Head Coach Steve Sarkisian was on the KJR Dawgman show on Saturday morning, sharing several noteworthy comments with the fan base.
All the HS signees are academically qualified and are on campus for the bridge program, beginning this week. He is not 100% sure of the status concerning the JC transfers, and likely will not have full assurance until fall camp commences. While most of the JC kids have everything finished (or are in the process of taking final classes), they still must get through the admissions process at the UW. Just because a JC transfer is fully qualified by NCAA standards doesn't automatically mean he will automatically gain admission to the University of Washington.
The coach isn't able to make direct comments about the 2010 class until they are signed; however, he is able to make general comments about the direction and philosophy they are using to recruit players. Coach Sark spoke about the early commits and acknowledged there is a long time to go until signing day. Things may change dramatically, which is why they really never stop recruiting. He feels when a kid verbals with UW it sends a signal to other schools to recruit that player even harder.
As far as academic casualties are concerned, Sarkisian believes former UW running backs David Freeman and Brandon Johnson are it for the time being. Depth is one of his biggest concerns going into the season. Coach's goal is the keep his team as healthy as possible during the first three games. Obviously, LSU and USC are going to be very physical games. He wants to be able to put the same team out in the field on for game six as he did for game one.
One impression he has of the team thus far is they have thoroughly bought-in as a group to what Coach Ivan Lewis is trying to teach and instill in each player. The coach said, "We have put a huge emphasis on speed and change of direction and explosion and our kids have responded very well.''
He also talked about overcoming the 0-12 mentality, both in recruiting and with the current roster. As far as recruiting goes, he and the staff have been able to sell that as coaches they are 0-0 at UW and have had a lot of success in the past. Sarkisian went on to share that the biggest challenge the staff has is that the athletes on the current roster are obviously accustomed to losing. What the staff is doing to help the players recover mentally is to keep them in constant competition. The philosophy is the small wins built up every day in competition translate into big wins on the field during games.
It has been a long time since a Husky head football coach was on the radio in July. This is vacation time for these guys so being able to have access to Sarkisian is something as a fan base we haven't enjoyed since Rick Neuheisel was at Montlake. Once again, it is another example of the fresh breeze that has blown into the football program and the athletic department. It has been obvious from day one that Steve Sarkisian understands what it means to be a Husky.
Puppy Chow
According to Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times the Skyline/ Oaks Christian game is going to be played on the Skyline campus and not at Qwest. The reason is ESPN who will be televising it wants a true HS atmosphere for the broadcast. What that means is there are going to only be 4000 tickets available for this one. How many of you guys are going to be cheering for Oaks Christian?
Oregon WR Aaron Plufgrad is transfering to Arizona State. His dad was on the Oregon staff and was let go when Chip Kelly was named the head coach. Just another early reason not to like Chip Kelly. The real question is whether his all world cheerleading sister is going to stay at Oregon too?
Our favorite beat writer, Bob Condotta of the Seattle Time,s is undergoing knee surgery. So send him a note on his blog and let him know that you wish him well! As I have said time and time again...Bob is one of the very best in the country at what he does and undeniably the best in the Northwest!
Mike Denbrock picked up a job at Indiana State under former Husky assistant coach Trent Miles. That leaves Tyrone Willingham as the only unhired coach at this point. What is Willingham up to right now? A good bet is that he is working on getting a lucrative book deal to details his days at Stanford, Notre Dame, and Washington.
Former Husky QB Brock Huard is building an impressive broadcast resume. He is going to be teaming up with former Husky Ed Cunningham to do games on ESPN/ABC this season. Ed has become a fixture with the network. Brock has shown a lot of promise and I think he also has a long career ahead of him on a national basis.
I will be continuing to break down every position on the football team and all of our up coming opponents over the next couple of weeks. I want to make sure everyone has something to read every day in July. You may have noticed that I haven't been publishing anything on Saturday or Sunday unless there is some late breaking news. That will continue to camp starts in August.
Bob Condotta has a great post in his blog regarding the records of first year coaches in the Pac 10 since 1978. Joe Kapp, Ty Willingham....my oh my!
TOP FIVE TURNAROUNDS
Tedford 2002, plus 5.5
Kapp 1982, plus-5
Elway 1984, plus-4
Willingham, 1995, plus-3.5
Erickson, 2007, plus-3
SBN has introduced Mobile Posting which is a big thing. When I am at a game I can follow the gamethread but I can't post. Now we will all be able to post our comments with our smart phones! Give it a try and see how it works!