EJ Savannah will not return
by John Berkowitz on Feb 16, 2010 1:41 PM PST
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PrintEJ Savannah was not granted a sixth year by the NCAA so he will not be returning in 2010. That opens up some questions in the linebacking corp. Cort Dennison and Mason Foster are your likely veteran starters but this opens it up for competition in the middle to replace Donald Butler who is also graduating. Dennison can actually play anywhere so they likely will try to find the best threesome in practice this spring and go with that.
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Not a surprise – granting E.J. a 6th year would’ve been setting a new precedent for that rule, and the NCAA probably looked at it as a slippery slope they didn’t want to navigate. As much as we may view it as the result of unfair treatment by Ty, it’s ultimately a “he-said/she-said” situation, and I can see why the NCAA would want to avoid getting in the middle of it and granting future precedent that could be abused.
Too bad though – we could’ve really used him next year.
Disappointing for UW
But not a very big surprise. I would have loved to have him back for another year, we are going to be pretty thin at LB this year.
"Legends are made on the shores of Lake Washington"
"BOW DOWN TO WASHINGTON"
…we are going to be pretty thin at LB this year.
Well, we’ll be thin in terms of experienced depth and big thumpers to play the MIK. We do have a lot of guys in the LB group though – Foster, Dennison, Tucker, Wallace, Houston, Logan, Gage, Burnett, Fuimaono, Gilliland, Young (questionable on academics), Waters.
Of those guys, not many have the size you’d want in your MLB. Foster is actually the biggest according to the roster, though we’ll see this Spring how Tucker has developed. We’ve heard good things about Wallace, so if the coaches feel comfortable sliding Foster or Dennison to the MIK, you might see Wallace starting at the WIL. If Young qualifies, I’d expect him to be right there in the mix as a starter, and I’d guess Burnett will also make a run at a starting spot. Waters could be in the mix too if the coaches don’t put him in the DE group right away – Williams too.
Should be a very interesting battle to watch – lots of bodies, who will emerge?
Lots of bodies
Very thin on experience. After Foster and Dennison there is absolutely nobody with experience at all, Gage was a senior last season.
The good: lots of bodies, hopefully one of them can step up and become a good starter. The bad: no experience and no depth, we are going to be asking a lot of RS and true freshmen.
"Legends are made on the shores of Lake Washington"
"BOW DOWN TO WASHINGTON"
Whoops – you’re right about Gage.
Hopefully within those numbers the coaches can find enough productive players, but I’m concerned about our LB and DE situation on defense for 2010.
DE will be interesting but I’m guessing we’ll see Everett Thompson take DTN’s spot and the other spot will be up for grabs between Aldrich / Pulu / Crieton. Maybe one of the new guys get in the mix but I doubt it. DE is a very tough position for a true freshman to excell at as we saw last year.
I dunno – the coaches seemed to prefer Thompson at DT last season. It appears he might not have the quickness and explosiveness they want out of their DE’s. Too bad Aldrich can’t stay healthy – he looked good in small bursts of playing time last year, but the chronic knee injury may keep him from doing much as a regular player.
They had DTN last year so there was really no reason to put ET at end. Plus DTN played at DT in some of their D sets so that would fit ET pefectly – kind of a “hybrid” end like DTN was.
DTN was obviously a stalwart at one of the DE spots, but until Darrion Jones got healthy and picked up his game at the end of last season, there was a huge need for another productive DE – Crichton and Pulu weren’t getting it done.
Now, maybe this season the coaches feel more comfortable with the DT’s in their rotation and will try moving Thompson back to DE, but there has been a lot of talk that they don’t feel he has the quickness they want out of that position. We’ll see this Spring how they view the DL…
Crichton and Pulu
In defense of those guys they simply weren’t ready to assume roles beyond special teams play last season. They both did show some nice potetnial and a full year in the strength and conditioning program should elevate their performance.
by John Berkowitz on Feb 17, 2010 12:38 PM PST up reply actions
Sure, I expect big improvements out of Crichton and Pulu. I was just pointing out that DE was a position that needed help last year, and yet the coaches decided to play Thompson at DT instead. Doesn’t mean they might not move him back to DE this year, but there’s evidence out there that they prefer him at DT…
Some of that could be because ET played hurt all last year. If his ankle heals up and he’s at 100% this year it may allow him to get of the ball faster at DE.
I am not so sure on where ET will end up playing but the need is certainly on the outside.
by John Berkowitz on Feb 17, 2010 3:17 PM PST up reply actions
One of the main reasons I think this team takes another BIG step forward is because of all the players having another year of Ivan. He did an outstanding job and got alot done in a short amount of time. Last off season he stripped the body fat off of them. This off season he is putting quality mass on them. We should see a bigger / stronger / faster team next year.
Hopefully this is the end of the debacle that was the Ty Willingham experiment.
by Gig Harbor Husky on Feb 16, 2010 5:48 PM PST reply actions
I always felt
EJ getting a sixth year was a long shot…real long. We’ll need some guys to figure it out quick.
Another huge reason why we loaded up on LB’s this off season.
by John Berkowitz on Feb 17, 2010 12:39 PM PST up reply actions
EJ good luck yo you.
In all wars, ther are unintended events and collateral damage. Too bad for EJ his happened to be a little man complex supposedly running the circus.
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