LOI Day Impressions
by John Berkowitz on Feb 2, 2012 6:41 AM PST
Email
PrintThis had to be the strangest recruiting season in not only the history of Husky football but maybe the entire sport in general. Coaches from coast to coast when interviewed yesterday showed quite a bit of resentment towards social media, message boards, blogs, and the so called recruiting experts who rate the PSA's.
I was watching the Chicago media interview Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald when I got home last night and this was his take...too bad you couldn't see the smirk on his face. (I don't think I want to be on his bad side.)
Fitzgerald, though, straddles no line when it comes to recruiting services. Asked about Scout.com's rating this class fifth in the Big Ten, the coach responded sarcastically: "Wow. That's awesome. Great. We went to the Rose Bowl (in 1995) with the worst recruiting class in the Big Ten."
Obviously the game has changed and Steve Sarkisian had these comments about the phenomenon during his press conference yesterday.
"Kids are able to express themselves more on twitter. Fans are able to express themselves more on blogs and voice their opinion when they use to have to voice their opinions at the water cooler at the office now they're spreading it to the world. Sometimes those opinions can get expressed from fans that aren't necessarily fans of your program, but act as if they are and can place a negative opinion on a kid, so in my opinion it's an absolute mess and we have to figure it out.''
The Locally Departed
Sark did figure out one thing over the past month and that was how to salvage a recruiting class that was beginning to look a lot like a disaster at New Years with a solid finish in California. I have been watching UW recruiting for over thirty years and I have never seen a rally and finish like that.
The less than stellar results in-state are still troubling because once kids get in the habit of heading elsewhere it is hard to get the fence back up because leaving then becomes the fashionable thing to do. We witnessed this during the post Harshman years (Quinn Snyder) of the basketball program and it took almost a couple of decades to stem the flow.
Josh Garnett and Michael Rector to Stanford. Zach Banner to USC. Cedric Dozier to Cal. KeiVarre Russell to Notre Dame and Walker Williams to Wisconsin. Caleb Smith to Oregon State...wow just wow! You can always lose one or two but to lose that many in-state players in a single year is just mind boggling.
The toughest losses are Garnett and Banner because big time linemen like that don't always grow up in your own backyard. Those are the type of blue chip guys you can build national championship teams around if they are able to stay healthy.
Banner has the perfect wingspan to be an all pro left tackle. Garnett is just a chip off the old nasty block. I expect him to be just as efficient as his father was back in the day before he ends up going to medical school after a long career in the NFL.
"There will come a day when every kid in the state of Washington dreams and hopes of playing for the Huskies," Sarkisian vowed. "We're just not quite there yet."
Down on the Farm
A lot of people attribute Stanford's big run of late solely to Toby Gerhart and Andrew Luck but the true key has actually been on the offensive and defensive line. The Cards blew everyone away yesterday by putting together the best OL class I have ever seen.
Andrus Peat, Kyle Murphy, Josh Garnett, Graham Schulers, Nick Davidson, Johnny Caspers, and Brandon Fanaika represent just a huge haul of talent. that is two five star, three four star, and two high very three star players if you are keeping track at home.
Quack Attack
Arik Armstead was the highest rated recruit in Eugene this year. Picking him up on the next to the last day was a major coup for Oregon. He was the only five star in a class that was ranked 15th nationally. The Ducks continue to recruit Texas hard with four recruits coming from Longhorn territory.
Hate Mail
I actually received some choice hate mail (thank you Steve Kelley....lol) from a couple of parties while on vacation for saying earlier this month that it was the coaching staff's fault that in-state recruiting had suffered this season. I have no problem standing behind that statement.
Here is a brief excerpt from one of them.
I disagree with you completely. The coaches are not at fault. YOUR little people who comment on the web site are the most to blame. Not only for ZB but several others. This class will do very well but, if Sark goes 7 and 5 next year all YOUR little people will want to get rid of him.
If not the coaches whose fault is it?
Sark recognized the problem and he did some serious firing and hiring to correct it. The assistants weren't just fired because of the performance of the defense. They were also fired because they weren't getting it done on the recruiting trail and this years final in-state results are proof of that.
