Pre Spring Position Reports - WR
by John Berkowitz on Feb 20, 2009 5:11 AM PST
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PrintThe passing game in 2008 wasn't spectacular with Jake Locker sitting out more than three quarters of the season. Washington has young talent at receiver but most of that talent was playing for the first time last season with a second string quarterback. It wasn't a recipe for success.
Overall as a group I think we are going to enjoy what we see after a full spring of a healthy Jake Locker throwing the ball to these guys. I expect to see a lot of improvement in the passing game for 2009 if the offensive line can give Locker the time to throw.
Washington lacked a consistent deep threat in 2008 to help stretch defenses. In 2009 they need to work on Jakes accuracy with the long ball so he will be able to hit his receivers long and in stride. Good things happen when you do that.
D'Andre Goodwin leads a group of nine returning WR's from last years squad. Jermaine Kearse, Alvin Logan, Jordan Polk, Chris Polk, Devin Aguilar, Cody Bruns, Vince Taylor, and Anthony Boyles are a talented group who gained a lot of experience the hard way in 2008.
The one player who took it to the next level last year was D'Andre Goodwin. "The Flea" led the team in receiving last season. Goodwin caught 60 balls for 692 yards but only had one touchdown catch in a sorry year where the Huskies only completed six touchdown catches as a team. Ronnie Fouch actually caught one of those TD passes.
Jermaine Kearse showed a lot of potential last season. He made a great catch that was beyond his years for a TD early in the season. He had 20 catches for 301 yards and two touchdowns. Most agree that Kearse is a great talent that will have a solid career at Washington. Of all the frosh on last years roster he was probably the closest one ready to play.
Devin Aguilar had a solid first season as a Husky. He had his moments and showed that he can play at this level. I really like the way this kid can return punts. Devin had 20 catches for 246 yards tied with Jermaine Kearse for second on the team. Aguilar is a good athlete nad he has a good future at Washington.
Chris Polk was slated to be a slot back last season but because of an injury to Brandon Johnson and Curtis Shaw leaving school he ended up being the number one TB to start the season. The job didn't last too long and he sat out the rest of the season with a shoulder that needed surgical repair.
Polk came in with a lot of hype last season and never got it rolling before the shoulder injury cut his season short. Chris obviously is one of the most talented athletes on the roster and they are going to find a way to get him on the field.
Sarkisian knows all about this kid and how to use him since he was a USC commit at one point from the SOCAL region. I think he is best suited for where he was originally slotted and that is at WR. We will find out in six weeks.
Anthony Boyles started slowly last year and ended up sitting out the season. Once he got the playbook down and adapted to the discipline he had an outstanding season on the Scout team. Look for Boyles to explode on the scene during spring football. Observers think he may have been the best receiver on the roster by the end of the season.
Alvin Logan is a good athlete and a decent receiver. I think most of us saw that he has some potential on defense too. The new staff may come to the same conclusion after they analyze the film. I like him best at safety so it will be interesting to see what they do.
I was really impressed with the speed and moves that Jordan Polk brings to the table. He is going to be a real good little player over the next three years. He did a decent job returning kickoffs in 2008. Look for the "Polk Cousins" to team up in 2009 returning the ball.
We all agree that Cody Bruns should have sat out last season but when he actually played you could see what Willingham saw in practice. The Huskies don't have a receiver quite like him. He is really fast, smooth and runs excellent routes. I think he will develop into one of the better receivers on the West coast over time.
Vince Taylor is a guy that I expected to end up at safety last year. He came in late so he ended up sitting the year out. Because of the nature of the closed practices we really won't know how he is progressing until spring. I could see the new staff moving him to defense if they need depth over there.
Recruits
The Huskies bring in James Johnson from San Diego who set a bunch of records while he was in high school. He has the ability to play right away if needed and I could see Sarkisian doing that to add depth to special teams. If you look at his film he is a big time deep threat and that may earn him playing time in 2009.
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Stacked!
We are stacked at WR, which is a good thing. The cream will rise to the top. I can see why simone went to wsu, he’d be riding the pine if he had signed with the UW. My gut tells me James Johnson is a better prospect. I also like the hybrid type athletes they brought in this year. Barnett, Kimo and I think there was another but I can’t recall his name. These guys could play like three different positions which is nice to have when you’re trying to develop depth and infuse talent to all sides of the football.
That punter we got, does he kick too? We need to solidify our kicking game.
Washington Husky Football-1991 National Champions
Simone
Would’ve redshirted and would’ve faught for playing time in seasons to come. Cheater Wolff probably told him he would start as early as next season. It made a lot of sense for Simone to choose WSU- he’s the man in Pullman, but would’ve had to wait his turn in Huskyville.
All I saw was purple
Isn't J. Polk
a deep threat? He’s got great speed and it seems like his hands are pretty good. I think he could burn alot of the corners in the Pac-10.
And looking at Bruns...
he reminds me a lot of Wes Welker, he doesn’t have blazing speed but he’s slippery and runs excellent routes.
What are the chances that Bruns redshirts this year? If he does, and we can pick up Jammal Kerse and Heaps (and it’s early but Kasen Williams as well), we can put up Texas Tech or Tulane numbers in 3-4 years.
I’m already jacked for football season and Winter isn’t even over yet!
GO DAWGS!
That's OK we don't give out grades for grammar here.
Washington Husky Football-1991 National Champions
Boyles
Too bad he’ll have to learn a new playbook.
Let him learn it then
I just hope if Boyles doesn’t have a big year this season fans remember he is still only a RS Freshman. Not every kid can come into D1 from HS and light up the scoreboard from day 1. He still has 4 full years to make an impact … maybe a little patience is required?
