The Monday Morning Wash
by John Berkowitz on Jul 19, 2010 7:00 AM PDT
32 comments
I am out on vacation this week and you know what that means...not as many entries as usual even though I will be keeping an eye open in case anything happens out of the ordinary.
One thing that could happen is word on where the three recently released UCLA recruits are going to attend school this year. Camps will be opening up the first week of August so if those kids plan to do anything other than going the JC route this fall we should see some sort of an announcement at the end of the week. Washington by my count has 84 spots occupied at the moment which would mean they have room for one more if they wish.
We should be hearing some feedback this week on the Husky Stadium remodel. If memory serves me correctly the proposals should have been submitted by July 15th. AD Scott Woodward said they are trying to get as creative as possible in putting it together. It is going to be interesting to see what they come up with and most importantly what the price tag will be.
Softy's Seat of the Week
I can't imagine anyone out there that understands sitting better than Dave "Softy" Mahler. He is hosting a unique series on the official Washington site on his favorites seats in Husky Stadium. The point of it of course is to sell more season tickets.
Dave "Softy" Mahler is back again this week touring the best available seats in Husky Stadium for the 2010 Football season. This week, the spotlight is on Section 11: Row O: Seats 6-13. Contact the Husky Ticket Office at 206-543-2200 or log onto GoHuskies.com to purchase tickets. Tickets are going fast... Don't miss out and get your season tickets today!
Colorado Scheduling
One reason I really like the addition of Colorado to the conference is their scheduling philosophy. The Buffaloes take on all comers.
No one schedules better nonconference games—year in and year out—than Colorado. This decade alone, CU has played Florida State three times, USC, UCLA, Arizona State, West Virginia and Washington State twice each, and Miami, Washington and Georgia. The Buffs have Georgia and Cal as BCS games this fall.
Locker makes O'Brien List.
The Davey O'Brien Foundation announced the 2010 Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award® (The O'Brien) Watch List on Wednesday, and among the 30 student-athletes included was Washington senior Jake Locker.
Big Weekend
Steve Sarkisian reserved one of his biggest recruiting weekends of last year for the LSU game. He is treating the Nebraska game the same way this season. Four of the most sought over recruits in the West have already signed up for the prime time visit -CB DeAnthony Thomas, DT Antwaun Woods, DT Viliami Moala, and S James Sample. Expect the Huskies to add a few more top rated California players to the list and also invite a number of local kids for unofficial visits that weekend.
RB Deontae Cooper and LB Victor Burnett were guests during last years LSU game who ended up committing to Washington. James Sample is the most likely player in the 2010 group to commit to Washington. Woods and Thomas are soft verbals to USC. Moala who is the top DT on the coast goes to the same HS as Sample.
Sark vs Kiffin
The OC Register ran its pre season preview on Washington last Friday.
If USC’s first four opponents lacked some sizzle, that’s about to change. USC-UW means Sark vs. Kif, Locker vs. Barkley, Trojans vs. the Ghosts of Pac-10 Upsets Past, and more.
This will be the Trojans’ first stern test, but I don’t see them losing it. The Huskies won’t have their raucous home crowd this time, nor will they be facing a first-time starting quarterback (unless something goes terribly, terribly wrong between now and October).
The Sporting News ran an article on four traditional powers who are ready to return to the spotlight...Washington, Nebraska, Miami, and Florida State.
Ten years ago, the final Associated Press poll had Miami at No. 2, Washington at No. 3, Florida State No. 5 and Nebraska No. 8. Since then, those schools have combined for just four more top 10 finishes. And eight coaching changes. Those four teams owned the 1990s, combining for seven national titles in the decade.Hiring coach Steve Sarkisian before last season gave Washington more than a proven offensive coordinator and ace recruiter. Somehow, he has the team believing it can contend for a Pac-10 title this year. And he's not bashful about sharing the sentiment. "I wouldn't be surprised if we're in the hunt for the championship with two games remaining," Sarkisian says. "It's as even as it's been in this league in the last 10 years."
Just 10 years ago Washington was a national championship contender. The fall was fast and steep. Three times in the past seven seasons, the Huskies won two or fewer games, and they haven’t managed a winning record in that span. But all indications point to the Huskies ending that drought. Locker, Polk and Kearse are among the most productive offensive trios in the country. Defensively, the Huskies need to improve on pass coverage and the pass rush. If strides are made in those areas, the Huskies could be a factor in the Pac-10 championship race.
Washington’s success this year hinges on the ability of the offensive and defensive lines. Though the offensive line returns four starters and many of the back-ups have game experience this is far from a reliable group (see short yardage situations at Notre Dame). The defensive line also has considerable experience but does not boast a lot of confidence considering the starting ends are overcoming serious injuries.