That is what I really like about Sark. He knows how to analyze problems and learn from mistakes...quickly. There isn't any BS with this guy which is so refreshing after suffering through that with the past three coaching regimes.
Folks need to realize that coaches like Sark get paid in the neighborhood of $3 million per year. With all that money comes the responsibility for everything (and I mean everything) that goes on in the program. He gets that and is very comfortable with it.
Another email chastised me for lack of moderation due to the language of posters on the site. Keep in mind that while profanity isn't allowed here I don't give regular time outs for it to individuals unless it becomes a repeat problem. I don't like deleting a good thread because one guy used a word that is synonymous for poop...so clean it up!
Vacation Impressions
This is the first time that I can remember not being home in the recliner on LOI day. I want to thank all the guys who covered for me and contributed while I was gone. It just proves that we have built a self sustaining community that can survive without me...not that I am going anywhere anytime soon.
One impression that blew me away was sitting on a beach in Mexico while listening to KJR's Dawgman Show and keeping up on things using my I Pad. You know when I moved to Midwest twenty or so years ago there was no Internet...it was brutal...now you can live in New Guinea and have as much access to the Huskies as someone in Fremont.
104 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
At BEST:
the only way I can see anyone saying this class turned out “great” is if they add – "after losing 7 of the VERY “best” players in the state".
BEFORE I/we “knew” that Garnett was going, Banner was going, Dozier was going, Russell was going, Walker Williams was going, Rector was going, Caleb Smith was going; we all EXPECTED Sark/Staff to land these kids.
Dwell on it? NO! Be angry about it? NO! Care about it? You better.
You can close your eyes and wish with all your might, pretend, do what ever you have to do to make yourself feel better – BUT – that fact will NOT go away. We lost 7 TOP-END football players right out of our backyard and that has to be evaluated and worked on.
Tell me
if we lose seven top end football players from our own backyard, and replace them with 7 top end football players from someone else’s, how is that not a net neutral? I get that you want to prioritize in State, but it shouldn’t really be more than to keep up appearances. The only one that bothers me is Garnett, and that’s because his dad felt so slighted by UW. Other than that, I don’t really care where they come from.
Compare...
Compare Stanford’s offensive line class to ours….compare USC’s offensive line class to ours.
We didn’t come up with a net neutral in what probably was the greatest position of need on the squad.
UW Dawg Pound - SBN Seattle
by John Berkowitz on Feb 2, 2012 7:16 AM PST up reply actions
But what does that have to do with them being in state?
I would have liked more OT, but just because they’re in-state doesn’t mean we have a divine right to them or that it’s a failure if they don’t land them.
I agree with B Money
More than likely, those kids just straight up didn’t want to be a Dawg. They all grew up in a time where Husky football was pretty laughable. Where I grew up in a time when Husky football was dominate. I think we still did well, but we did lose out on great players. I don’t think it will happen every year, and until we see a trend, I won’t think it will be a big deal.
not happy about in-state debacle, but not hysterical either
Welcome to our outstanding class.The fence around WA is nice marketing but means very little, this isn’t Texas. Elite programs sign top talent from anywhere to address their needs. UW football wants/needs to be an elite program. I hated Holt’s performance and was vocal about it from early on, but Sark purged the incompetence. So why are we crying over spilled milk? Do you think USC cries when UCLA (or any other school) wins recruiting battles for L.A./So.Cal talent? Any kid that grew up in WA that doesn’t want to be a Husky has a screw loose. I don’t acknowledge the existence of anyone that didn’t want to be a Husky! Time to start thinking like winners guys.
Take it one point further
Fans tend to look at the recruiting ranking and go wow…UW is 22nd…but recruiting rankings do not reflect the need vs balance ratio for each individual program. This was the year to clean up on linemen up and down the west coast and while we filled some slots we missed on all of our elite targets.
UW Dawg Pound - SBN Seattle
by John Berkowitz on Feb 2, 2012 7:19 AM PST up reply actions
That's a fair assessment
I’m just talking about the In-state thing. I’m tired of people expecting kids to stay home, then asking why we didn’t kill it in California. A PSA is a PSA no matter where they’re from. We (kind of) missed on a position of need, but having Banner and Garnett in state doesn’t matter to me as much as the fact that we missed them in general.
