching and position drills.  On my way to my usual spot on the sideline I noticed De’Shon Matthews in the trainers tent with ice on his calf muscle.  He didn’t participate in the rest of practice but the injury doesn’t look extremely serious.  Needless to say, the Huskies don’t need another defensive end hurt.  Hopefully, Matthews will be back soon.  Jordan Polk and Cody Bruns also did not participate in practice.  Polk is nursing a minor hamstring injury and no one seems to know why Bruns sat out.

Today was the teams first day in full pads.  This made for a chippy practice where the offensive and defensive guys really got after each other.  When a team gets to start tackling it’s pretty normal to see shoving matches start.  All of these were stopped right away but it showed a little fire from a team that was so lifeless a few years ago. 

A lot of the day was devoted to 11 on 11 scrimmaging.  Most of the day saw the defense dominate the running game and the offense dominate the passing game. 

There were a few changes in the lineup.  Anthony Boyles and Quinton Richardson were the cornerbacks for the starting unit.  Adam Long ran with the second team.  This is somewhat surprising from an outsider’s perspective but after watching 3 of the first 4 practices it seems pretty clear that Boyles and Richardson are playing at the highest level right now.  Vonzell McDowell also played as a nickel back with the first team defense at times.  Desmond Trufant is not participating in contact drills this spring.

Victor Aiyewa (who’s not allowed in too much contact either) and Alvin Logan are rotating at the strong-side linebacker spot.  I think either of these guys will be just fine at this position.  Logan appears to be very quick around the edge on defense and seems to blitz quite a bit.  I don’t think this position will be decided until just before the season starts.

The defensive line did quite a bit of rotating today.  It was hard to get a read on who the starters are but it looks as if Tyrone Duncan has worked his way into some playing time.  They also tried Cameron Elisara out at defensive end a few times today.

I don’t know if it means everything but Deontae Cooper was always the first person to get a carry in the 11 on 11 sessions.  All the running backs rotated almost every play so I wouldn’t look too much into this.  Cooper did look like the best out of the four running backs (Cooper, Callier, Fogerson, and Bronson) today.

Nick Montana looked like the best option as backup quarterback today.  This was easily his best day of practice.  Even if you weren’t watching it’s easy to tell when Montana throws a nice pass because the couple hundred  people watching generally get very excited.  Montana had a couple of those throws today, he was pretty impressive.

The play of the day goes to Jake.  A rush came from Jake’s right and he scrambled hard to his left.  Aguilar broke free from coverage and Locker threw a 50 yard completion that would’ve gone for a touchdown if they let it play out.  What was impressive is that Jake threw this 50 yard pass across his body while on the run.  I was standing by a reporter who said, “I don’t know if any other quarterback in the nation could do that.”  I have to agree.  I’ve seen Jake do some amazing things but that one might have topped the list.

My players of the day after the jump! Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under Huskies Football

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

by | March 27, 2010 · 1:00 pm

Huskies Position Overviews – Linebacker

Aside from maybe the defensive line, linebacker may be the hardest position to figure out on this team.  Two starters, Mason Foster and Cort Dennison, seem to have their spots locked down but the other spot is up for grabs at the moment.  Here is my depth chart, but this could change drastically by the end of spring.

Starters:

  • Weakside linebacker:  Mason Foster, 6-2, 245, SR.
  • Middle linebacker: Cort Dennison, 6-1, 230, JR.
  • Strongside linebacker: Matt Houston, 6-0, 225, SR.

Mason Foster is pretty awesome.  He had a very good year last year and it’s a little sad to me that he’s a senior.  I still remember watching his high school highlight reel with my friend Derek while sitting in class.  Last year he played strongside linebacker and had some memorable plays, most notably the interception against Arizona.  This year he switches over to weakside because the coaches want to have their best linebacker at that position.  Switching positions shouldn’t be a very big adjustment for Foster and I expect him to be an all pac-10 caliber player this year.  This spring he needs to adjust to his new position and become a leader of this questionable front seven on the Husky defense. 

Cort Dennison started last year as a backup but with the injury of E.J. Savannah he became a starter.  Not only did he become a starter, he was a good starter.  Like Foster, Dennison will be changing his position as a linebacker.  He will shift over to the middle to fill the void left by Donald Butler graduating.  Cort is one of the best tacklers on this Husky defense.  Although him and Foster already know all three positions to a degree, he too will have to adjust to a new position this spring and will need to lead the defense from that middle linebacker spot. 

Matt Houston is a starter by default.  Whatever linebacker steps up as the third best of this group will be the starter regardless of the position.  Houston is very capable of winning this job though.  He has been in the program and should have a good handle on the defense by now.  Hopefully he steps up and shows that he can handle the job but he hasn’t seen much playing time.  It’s hard to know what exactly he can do.

Backups

  • Weakside linebacker: Jordan Wallace
  • Middle linebacker: Tim Tucker, Victor Burnett
  • Strongside linebacker: Alvin Logan

The depth here is very thin and young.  Jordan Wallace and Tim Tucker are red-shirt freshmen.  They both drew raves from the coaches in scout team work last year and each will have the opportunity to play.  Both came in as somewhat unheralded recruits but, in time, could become good linebackers for the Dawgs.  Hopefully that time will come sooner rather than later. 

Victor Burnett, a true freshman, is enrolling in school early to take part in spring practice.  He was a highly rated middle linebacker by most recruiting websites.  This spring he will need to adjust to the college speed and learn the playbook.  Burnett may have more talent than those in front of him but it’s difficult to learn a defense, get acclimated to the college speed, and when a position battle all at once.  I hope Burnett comes in and surprises but I don’t think he’ll come out of the spring as a starter.

Alvin Logan started his career here as a receiver.  He was moved over to linebacker last year and spent the year on special teams and learning the defense.  He could end up in the role Foster had last year as a hybrid SLB/DE.  He should have good speed and he has good size already.  The question is if he’s a good enough tackler to be a started.

Overall overview:  The Huskies have two good linebackers here but after that it becomes somewhat scary.  Between Houston, Wallace, Tucker, Burnett, and Logan you’d think that someone will step up and win the job.  It doesn’t matter what position the winner of this position battle plays because Cort and Mason are flexible.  There are not enough linebackers here and to make up for that some DB’s may be moved over during the spring.  The front seven of this defense is my biggest concern about this team and not even Mason and Cort can stop that.

Andrew

Leave a comment

Filed under Huskies Football, Huskies Position Overviews

Tagged as , , , , , ,