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Colorado
I like that kind of scheduling. I wouldn’t put wsu into that category though, they’re the cupcake category.
Washington Husky Football-Undefeated 1991 National Champions 12-0!
That's how it should be
Boise State should not be so high in the polls every stinking season. My god! Look at who the face in league fellas- to think they are the No.8 team in the country when they face teams like Fresno, Idaho, Nevada, Louisiana Tech, Utah State is insanely stupid! Try playing a schedule in the Pac 10 or any other BCS schedule. The fact is some of these clowns think they are legit simply because they have the mediocre means to go undefeated, but would they have the depth to do it in a real league? Boise is the Gonzaga of college football- it’s cute and cuddlely and feels good. For that reason uninformed pollsters think a smallish mid major program has earned the reputation to be included.
Colorado deserves the upmost respect for taking on all challengers as does Washington. I think it’s about time many pollsters begin to re-evaluate how they vote. Strength of schedule should weigh a lot more then it currently does. I have Boise State as a legit top 25 team, but no where near the top 10 during any one part of the miracle run thru this decade.
All I saw was purple
2010 Big weekend: LSU
I’ll admit I was a little apprehensive about the LSU game being a big weekend for recruits last season. Considering where we’d been prior to that game, it was clear to me that this was a gamble. But that gamble paid off. We led LSU for most of the game, out played them in all phases of the game, and if it weren’t for two blown secondary coverages there was a legit chace of winning the LSU game.
Bring on the Cornhuskers! WOOF!!!
All I saw was purple
Winning is obviously ideal, but it’s not a necessity to impress the recruits. Give them a good game and have packed house going crazy, and that’s enough for most kids to feel like they had a great visit.
Agreed
But the reason behind my apprehensiveness was that we were coming off an 0-12 campaign and I clearly didn’t have any idea if we could hold our own vs. a tough SEC program like LSU. The last thing you want to do is bring in a ton of big time recruits only to get blown out- that is what I was so worried about last season.
All I saw was purple
also agree
LSU gets a couple of quick TDs……….and here we go again!
I figured you guys would be all over the Middleton dismissal by now.
…that was shocking news.
Damn, my eyeball tastes good.
It must have been...
…pretty bad to be immediately dismissed from the team. That’s too bad, I hope things work out for him.
Washington Husky Football-Undefeated 1991 National Champions 12-0!
Here, from Condotta
Sounds like nothing legal or academic on the dismissal of Kavario Middleton. Sounds like a gradual building up of issues.
Middleton frustrated coaches with his effort and also made some statements prior to Apple Cup last year that upset them.
UW football coaches also prevented Middleton from walking on to the basketball team, something that made Middleton unhappy.
Shocking – yes and no. Yes, in that there wasn’t any particular big bit of news leading up to this that would say he’s about to be dismissed. No, in that there has been a steady stream of smaller news which, in hindsight, doesn’t make this so shocking.
It’s really sad is what it is – seemed like the kid had NFL talent as a TE, but nowhere near enough work ethic to realize that potential. Hopefully this will be the wake-up call he needs, but I’m afraid I’ve seen this scenario play out plenty of times, and often it takes multiple falls for someone to realize they need to change their ways.
One sliver of good news out of this – it can only help in recruiting ASJ, as it will be one less highly-touted TE prospect ahead of him on the depth charts should he choose to come here…
Completely agree with kirkd's assessment
I don’t like the idea of Middleton being dismissed from the team and I’ll try to restrain myself from offering too many negative comments. I liked Kavario and I thought he had great potential, but like dawgfan implied- the work ethic just wasn’t/isn’t there. This coaching staff doesn’t have anytime to be pussyfooting around. They want this program to succeed under their careful watch and hard work is the foundation of what is being installed in order to get back to championship level of play. Is Middleton’s lack of effort placing a heavy burden in the lockeroom? Is his relaxed attitude in conflict with that of the coaching staff? All the signs are there and that could be a big problem.
I sure as hell hope the coaching staff has left the door open for his return if no academic nor legal problems are the issue (unlike Oregon fans). But if the rumors are true then surely it would take a complete effort/attitude adjustment for big Kavario to return. Hope things work where we get him back on the roster, but if the attitude and effort isn’t present then it might be better for the Huskies to go in a different direction. And I agree this may bring ASJ closer to becoming a Dawg.
All I saw was purple
I sort of agree...
I’ve watched Middleton closely in several practices and in games, and he simply doesn’t try very hard. It’s obvious that he’s wasting a lot of what he’s got.
In this case, the small news seems really, really, insignificant for the most part. The biggest things I can come up with are the WSU comments, and the fact that he’s mostly been a lazy underachiever. For the former, you make him run the stadium until he pukes, and then you make him keep going until he pukes again. For the latter, you ride his ass until either the message sets in, or he quits.