The Rock
The traditional rock this program is built on is keeping the best and the brightest home…that will need will never change. It is especially relevant to the big guys….keep the big guys at home and get the speed you need from California.
UW Dawg Pound - SBN Seattle
by John Berkowitz on Feb 2, 2012 7:34 AM PST up reply actions
Things are different now
Not only are more schools aware of the talent in Washington state, but the players are more aware of the other schools. In the old days around here, you’d watch Washington games and one or two televised games a week.
Not only that, but whereas kids coming up 10 years ago grew up watching a perenially dominant program in Washington, today’s players see a school that hasn’t been to a Rose Bowl since they were 8-9 years old.
I’m not happy to see guys like Banner, Garnett, etc to go to other schools, but I would not be surprised to see it continue unless and until Washington improves with the players they did get.
True
I still think we turned out ok. But, I’m no recruiting expert. This was probably the most I’ve been involved in following recruiting in my life. If it is a problem, I do agree with you that Sark takes the responsibility on it. No doubt about it, he has to, that’s what he gets paid to do.
We did NOT
replace them with 7. We never got that starting LT, we never got another TE, we never picked up another #3 rated OG.
NOT Dawging this class, I like what we got, but the 7 players we got compared to the 7 we lost were NOT – IMO – “better”.
by onewoodwacker on Feb 2, 2012 7:19 AM PST up reply actions
I love what we got...
…but if you want to beat Oregon and Stanford who just happen to be in our division you need to stay at least even with them up front…The Cards picked up some major earth movers.
UW Dawg Pound - SBN Seattle
by John Berkowitz on Feb 2, 2012 7:22 AM PST up reply actions
I'd love to get all the earth movers too...
and maybe if we didn’t have to make 5 coaching changes after the end of the season, we may have had some better luck. But, at the same time, there will be guys like Garnett that want to go to a team that is already at their peak, rather than helping it get there.
I mostly agree with what you are saying, but that’s the hard part about rebuilding a program. You can’t point to past success and get the best kids to come.
We will get there and I think Sark made the last necessary changes for us to get there, but Sark and his team have to work twice as hard as Stanford to convince them that they can develop an OL/DL like they can because they don’t have the track record yet to show it.
"The same thing that will make you laugh will make you cry." Ray Lewis
by Carne Guisada on Feb 2, 2012 8:21 AM PST up reply actions 2 recs
Stanford
…They got that haul on OL’s because they are selling themselves out to be the program in the west that breeds earthmovers. Oregon has sold out to be the team that plays pinball football with extreme speed oriented athletes. WSU is about to become air raid central.
What will be our signature? What will recruits know us for? How will we position ourselves in a way that is believable beyond a recruiting pitch? We have a great school, a great tradition, a caring staff … but what is the promise to the PSA in terms of the football program they’ll be participating in?
Damn, my eyeball tastes good.
@chrislandon
We're still a bona fide Quarterback U
… From the looks of it, that reputation isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
I, for one, hope that we can again be known for no-holds-barred, aggressive defense.
I think one thing is frequently overlooked though. Sark has built a no-nonsense reputation. In the same way that Neuheisel had a reputation for recruiting and tolerating the behavior of thugs; and Willingham had a reputation for being a diconnected jerk. That’s one of the reasons why I think Holt didn’t work out here, because his style was way off in terms of fitting into the program under Sark.
by FanofthePolkamotive on Feb 2, 2012 12:42 PM PST up reply actions
Holt...
I always have been reluctant to throw those guys under the bus because nobody before them did any better either.
Holt, Cox, Mills, Nansen, and Martin should have worked. We are talking about five pretty good football coaches.
UW Dawg Pound - SBN Seattle
by John Berkowitz on Feb 2, 2012 1:59 PM PST up reply actions
Strongly agree. An aggressive defense is key.
by HuskyInExile on Feb 2, 2012 10:43 PM PST up reply actions
Aggressiveness is nice, but I think what's more important is how sound the scheme and the play of the players are.