Deep threats
Goodwin seemed to have plenty of speed to get deep, just didn’t get the ball where he needed it when he was open.
Kearse did a nice job downfield, too, when he went long… sometimes “deep threat” can be a guy with decent speed who can just go up and outfight the defender for the football. (I think the catch you’re referring to was the one against BYU. It was pretty sweet.)
Ok...Proven deep threat
Proven deep threat and the ability of Locker to hit these guys long and in stride.
by John Berkowitz on Feb 20, 2009 12:20 PM PST reply actions
What I liked about Jermaine Kearse
was he went after the ball. Too often the last few years, the WRs would watch and wait for the ball to come to them, but I noticed JK on several attempts go back and jump and contest for the ball. Watch the TD pass from Fouch last year, if it hadn’t been Jermaine, I think it would have intercepted or incomplete.
Boyles
I like the fact that he’s a big kid. Isn’t he like 6’3"? Nice to have a big body with long arms to be able to go up after a ball. They also give the QB more of a cushion to throw into. I remember trying to defend a friend of mine playing touch football and he could just put his arms up and pull the ball out of the air. I didn’t have a chance. Of course I know even these small corners have “hops” and they can get up there to defend but it’s still a big advantage to be taller.
Washington Husky Football-1991 National Champions
Finding the X, Z, and Y receivers
This is what Sark needs to find more then anything involved with the recievers. Find the right guys to work as a group and plugging in depth will be key in the receivers unit. I like all of our receivers, young last year, but with the right coaching could become a gem of a group. But finding the right combinations to run routes is the trick.
All I saw was purple
That's why I like the fact that there are a lot of them...
…competition is a good thing! I think the TEs need to really step up too and be a factor this year.
Washington Husky Football-1991 National Champions
There's no doubt you guys have....
plenty of Pac 10 level WR talent . And, yes, D’Andre Gdwin is a proven commodity, and Brun can play for anyone in the Pac. The never mentioned Izbiki at TE should handle things better than a lot of other Pac 10 schools will have. And Middleton can occupy space well enough for him if he has to go get some air.
As Crazidawg said…….and THAT is the point of all this, CAN they learn the new “O” fast enough for LSU and MORE importantly, can somebody @ QB #1 throw accurately and far enough to make the Talent matter??
I don't think...
…this offense will be clicking by the LSU game. It obviously is going to take some time for these guys to settle into a groove. Hopefully they can begin to find some things that work and conversely some things they need to work on. What more can you ask for?
Washington Husky Football-1991 National Champions
Yes, I expected it'll take time too....
I only used LSU because I don’t know the ‘09 Schedule very well, but did know LSU was an early one. [does Berkowitz have the ’09 schedule on this site? I couldn’t locate it under Husky Football / or Schedule]
I don’t think anyone expects Sark’s kids to come out w/ guns blazing, lighting up the scoreboard like the Fourth, in the Early part of the Season; but success WILL be determined by how quickly a reasonable degree of complexity from the Pbook can be mastered. AND, the critical ?? of course remains, “who can pass the ball to these talented guys?”
The answer to that one DOES need to come up fairly quickly.
QUICKLY , because....
I believe that STANFORD will be STRONGER in ‘09 than in’08.
Many UWers, IMO, believe The Farm is a Dawg “W”. It may not work out that way if the trip to Palo Alto is early in the season, and especially if it comes off one of those fierce whippings that’s likely when the team travels or hosts one of those gawd-awful Top Ten Teams that sprinkle the Husky Schedule AAAGAIN !!!!! this year.
I’m digressing now, and it’s waay too early for this since Spring Ball hasn’t begun. However, it does look like the Dawgs will compete well and win over ARIZONA w/o Tuitama; WSU w/o a lot of talent; and ????
Maybe at home w/ UCLA if you catch THEM EARLY and w/o a known QB at their helm?
I’ve seen some posters list ASU as a UW “W”. I don’t know if Dennis Erickson will allow that on his home field, even if he is rebuilding.
Well, my apologies for straying off into another different thread.
Playbook
Sark is going to install some safe schemes early on. Stuff that is adaptible too. He’ll have about 3 to 4 plays that look identical from the formations and ball movement. But will attack differently with multiple personnel. We all know the play action is going to be installed, along with the boot waggle stuff.
Running the football is going to be the trick to the offense. It might start out slow vs. LSU and USC, but I see it eventually kicking in. Once we establish a decent running game, we can go to play action, 80 and 90 passing game, mix in some screens, and of course Locker on a “safe” keeper. But don’t fool yourself- the running game is the key to the pro style offense. If you can run in the pro then surely it will open everything else up.
We’ll know this year if Cozzetto is THEE guy for us as Oline coach and running coordinator. We’ve got decent talent on the line (not much depth) and a lot of young hungry runningbacks. We should see good improvement here and if we don’t then surely we’ve got to find a running coordinator that can get it done.
I like Coz and I think he’s the guy- but talk is cheap!
All I saw was purple
Breaking News!
Coach Steve Sarkisian has announced Doug Nussmeir has accepted the job of Offensive Coordinator. What does this mean? I still think Sark is going to be calling the offense on gameday. But like Holt at USC under Carroll, Nuss will do all the behind the scenes work. It offers Nuss a jump in salary and gives UDub a little more asurance that Nuss won’t lateral out. After a few seasons working in Sark’s offense, I’m quite sure the offense will be turned over to Nuss. Doug is a great hire- 2nd best behind Holt. But the first thing Nuss needs to learn is the Sark/Chow/Edwards offense, before he takes a stab at calling the offense on gameday.
I always say in terms of assistant coaches- don’t let good assistant coaches lateral out, even if it is for the NFL. The only time you want good assistants leaving is if a promotion is offered.
All I saw was purple
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