Frankly, nothing that I can definitively say is true about Middleton warrants kicking him off the team today. Not even close, really. Maybe there’s more out there. Maybe there’s a whole lot more. I sure hope so, because right now, I don’t like the feel of this. A big part of coaching is dealing with personalities like this. Unless there’s more to this, this feels like giving up to me.
And while I agree that it doesn’t hurt with ASJ, I really don’t think it matters either way. He’d be a true freshman during Middleton and Izbicki’s senior years. I really don’t think that’s the sort of depth chart that keeps a guy from coming to the UW. Maybe I’m wrong. Either way, I hope he decides to be a Dawg, because the tight end position is scary-thin right now.
Frankly, nothing that I can definitively say is true about Middleton warrants kicking him off the team today. Not even close, really. Maybe there’s more out there. Maybe there’s a whole lot more.
I’d bet good money that there’s a whole lot more than what has been reported on the record. In fact, some of the rumors have been posted on Dawgman.com (which I find a little surprising).
I hope you are correct. I believe that you probably are. But, if you believe rumors (just the ones started today), Middleton has:
1. Failed somewhere between one and three drug tests, likely for more than just pot. Probably PED’s.
2. Been a well-known pot smoker during his time on campus.
3. Ran a 5.2 40 during spring testing.
4. Got into a fight and might’ve played a role in starting a fire at a party a few months back (part of this is actually an older rumor).
5. Been a known lockerroom cancer his entire time here.
Some, all, or none of these might be true. But all can be found on the internet, all spoken by somebody who “was there,” or “knows some of his friends,” or “heard from a good source,” or whatever.
My point is that we really don’t have a frame of reference for how Sarkisian handles a situation like this. Pulu, to me, is easy. You curb-stomp an unconcious person, you don’t play football anymore. Facts are on the record. But this…this isn’t anything like that. We might never know what really happened. Ultimately, I give Sarkisian the benefit of the doubt here. Maybe I’m having a hard time not being skeptical about Husky football anymore. It’d sure be nice to hear the truth on this one. Otherwise, it’s just a bunch of rumors….
That's sounds like the laundry list of crap dug up whenever someone is booted without a reason given
Drugs? Check. Lazy? Check. Bad teammate? Check. Legal troubles? Check. All that’s missing is an academic rumor.
Point being, it all sounds like white noise and throwing stuff at a wall to see what sticks.
Yes.
If any of those rumors are true, then fine. Sarkisian can kick him off, and I can get behind it.
But if it’s just that Middleton was lazy, made some off-handed comments about rolling the Cougs, and maybe even had something of a bad attitude about working hard, then I have to wonder if the coaching staff just couldn’t reach him, so they ran him off. It’s happened before at the UW. Recently, even. Like I said, ultimately, I don’t think that Sarkisian would have that problem. But it sure would be nice to know the truth.
Read this and then tell me you don’t support Sark’s decision:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/huskyfootballblog/2012405551__and_the_process_sark.html
Thanks for the link.
Yes, I do. And I mostly did from the beginning. I just wanted to hear why Middleton was being booted. More than what was made available initially, anyway. And while this doesn’t specifically spell it out (other than the drug test), there’s more than enough there for me to be definitively behind this decision. (I’m sure you have been waiting the last 10 minutes for my official endorsement, correct?)
Good one.
I just didn’t want to hear about Sarkisian not having enough bullets in his Chambers the next time he’s out hunting on the Savannah.
(triple points if you’re scoring at home)
by Sundodger on Jul 20, 2010 7:49 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
Nicely done.
I won’t be playing scrabble against you!
"Legends are made on the shores of Lake Washington"
"BOW DOWN TO WASHINGTON"
I believe Kavario was diagnosed
with ‘EJ Savannah disease’…no known cure except divine intervention, i.e., a coaching change.
by 206 on Jul 21, 2010 1:52 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
I am on vacation…heard a few rumors about what happened but nothing is confirmed…lets just say it was time to part ways and Sark made the right call.
by John Berkowitz on Jul 20, 2010 4:29 PM PDT up reply actions
Husky Stadium
Three bids have been submitted and a decision could come by the end of July. WOW! Huge news that seems to have been overlooked. I can’t wait to get this thing going! GO DAWGS!!
Washington Husky Football-Undefeated 1991 National Champions 12-0!
I’m looking forward to seeing the bid(s) and design proposal(s). Should be interesting to see if the recent expansion news and what’s been going on elsewhere in terms of TV deals changes the scope of the project. I would think that Woodward should be feeling a little more comfortable about the ability of the school to pay for this renovation.
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