Otherwise, you can be as aggressive as you like, but you ain’t doing much!
by Carl Shinyama on Feb 2, 2012 11:07 PM PST up reply actions
IMHO, you need some of both.
I’m w/ Lambright on this . . . if you mostly react to what the offense presents they have a chance to be a step ahaed or one man up at the point of attack.
by HuskyInExile on Feb 2, 2012 11:36 PM PST up reply actions
I'm not saying to not be aggressive. I'm saying it's more important to be sound.
Even Lambright acknowledged the importance of mastering the fundamentals.
by Carl Shinyama on Feb 3, 2012 9:42 AM PST up reply actions
Just like playing Cover 2 zones . . . .
when your players don’t have a clue how to play zone defense.
I’d rather have an aggressive defense that sucks, than a conservative defense that sucks. At least it would occasionally be fun to watch.
"Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing."
"Legends are made on the shores of Lake Washington"
"I get that you want to prioritize in State, but it shouldn’t really be more than to keep up appearances."
Not going to try and change your opinion here but I will be honest with you: I coached and played this game for the better part of 35 years. My younger brother played in the “league” for three years and I meet and talked football with some of the best players on the planet and I can tell you MOST people can’t see the forest through the tress.
I live WIAA football. I go to summer ball, camps, practices, games; I see 100’s of state players every year. I tell you, there were some GREAT football players in the state this year.
35 kids got D-1 scholarships from this state this year – players you may never even heard of: Camas’s WR Jonathan Warner – Penn State, Eastlake’s Ryan Lewis – Pittsburgh, Washington HS’s Jacob Tuivaiave (this kid is a 6-4/250 OLB with freak speed and hits like a Mack truck and I believe will start at WSU as a true freshmen) and Nooksak Valley’s B.J. Salmonson – WSU to name a few – are GREAT football players.
So I disagree, it is MUCH more than “to keep up appearances”.
by onewoodwacker on Feb 2, 2012 7:43 AM PST up reply actions
I don’t think he feels slighted any more than anyone else who had to live through the Hedges/Turner nightmare. He makes it pretty clear when he says that the current program is not the same program that he was a part of back in the 1980’s.
He wants the best for his son and he wanted his son to make his own decision. Josh was blessed with the ability to go to any school he wanted to in the country and Scott wasn’t. He wanted Josh to take full advantage of that.
UW Dawg Pound - SBN Seattle
by John Berkowitz on Feb 2, 2012 11:50 AM PST up reply actions
Scott
I thought it was telling when, after Josh’s visit to Michigan, Scott gushed about how much he wished he’d been offered by Michigan when he was a prospect. I’m sure at the time Scott felt a bit slighted, but given the success he and the team had while he was at the UW (‘80-’83) – Washington was better over that stretch than Michigan – that he’d feel like it worked out for the best for him in the end.
Perception
Depending on who you get out of state, they may replace them physically, but you do not want the perception that you cannot keep the local kids in state.
That perception will seep to the High School coaches and to the kids for the next generation and it can become a big local PR issue.
Especially in Washington where yearly there are some good Oline and Dline prospects, you got to make sure that those kids stay in state so you can concentrate on getting the athletes from around the West.
Not a net zero sum at all...
You should care where they come from. You have to protect your own backyard. Same as we all talk about “building pipelines” into particular high schools in California, but multiplied by a thousand in importance.
Proximity is directly proportional to priority. Recruiting in 2012 will have impact in 2013 and beyond.
We should have fewer competitors for local talent. If local guys keep getting away, it just invites more competition. Do you think Wisconsin will call it good with Walker Williams, or do you think maybe they’ll be sniffing around the Puget Sound area for some more guys next year…and the year after…?
If Walker had told them, “hell no, I’m going to Washington,” (i.e., if we had a sturdy fence in place), then Wisconsin and other far-away schools would move forward with much less optimism about recruiting in Washington state.
Bread and Butter
They are paid handsomely to land those type of kids.
