Husky Head Coach Steve Sarkisian spent around 40 minutes today talking to the press to kick off the start of spring practices.
The big news is that Kelani Aldrich and Mykena Ikehara have retired due to chronic knee problems. Neither player was expected to start this fall but both were capable of adding some quality depth when healthy. Both players will be staying school on what is called a medical scholarship.
Austin Sefarian-Jenkins is the only freshman who will be enrolled in time for spring practice. Jarrett Finau still needs to finish some classes so he won't join the team until this summer.
As I guessed in the previews we ran this week Justin Glenn will be spending some time at CB because of depth issues caused by players who are recovering from injuries. Glenn started his career as a CB before being moved to safety where he earned a starting position before getting injured.
Washington has a lot of young LB's on the roster and the coaches are going to move them around this spring to find their best positions. Expect that carousel to continue throughout the spring until they decide on their top three.
Sark mentioned that the team is getting it down in the classroom and in the weight room. The team has a record high GPA and almost all the strength and speed numbers are up.
Semisi Tokalahi is out for the spring but they expect to have him back this fall. Sark mentioned that his situation is similar to Everette Thompson who couldn't go every day in camp but rounded himself into playing shape over the first month of the season. Thompson by the way is 100% healthy this spring.
As for the QB position Sark says he is going to be patient which means this battle will go into the fall. He thinks both Price and Montana are ahead of where Locker was at this stage of his career.
Expect to see quite a bit of Zach Fogerson this spring. Washington's depth is a little light at TB and they don't want to overuse Chris Polk. Fogerson seems to be a lock for the FB job but with a good spring could get himself in a position to get some big back opportunities too.
Sark is excited to see what the young offensive lineman can do and he commented that it would be fun to see Hudson and Shirley out there causing havoc at DE. they both had outstanding winter work outs. They would like to see them add another 10-15 lbs of solid weight before fall.
Colin Porter is now squatting 650 and benching 500 which is just tremendous.