Who says you can't come home again?  Dots to that.

• As Cassino posted yesterday, UW has reclaimed a lost son with the return of Marques Tuiasosopo. Condotta posts his notes on the subject right here. UCLA fans have an interesting take on what the move means for UCLA. Of note is the impact on the recruitment of Myles Jack who Tui was responsible for. Mason Kelley ($) heard directly from Myles on the situation and, well, it is interesting. Hard to say one coach would make a difference but, as we all know, one coach could make a difference.
• Avinash at Pacific Takes cannot hide his passive aggressiveness in noting that Steve Sarkisian is once again "poaching" coaches from other staffs.
• Could Sark be a candidate for the soon-to-be-open Eagles job? It is pretty obvious that Chip Kelly is candidate numero uno, and that the Eagles have been in contact with him. Given the solid relationship between Sark and Chip, it wouldn't surprise me if Chip spoke in glowing terms about the UW coach. But, as a backup plan? hmmm.
  

  Just had @georgeschroeder of USA Today on air he said Mark Helfrich will get Oregon job if Kelly leaves for NFL. He expects Kelly to leave.

  — Jeff Caves (@JeffCaves) December 28, 2012

• The season is now over for the Huskies football team and you can expect a lot of mixed reviews given that Sark delivered another lackluster 7-6 season. The apologists will say that it was unrealistic to expect any progress from a roster so young and riddled with injuries. The reactionists will say there are no good excuses and that the writing on the wall is already clear - this staff can't deliver. Those of us in the middle say that both arguments have validity and that we all have eight long months to endure before we can get any answers to questions outstanding.
• Steve Sarkisian had a lot to say about the season in his last presser just after the Vegas Bowl. I previously linked to some of these. Needless to say, he is optimistic about the youth on the line, the talent at the skill positions and the depth being developed across the roster. On the flip side, he is concerned about the lack of fundamentals mastery across the roster (in particular QB) and the ability to finish.
• One of those bright spots was Bishop Sankey who was noted by Rivals as one of the two most significant class of 2011 running back contributors in the nation.
• The Daily says that the UW quarterback competition should be open in the spring and pre-season camps. This on the heels of a pretty harsh assessment of the current UW QB by the Boise State SBN site.
• Speaking of the Broncos, I saw that Condotta had a link to a preview of the team in 2013 - relevant to us given that we open the Husky Stadium against them next season.
• Condotta has a nice review of all the true freshman that played in 2012. While it would be great to redshirt more of these guys, those days are probably gone for good. In this day and age of scholarship limits and frequent transfers, it is always going to be the case that there are holes on a roster that young guys are going to have to fill. In addition, the more progress we make in tapping into elite prospects - like the Fosters, Vanderdoeses, and Jacks of the world, the more room we are going to have to make for true freshman contributors.
• Expect a lot of recruiting news in these dots through the rest of the month. Right now, UW is just one of three P12 teams in the 247sports.com Top 25 class rankings with USC ahead and UCLA behind them. UW is in an interesting position given the situation that USC is in (schollie reductions, rumors of Orgeron leaving, no DC), the academic restrictions at Stanford and the pending breakup of the Oregon coaching staff (fingers-crossed). This is a year to clean up if there were ever one.
• The big news right now (outside of Tui returning to UW and the impact of that on Myles Jack) is the decommitment of DT Eddie Vanderdoes from USC, who will announce his choice on signing day. Eddie, who was just named the SI High School Player of the Week, is a stud recruit currently considering USC, Alabama, UCLA, UW and Notre Dame (and it might just be UW and USC). Apparently, Eddie made the early commit in July with the intent of getting schools off his back so that he could focus on school and re-open the recruiting this winter. Interesting and not-surprising strategy. UW may not be the favorite here, but there are squarely in the mix.
  

  Source: Eddie Vanderdoes down to #Washington #Cal #Alabama #USC with Cal now out w/Dykes in. Believed to be 2-horse race between UW and USC

  — lars hanson (@LarsHanson) December 28, 2012

• The Vanderdoes situation sets up a mano-y-mano recruiting battle royale between Orgeron and Tosh - both of whom were noted as one of the "dozen biggest names" on the recruiting trail by ESPN.
• Troy Williams, who is expected to start classes at UW this quarter, was named by the LA Times as the "Back of the Year" after posting a huge season - nearly 3,000 yards and 39 TDs. Huge recruit.
• UW committ Darrell Daniels took some time to catch up with Mason Kelley. Although there have been some rumblings about other schools targeting DD, he seems pretty locked into UW after posting a huge season with 1200 all purpose yards and 17 TDs.
• In the pro ranks, a couple of UW alum have been involved with NFL roster moves. The Cardinals signed Everette Thompson to their practice squad while Isaiah Stanback is back on the Jaguars roster. WOOF!
  

  via cdn1.sbnation.com

  
  
• While the return of one favorite son is cause for a New Year's celebration, the continued struggles of another - far too early in life - give us reason to pause and consider how fragile things in life can often be.
• B-Roy's Huskies team relived one of his most disappointing games last night when the Huskies of UW took on the Huskies of UConn and got their asses handed to them. While the score was close most of the way, the Huskies trailed for most of the game and just could not get any offense going. As the game was on ESPN, it was the most continuous basketball I got to watch all year. I was impressed with how UW played D and the effort overall. The breakout of Desmond Simmons as a rebounder is huge for this team. These guys are playing hard for Romar. However, this is one of the least balanced rosters that LoRo has ever had (and that is saying something) and it doesn't have the requisite offensive talent to compete in the P12. In particular, we don't have anyone who get offense going at the rim and, as such, we will continue to be prone to ice cold shooting games like last night. A streaky CJ Wilcox and gimpy Scott Suggs isn't enough. The Huskies are 8-5 now and about to start a three game P12 road trip that, I expect, will result in two if not three losses. Get ready for a long slog as the Huskies start the reloading process.
• One key piece, albeit a bit of a longshot, could be seven-footer Kameron Rooks - the son of former Arizona PF Sean Rooks. He may announce as early as next week.
• One time Romar recruit, Peyton Siva, had this in-depth piece written on him. I didn't know about the situation with his father - it is a chilling story. Reading between the lines, it isn't hard to imagine ulterior motives for wanting to leave the northwest ... there is a lot there for one young man to have to shoulder.
• On a side note - your UW was once again ranked as one of the 20 best values for the dollar in the world of public undergraduate education. Ironic since I was just looking at the overall health of my kids' college funds and came to realize my plan to get them through just one year of college is equal to what I paid for my entire undergraduate education.

Finally, a bit of a belated welcome to a couple of new contributors to the Dawgpound. Kevin Cacabelos is a talented young writer who is obsessed (presumably in a good way) with Washington sports and who is writing for his college newspaper. KC will be helping us with Basketball. Jack Follman is familiar to many of you as the voice of the Washington schools at PacificTakes.com. Jack will be contributing some of his unique takes on UW from time to time. Welcome, gents.