UW Dawg Pound - SBN Seattle
by John Berkowitz on Feb 2, 2012 7:14 AM PST up reply actions
Before the rally this recruiting class was poop!
Doesn’t quite convey the same message, does it?
I'm so positive, you'll need AZT later.
by Steen on Feb 2, 2012 7:03 AM PST reply actions 1 recs
Agree -
we came back from a pretty deep hole. Still – IMO – missing out on that TOP-END: Left Tackle, High School DT and OLB still stings me.
by onewoodwacker on Feb 2, 2012 7:08 AM PST up reply actions
I did hear Sark
say that he was putting 6-4/220 Cory Littleton out in the hybrid OLB/DE (“JACK” in the 3-4) so that is cool. We really NEEDED to get longer/bigger out there. I think we will see – without question – Josh Shirly stand-up more and I heard Sark say he was putting Andrew Hudson out there too. I LIKE those moves!
by onewoodwacker on Feb 2, 2012 7:13 AM PST up reply actions
NOT that I like ANYTHING
about Oregon football, but I had to laugh at Kelly’s response to the schools that used negative recruiting regarding him maybe taking an NFL job:
Said Kelly, “I don’t understand that approach: ‘Please don’t go to that school because that coach is successful. Come to ours because our coach is really mediocre and will never be offered a job.”
Pretty good comeback!
Kelly
As much as I would like to hate him…I can’t…he is one heckuva coach.
UW Dawg Pound - SBN Seattle
by John Berkowitz on Feb 2, 2012 7:09 AM PST up reply actions
He is....
but I still can’t stand that smirky beak…and those uni’s…and the way he runs a gig that’s ethically $EC standard…U Can’t polish a turd. But Uncle Phil’s $,$$$,$$$,$$$.00’s earned on the backs of sweatshop 3rd world slavary makes a great attemp at it anyway!
Exactly.
"Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing."
"Legends are made on the shores of Lake Washington"
I hear he is on SBN
his screen name is B BIG Money.
"Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing."
"Legends are made on the shores of Lake Washington"
You have come a long way Baby
The internet is amazing – I live in Scottsdale AZ able to listen to KJR husky honks etc. read all the blogs on the huskies and share thoughts with fellow rabid dawgs fans in real time. Just amazing. Here is a Big shout out to Bill Gates – AL Gore or whoever that invented the internet – thank you brother.
True...It was Al Gore...he originally called it the "interwebs"...
and the rumors that it was Bill Clinton are flat false! He’s still trying to learn the definition of what “is”…is…But…I"m stuck in Oregon! What could I know?
In-State Losses
Agree. The in-state losses do hurt; at the very least, from an appearance standpoint. For me, the two that matter most are Banner and Garnett – both are obviously legacies; and legacies should never be lost without a huge fight. And, UW didn’t even make Garnett’s final selection list – which is inexcusable, particularly when future medical school attendance is a consideration (UW>SU).
Given scholarships are limited, I also have to be honest and say, if I was offered a choice between Shaq Thompson and Josh Garnett and could only have one, my choice, without hesitation, would be ST.
Also, concur that Coach Sark appears to be getting better and better at making “in-game” adjustments – like the complete reconstruction of the UW defensive coaching staff in less than 30 days, followed by the “immaculate” rescue and miraculous recovery of the 2012 recruiting class. All of which speaks volumes about Sark’s abilities and performance as HC.
Time will tell
I’m curious if the in-state losses will become an annual issue. Sark has done well the 2 prior years on the top talent, but was terrible this year. One year anomaly or potential trend? In all honesty we lost players to top schools (USC, Stanford, ND) and one to a very good school (Cal). As others have said, it could be a perfect storm this year. It will be interesting to see how next year goes for top in-state talent.
One criticizm I have on Sark is that he wasn’t more involved in the recruitment of the top talent. From what I read, once he got involved players took a better look at the UW. But why wasn’t he involved earlier? I think he learned something this year, and will be in on these types of players sooner.
It was a tough recruiting class this year because of what we could have had. Getting one of the two linemen would have changed perception significantly. I’m excited for what we have, but losing Banner and Garnett will come back to hurt the program. The good thing on the OL is that we have a decent pipeline of players who don’t have to play until their 3rd to 4th year. That should help a lot!
