Lots of Doom and Gloomers out there right now...

… and welcome to the Dawg Pound.

this has been running through my mind since the Stanford game

Thanks for putting yourself out there. Some of the blogs are not even worth reading because the people just write trash to get people riled up. This is one of the very few that I will read, thanks to John for keeping it relatively sane at least.

Nicely done sir.

I disgust you, huh? Well, that’s so kind of you to say. I’m glad this forum is so open and receptive to criticism, even the little tiny bit that I aired.

In a post where John stated he believed recruiting “major impact guys” was the key to turning around the defense, I stated that a 2-star DE, whose only other visit was to Nevada, didn’t get me excited. I hope this kid turns out great. I really do. But we can’t even anymore question the recruiting?

I distinctly remember John earlier this year calling our best defensive lineman, and I’m paraphrasing, a big tub of goo. So, is criticism allowed by some and not by others? Or are we only allowed to criticize after they’ve signed their LOI?

Oregon recently got a verbal from a 4-star safety recruit that we had been looking at. Is he no good anymore? Should I have not wanted him to become a Husky because of his four stars? Why do we even talk about recruiting, if by forum decree every kid the Huskies land is great just by being a Husky? Rah rah, cis boom bah turns me off.

I guess I’ll shut up now so I don’t “disgust” and “embarrass” any other cheerleaders.

Happy face.

I’d say that most people put a lot into star ratings, but if you examine some of the footage of these guys who are lower rated most of the time you’d say they should be rated higher, or, I don’t really see any difference between him and (insert some random 4 or 5 star recruit) whoever. I agree about the fact we shouldn’t berate a kid who isn’t a “big” recruit simply for the matter of, what if this was your kid or nephew or cousin you’re wrinting this about. Look, we aren’t going to get 25 4-5 start guys every year, and that’s a fact, nobody does, we need bodies everywhere. Just because a kid is rated low, or even not at all, someone smarter than you see’s talent and ability to play that they think can be brought out. Try to remember that the next time you want to write something negative about a recruit, as well as what if another recruit checks out this blog?

Quick clarification: There has been a lot of discussion about the defense lately, hence some heated and some negative comments. Please don’t read our displeasure with the defense as displeasure for Sark or the direction of the program. I am one of the more vocal anti-Holt posters, but I am in full support of Sark and the direction he has the program headed. I think the team is exactly where we thought it should be after year three. The team has a very, very bright future and is finally headed back where we belong.

Think about it this way, I’d be greatly upset if our fellow dawgpounders weren’t upset when we don’t perform well. Nothing is worse for a program than apathy among the fanbase. WSU was on the verge of falling off the face of the planet, their fanbase was deteriorating quickly and losing interest. If it wasn’t for Bill Moos jump starting the fanbase with the Mike Leach hire, WSU could easily have become the next San Jose St. program.

The most encouraging thing for us as Husky fans is that our fellow fans still desire greatness, still crave to be champions, and we won’t settle for less!

I personally never get excited either way when it comes to recruiting, how can a fan have any clue about a high school player when they’ve only seen a 5 minute highlight video?? Yet we hear, “I think so and so is a 4 star athlete”, or “Why did we offer so and so, he’s not an FBS caliber player”. Any fan who thinks they have a clue about how a high school player will turn out in college is highly delusional.

And I’ve been as guilty as anyone in the negativity, so I’ll start with some of the positives from this season.

ASJ: he has been everything his recruiting ranking promised and then some. He looked polished and fit right in from the getgo. It’s been years since the Huskies have had a truly good TE, and he might be the best in 20 years.
Polk: Polk may be the best running back in the history of the program, or at least for some time. He’s right up there with Dillon or Kaufman, and more importantly it seemed as if when things were put on his back – such as the Nebraska holiday bowl or against Stanford – he rose up to the challenge. Hope get gets paid.
Trufant: Trufant was a liability last year, but he’s really improved. I don’t know if he’ll ever be as good as his brother but he’s gotten significantly better.

And finally:

Keith Price. I had thought when I watched the Oregon game last year that Price didn’t look that bad; he certainly looked very poised for a freshman having his first start against Oregon at Oregon, and that long pass to start the game that barely missed a very open receiver had my pulse racing in a bad way. I had thought he should beat out Montana, but what I didn’t foresee is how much better he would be than Locker or almost anyone else in the conference. He brings the consistency, good decision making and leadership that the team as a whole needed. He makes the pro style offense run smoothly and nicely. He has great touch on his passes and makes very good reads. Already he’s thrown for more TDs than any other Washington QB in a season – and he’s only a sophomore. I was never big on Locker and never understood what so many saw in him. I am hugely big on Price. Price is the real deal in every significant way: his rating was 12th best in the nation (just 10 points below Andrew Luck and significantly better than Luck’s was when he was a sophomore), threw for more TDs than Landry Jones and could even run the ball. He had 10 percentage points more completion rating than Locker!

And he’s going to be here for two more years!

Imagine if he gets some good protection what he’ll be like. Just craziness. I haven’t felt this good about a UW QB since the first time I saw Locker back in 2007, and even then I had the reservations of ‘wow, he’s fast and he throws hard and if he can just learn accuracy he’s going to be scary’. With Price, there’s nothing like that; the only limits on him is how much support his team can give him.

Did not expect to land on the front page. Thanks for all the comments guys!

I was shocked an appalled when he would go on the radio and bash the players. Fans making negative comments on blogs probably isn’t going to have much impact on a recruit’s decision to commit to a school – but NH’s comments in the media darn well could.

The specific game is slipping my mind tonight, but I remember when KP threw an interception and Coach Sark went on the radio the next week and took all the blame upon himself. Said that the play he called had worked during practice but didn’t work in the game (and it was unfortunate – looked to me like KP was unable to read the coverage because he’s a couple inches too short, nothing to be done about that but at least Sark didn’t give it as an excuse to bail himself out). That same week, Nick Holt said that his players weren’t “getting” the scheme and weren’t playing up to expectations. I was disgusted. Would you want to play for a guy who throws you under the bus? He may have been stating the obvious, but it shouldn’t have been said to the media.

So “undisciplined” fans posting negative comments on blogs having an impact on recruiting – probably not.
Undisciplined players – maybe, but it’ll get you in trouble with the NCAA and that hurts recruiting for sure.
Undisciplined coaches – definitely and wholly unacceptable.

and well worth the front page posting. It was a good reminder that none of us (as far as I know) are professional talent evaluators, on the Husky coaching staff, know anything about most of these kid’s character, or about their future potential based on a few video clips.

Winning gets you “big time” recruits. “Big time” recruits generally get you wins. If we can’t win with what we have, then that cycle doesn’t start.

Remember, 0-12, 5-7, 7-6, and hopefully 8-5. We have been to bowl games the last 2 seasons and beat Nebraska in one. Who would have predicted that in 2008?