I want to start off this morning by mentioning that "The Cassino" will be handling Husky basketball this season for the blog. I think he does a great job and most importantly since he is a basketball guy he brings more to the table on the subject than I do. I will be chipping in here and there throughout the basketball season as needed.
Recruiting
Next up is the story on Matt Mosley leaving the team yesterday. I don't really agree with leaving the team during the season but I can understand his frustration. He obviously had enough talent to contribute in some way but fell out of favor with the coaches. I am sure there are more than a couple other players in the same situation right now.
Rebuilding a football program under the 85 player limit rule is tough. Washington will bring in approximately 30 new players in 2010 so the coaches need to make room. Expect the Huskies to sign at least 25 or more frosh who will arrive in the fall. Two freshman who will arrive this spring (Cooper and Callier). You can also expect them to try to sign 3-5 JC players who will enter school for winter quarter. That would push the incoming numbers into the 30-32 range.
How does this all work since you can only for 25 players in each class?
Cooper, Callier, and whatever JC talent they sign will count against 2009. The Huskies also have committments from a couple of kids who may not qualify (Young and Davis). John Timu is guy they could end up defering enrollment on till winter quarter of 2011 because he is coming off knee surgery.
The Huskies currently have 22 commitments for the 2010 class so expect approximately 8-10 more players to be added before signing day if they can find the type of talent which fits there needs.
Condotta on Play Calling
Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times asked all the Pac 10 coaches in the weekly conference call if they call their own plays. Half of the coaches such as Steve Sarkisan do. Bob is one of the very best and I thought it was pretty creative on his part to ask the question since Husky fans are wondering if first year coach Steve Sarkisian may have a little too much on his plate during game day.
Sarkisian said he hasn't felt any extra time demands this year trying to handle both duties and thinks it has gone "extremely well.''
I hate to be critical but I don't think it has gone well at all to tell you the truth. I think it has contributed to three close losses against Notre Dame, ASU, and UCLA that could have been wins if managed more expertly.
Honestly things will get better for this program with the influx of new talent coming in and another full year of conditioning under Ivan Lewis. I also thing a 34 year old head coach in his first season has his own learning curve to deal with. I like what Sark brings tothe table and I think over time he will become a better game day coach. That being said in the off season he needs to take a closer look at how much he has on his plate.
Oregon State Perspective
Here is a link to an article in the Oregonian by Ken Goe who think the Beavers are getting the Huskies at the right time. Playing the Beavers in Novemeber is never a good thing for any team because as we all know Mike riley teams just keep getting better.
Washington on the other hand doesn't seem to be getting better right now. Last week they played down to the level of their opponent and lost by one point to UCLA. Teams that are getting better don't do that. We were hpoing for a resurgence after the bye week but the team looked just as tired as they did against Oregon.
Nicks, scratches, and injuries are starting to add up. If Washington has any chance of pulling off an upset on Saturday they need to hit the field fresh with lots of energy and gain some confidence early. This team hasn't had a lot of confidence since the punt block in the Oregon game.
Earlier this season, after Washington had hammered Idaho, upset USC and jumped into the national rankings, it looked like the Huskies might have turned the corner in coach Steve Sarkisian's first season.
It was a feel-good story, 0-12 in 2008 to contention in 2009.
Since, though, the Huskies have lost five of six. The victory came because of a fluky pick-six against Arizona that some believe should have been disallowed upon further review.