Benno
by Benno on Feb 2, 2012 8:15 AM PST reply actions 1 recs
Also remember
Wilcox and Sirmon are true pacific NW guys that will likely relate to the local talent much better than the likes of Holt, Martin, even Sark.
On the bright side...
We may have lost some in state talent, but the new WA laws…
The Cascade Range is now going to be called the Brostek Range. Cougs will have to ask to come to Seattle because they will not be able to cross Brostek and live and we all no nobody will be able to get around the Brosteks! And since he eats rocks and “poops” concrete, Husky Stadium will be done 3 months early!
We no longer have safety belt laws, we have Shaq laws.
Home Depot is now selling Pio meters for finding studs in your walls.
Gun laws are now being rewritten as Lindquist laws.
Welcome to all 25 of the new student athletes, we are glad you have chosen UW and we thank you for all the hard work you will put into the program we love. We are confident you will honor the tradition and push us forward with ethics and integrity.
Things are pretty good in Husky Land!
by sdhuskyfan on Feb 2, 2012 8:39 AM PST via mobile reply actions 5 recs
+1
Very Well Put! I too agree that the “Brostek Factor” ( as well as the others ) will save $Million$ on the Stadium project…as well as saving possible lives as he single-handedly is manually doing all of the crane work…saving on costly fuel and equipment costs! Already, this fine class of quality young men are paying off! So glad they’re here! Can’t wait till springball!
Waffle House
Is changing its name to Jordan’s House in every city Jordan Payton committed to at some point during the recruiting process (all along West Coast).
by sdhuskyfan on Feb 2, 2012 9:28 AM PST via mobile up reply actions 1 recs
Too bad about the hate mail John.
That’s not right just as trashing recruits that don’t sign with UW is not right either.
I do think we have heard your point about the in-state talent enough for this year though :-) Hopefully next year it won’t be an issue that even needs to be discussed.
Hopefully, now that this recruiting season is behind us, we can forget what we missed and enjoy the development of the guys we have. One of the best parts about recruiting is that you can get a 6’5" kid that didn’t get many offers and mold him into a player as good as Garnett may be because he might have a higher ceiling or not finished maturing into his frame. Let’s hope out OL/DL coaches along with Ivan Lewis can make our guys 5* guys by the time they leave UW. At least they have a decent size frame from which to work with!
"The same thing that will make you laugh will make you cry." Ray Lewis
I have to say, hate mail is kinda lame
I think you are more than entitled to your opinion. I also think that placing the blame on Sarkisian for anything that goes wrong with our team is correct. He gets paid for that. If we could speak to him, he would say that himself. He is responsible for our program. These people blaming us for losing in state talent is just crazy! Sorry they feel that way. For them to call us little people, when they are sending hate mail like childish girls, is kinda funny.
In my opinion, we can write whatever we want as long as we are not being hateful in anyway against anybody. It is a blog for HUSKY FANS isn’t it? Meaning Husky fans post their opinions, whether popular or not. Makes you wonder are these people who are writing you hate mail married or involved with somebody? They need to get a life. They are nagging like my wife does when I’m posting on this blog and not paying her attention!
The one I posted...
That was a copy of the nice letter.
I think we do a great job of self moderation on the blogs.
UW Dawg Pound - SBN Seattle
by John Berkowitz on Feb 2, 2012 9:47 AM PST up reply actions
The "Nice letter"
Funny. Well at least you have a bunch of little people. I guess they were being PC with that comment.
by datboyeddiep on Feb 2, 2012 10:07 AM PST up reply actions
Steve Kelley Article
I think it enabled a few brave souls to speak their minds which is fine.
It is is OK if somebody doesn’t agree with me…it is OK if I don’t disagree with somebody else.
UW Dawg Pound - SBN Seattle
by John Berkowitz on Feb 2, 2012 11:19 AM PST up reply actions
Would you like some love letters to balance it out?
We can make that happen…
by supercanuck on Feb 2, 2012 11:52 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs
The letter was from Minny C.
… what a dick.
