Monday Dots: Fiending for a Microphone

I told you about the walrus and me, man

You know we’re as close as can be, man

Well here’s another clue for you all

The walrus was Dots.

• Friday’s media day produced plenty of soundbites and even some tidbits that might loosely qualify as news. As usual, Christian Caple got some of the best information. He spoke to Kalen DeBoer directly and the top headline was the physical improvement of Rome Odunze. Rome was already projected as a first-round draft pick, but has been clocked at a 4.34 40 this summer despite added muscle.

• Mike Vorel covered the comments from George Kliavkoff at media day, who managed to put on a brave face. Despite persistent rumors about the conference breaking up, about the lack of a media rights deal, and about the eroding profile as the LA schools leave, Kliavkoff sounded very optimistic. Rather that’s a bargaining ploy or he knows something we don’t know remains to be seen.

• Michael Penix Jr. also spoke to the media on behalf of UW and he made sure to keep it all about UW. Penix deferred on questions about his own accomplishments and future and redirected to what the team needs to do to reach its ceiling. He also expressed confidence that UW can do anything it needs to do if the team hits its potential on the field this fall.

• It wasn’t all sunshine and roses for the Dawgs this weekend. Jabez Tinae announced his departure from the program via the transfer portal. Tinae was long rumored to be a prime candidate to leave, but his exit leaves the Dawgs even more thin in terms of local products on the roster.

• Inoke Breckterfield was considered one of the coaching coups in the early part of DeBoer’s UW tenure. He had a strong recruiting history across multiple P5 position coaching roles, he coached up the likes of Aaron Donald and other future pros, and he was returning to a region where he has roots. In year one, the defensive line did not immediately turn from weakness to strength, though there were signs of growth. SI profiled Breckterfield this weekend and talked about what he needs to do to get the position group back to the days of Vita Vea, Greg Gaines, Danny Shelton, and the like.

And as long as Twitter “X” still exists, here are some links: