Washington sends a signal

To say the least yesterday was a huge day for Washington football. Former Cal DL coach Tosh Lupoi was offered everything including kitchen sink and a speed boat to drive to work in to jilt his alma mater two weeks before the end of recruiting season to come join the staff at Washington.

Lupoi has a lot of great things going for him. He is an excellent coach who has already put a number of players into the NFL despite only being thirty years old. He also has the reputation of being the best recruiter on the west coast if not the country going into the 2012 recruiting season.

Recruiting experts feel that while Washington won't reap many immediate benefits over the next two weeks this move gives them the ability to clean up in California and the Northwest going forward in 2013. It definitely sends a signal to every school in the Pac 12 that Washington is here to win championships.

Simply by gauging the reaction of local, regional, and national sportswriters you realize that this was a major coup for Washington and a numbing defeat for California. Experts like Biggins, Fetters, and Huffman feel that it is a game changer in west coast recruiting.

Back in the good old days of Don James Washington used to rule the Bay Area and Central Valley. The addition of Lupoi gives Washington a tremendous recruiting tool in that area that had been lacking since the rise of Oregon and the re-emergence of Cal under Tedford.

Fetters thinks that Lupoi gives Washington a national recruiting presence that has been lacking since the days of Rick Neuheisel and Bobby Hauck. He thinks that Lupoi can sit down in any living room in the country and have a chance to reel in the big fish.

What Sark has assembled since the Alamo Bowl is impressive. Justin Wilcox, Peter Sirmon, Josh Lupoi, and Keith Heyward represent the dream team of young defensive coaching talent. I really can't think of a coaching staff that compares on even a national basis.

These are the guys that are going to come up with the answers and schemes to deal with the up tempo no huddle offenses. These are also the guys that are going to be able to recruit the talent to successfully man those schemes. This was the big step in the process of Washington taking it to the next level.

Nuss heads to Alabama

The news of the Lupoi signing pretty much eclipsed the news of the loss of UW offensive coordinator Jeff Nussmeier to national champion Alabama. We are all going to miss Nuss and we wish him well as he takes on a job that will have a lot more responsibility and prestige.

Current Washington WR coach Jim Dougherty is rumored to be a candidate to take over for Nuss. Eric Kiesau and Johnny Morton are two other names that I have heard mentioned. Kiesau is currently at Cal and Morton is with the 49ers.

Montana Transfer

Nick says the reason he decided to transfer is that he wants to find a level where he can play right away. That means either attending a JC or moving to a lower classification like his older brother did a couple of years ago when he transferred to the University of Montana from Notre Dame.

"I've got three years (of eligibility left) and I want to spend those on the field," he said Monday. "I don't want to wait another year. You only get one shot at playing college football. I just made the best decision for me and I'm going with it."

Condotta