Damn, my eyeball tastes good.
@chrislandon
by Gekko Mojo on Feb 2, 2012 11:53 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Ha Ha
I was actually thinking of taking that angle for fun.
UW Dawg Pound - SBN Seattle
by John Berkowitz on Feb 2, 2012 11:56 AM PST up reply actions
a better Pac 12 is a better Pac 12. i root for all schools to do well.
as a Oregon fan, who started paying attention with our historic Independence Bowl run with Bill Musgrave, i dont know much about why Washington kids aren’t ending up in Seattle. can you break it down in simple terms for me?
Oregon just started recruiting well in-state for whatever reason (OS is terrible). the only 2 recruits that ‘got away’ to me are Owa and Suh who actually picked a university based on academics – strange huh?
Win and you’ll be fine.
Life is about growth. People are not perfect when they're 21 years old. - Bill Walton
Win and you’ll be fine
I think winning fixes just about everything. It makes good coaches into great coaches. It makes recruiting easier.
A good example of what happened this season at UW was Caleb Smith who become vocal about the way he was recruited by Coach Cox. He felt extreme pressure to commit right away in May. He wanted to look around and UW didn’t like that.
I think Caleb made a great choice because he simply wanted to go to a smaller school where the academics might be a tad easier.
Walker Williams felt a bit dissed because he wasn’t getting the attention that his good friends Garnett and Banner were getting. Wisconsin showed him the love early and he was as good as gone before the time UW offered even though it was this spring.
I have no idea what the problem was with KeiVarre Russell and his mom but to say they hate UW is a pretty strong comment.
It just wasn’t our year in state.
UW Dawg Pound - SBN Seattle
by John Berkowitz on Feb 2, 2012 9:59 AM PST up reply actions
if Oregon produced more D1 talent, i’m sure it’d be a bigger deal. we have as many Ohio kids in this class as Oregon kids.
its funny cuz i’m sure there a lot of PSA’s that go see one of our practices and dont want to work that fast/hard. our culture is a weird fit.
Life is about growth. People are not perfect when they're 21 years old. - Bill Walton
why did they leave? a variety of reasons
For both Garnett & Banner, they wanted to be at more established programs that they feel are championship contenders. Garnett wanted to join a program that was already rolling rather than help get UW over the hump from Bowl team to Rose Bowl team. Garnett also believes Stanford will provide him a superior education – normally a defensible idea, but given that he reportedly wants to go into medicine, favoring Stanford seems more questionable.
Banner felt USC has a better chance to win a National Championship during his time in school, plus he’s looking forward to the opportunity to really get to know his biological father (Lincoln Kennedy) who lives in the L.A. area.
Dozier wanted to play WR, and the UW recruited him as a DB. By the time they changed their tune, it was too late. I’ve also heard there may be some off-the-field reasons why he wants to get away.
Russell, who knows what his deal is? That he picked a school other than the UW, OK. That he did so in the way he did, and with the comments he’s made since then – well, let’s just say Washingtonians will have a long memory with regard to him.
Williams got a bunch of attention early from Wisconsin, and even though Washington offered him in the Spring, he already was feeling slighted. It’ll be interesting to see how his career turns out – was Washington right to not offer him and show as much attention to him early as they did Garnett & Banner? Or did Wisconsin recognize a gem?
Rector was a good prospect, but between the appeal of a Stanford eduction plus the other guys we closed on at WR, losing him doesn’t sting as much as the OL.
Stanford probably provides a superior undergrad pre-med degree
he can still go to UW for med school.
maybe it does
I’ve seen stats claiming that something like 90% of the Med School students at the UW were also UW undergrads, though that may simply reflect who’s applying rather than any bias towards selecting UW undergrads.
I certainly can’t deny that Stanford is a compelling choice from an academic standpoint. I didn’t have the kind of money to go there myself, so I didn’t bother applying, but that’s the one place I would have seriously considered other than the UW.
Maybe there's a pre-med undergrad degree at Stanford, but there's no such thing at the UW.
You just have to take the requisite amount of biology, chemistry, organic chemistry, math, etc. to meet med school requirements. A Stanford degree is a Stanford degree, though, so your point stands.
When you miss on a specific recruit, local or not, you really need to analyze why,
and determine as best you can if the problem is “general” or “specific”. That can be tough, because kids often won’t answer the question of “why”.
In some cases (like Owa), there was really no chance for any NW school to land him; his objectives lied elsewhere.
And in some cases, the overall academic reputation of the institution doesn’t mean squat if the kids’ interest lies in a particular area that isn’t a part of that school’s program. Some don’t care, and some don’t even understand, but some do.
Andy Wooldridge, andy_wooldridge@yahoo.com
BuildingTheDam.Com
Go Beavs!
Thank you
To all the uwdawgpound members. I had to leave town quickly last week for a family emergency. Before I found this sight I would have spent the last week in total isolation about what was really going in Husky sports. This is truly a great community and I am proud to be a part of it.
WOOF!
by CODawg on Feb 2, 2012 9:57 AM PST reply actions 1 recs
As am I
Being a Dawg is great huh? Woof!
by datboyeddiep on Feb 2, 2012 10:09 AM PST up reply actions
There are some analysts who say that it was just bad luck
That we lost these guys this year, that it was not that we couldn’t connect with them rather there preference was to go out of state. So one year like this ok, multiple years seems like more than bad luck.
Ok John, how are Cal fans taking it over at CGB?
i’m not really welcome there . . .
I think they moved on
UW Dawg Pound - SBN Seattle
by John Berkowitz on Feb 3, 2012 6:52 AM PST up reply actions
Maybe CGB has moved on, but other Cal sites haven't.
The latest is that Tosh violated privacy laws with existing Cal players, maybe even stole some proprietary info on his way out the door, and that Cal is calling for an investigation into the situation. They’re pretty convinced Lupoi is going to be suspended by the conference, and that both he and the UW are going to recieve sanctions.
Apparently there’s been a huge run on tinfoil in the Bay Area. Grocery stores can’t keep it on the shelves.
unbelievable
To me, their reaction to Tosh leaving is a huge indictment of that program; that they’d be so upset about him leaving just shows how lacking the rest of the staff is. They were on the verge of a top-10 or better class with Tosh; without him, they were maybe a top-25 class. One guy having such a huge impact on their recruiting doesn’t speak well of the rest of the staff.
Totally agree. They look really weak.
That Tedford would even address Lupoi leaving in any manner other than to say, “good luck” shows just how dependant on him they were.
He missed his flight to meet Tedford
because he was busy “Watergating” the Cal football offices for some super secret football documents. Hope Tedford doesn’t find that bug in his phone.
For giggles, read these.
oh man
The conspiracy theory stuff on the Scout.com board is hilarious.
Warren’s grandson must not have taken many English classes at Cal, or he didn’t do well in them. His take is at least a little less tinfoil hat. I actually agree with the idea that Sark targeted Lupoi not just because he’s a great recruiter, but because it would also have a major impact on Cal. If you can raise up your own program and bring down a competitor in the process, all the better. Sark even hinted at that in his comments Wednesday night.
Funny stuff though. Seems like a lot of Cal fans would be more comfortable if their team was in the Ivy League.
Really, you can argue that Sarkisian may have started down a slippery slope.
ESPN.com had an article about “recruiting the recruiters” that featured Sarkisian and Lupoi. But you can sort of see the endgame here. Prime recruiters are essentially going to become street agents. I could definitely see a coach spending a year getting kids to commit to him (as opposed to the school that employs him), only to offer up “his kids” to the highest bidder after bowl season.
I’m not exactly sure what to do about it. And really, the last thing I want to see is the Pac 12 do something on their own (like they did when they tinkered with a 90-man scholarship limit in the period between 1978 and 1994, while the rest of the country was still at 95) that hurts its competitiveness with the rest of the country.
I think this is all a little overblown.
Heck, you can read more drama in small town local papers in the footprint of the SEC, and I did while working in Dothan, AL . . . 20 years ago.
That's mitigated by contract length and buyouts
plus bonuses like Tosh’s that are paid after signing day.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on UW Dawg Pound
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
