'12 COLLEGE FOOTBALL OFF-SEASON (NSD, spring practice, summer sessions)

In staying with with the Washington theme.....

Football Fast Forward: Washington

By Anthony Cassino, UW Dawg Pound

When last we saw the Washington Huskies on the gridiron, they were giving up score after score to the Baylor Bears. The Bears had the Heisman winner, Robert Griffin III, but, truthfully, they didn’t need his many talents to dismantle the Husky defense. Baylor’s runners went over, around and through Nick Holt’s defenders, and Washington’s prolific offense could not keep up even with the aid of quarterback Keith Price’s record-setting seven-touchdown day. Combining that performance with multiple showings during the regular season that were less than lackluster, coach Steve Sarkisian hit the reset button on the defense by firing nearly the entire defensive coaching staff and reassigning the lone holdover to special teams coordinator. New faces Justin Wilcox, Tosh Lupoi, Keith Heyward and Peter Sirmon were brought in to revamp that side of the ball and snap Washington out of the defensive funk that it has been in for a decade.

Given all the turnover and turmoil on the defensive side of the ball, all eyes will be there in the season opener against San Diego State. The Aztecs were a pretty average offensive team last season by many metrics and lost several key contributors; however they’re replacing them with a couple players that are familiar to the Pac-12. Incoming Oregon State transfer Ryan Katz will likely be San Diego State’s starting quarterback (coincidentally the only Beaver QB to lose a game to UW in the last eight seasons), while USC transfer Brice Butler will play a prominent role as a receiver.

The Washington defense returns several players to be excited about. Corner Desmond Trufant has NFL aspirations and safety Sean Parker has all-conference potential. Defensive end Josh Shirley finished last season on a tear with 6.5 sacks in his last four games. Defensive tackle Danny Shelton is being tabbed by many as a breakout star. If the gaps can be filled by new faces and through the development of less-heralded returners, the defensive production should be greatly improved. Combining that with what should be improved coaching and scheme, the Dawgs should be able to hold the Aztecs’ offense in check and give Sarkisian’s offense enough chances to win the game.

On offense the Huskies bring back fewer question marks. The ship will be captained by Keith Price, who is coming off of perhaps the best season any Washington quarterback has ever had. Surrounding Price will be two young and talented runners in Jesse Callier and Bishop Sankey, some very productive receivers in Kasen Williams and James Johnson, and perhaps the best tight end in the country in Austin Seferian-Jenkins. The offensive line has to find a couple of new faces on it, but should return three starters and may ultimately end up improved from last season’s squad. With an elite signal caller and so many weapons flanking him, Price and the UW offense should overwhelm San Diego State’s defense, which was only average last year, and coast to a comfortable victory.

Of course these offensive and defensive predictions are based on conjecture about things that are mostly unknown at this point. The reality is that San Diego State has been a very solid program of late (winners of 17 games over the past two seasons) and has beaten teams that underestimate them or come into the game unprepared. The Huskies will have to be focused, as they’ll be playing this game off campus in the Seahawks’ CenturyLink Field as Husky Stadium is renovated, and they have a date with national runner up LSU the following weekend. Focus and not looking past SDSU will be of utmost importance for the Huskies to avoid the upset and start their season on the right foot.
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Further staying w/Washington theme. I know his batting prowess was mentioned previously but there were questions around the money he was earning:

Yahoo - When Red Sox draft pick and Washington Huskies football signee Shaq Thompson first suited up for the Boston’s Gulf Coast League team, everyone knew that he would struggle to compete at an adequate level right off the bat. After all, Thompson had only returned to playing regularly his senior year after a pair of seasons lost to a focus on developing speed on the track. Still, the Red Sox decided to persist with playing Thompson every day, and the results were even worse than anyone could have imagined. In the end, Thompson completed what is almost certainly the single worst start to a minor league career ever. In 39 at-bats, Thompson was 0-for-39, good for a batting average of 0.00. More stunningly, he struck out 37 times. “He has excellent makeup. It’s through the roof. He knew that it wouldn’t be easy and would be a struggle but he was willing to take the risk,” Sox amateur scouting director Amiel Sawdaye told Boston radio network WEEI. “We did not have expectations — I think it’s unfair to put those on any kid in his first year of pro ball” even when an athlete is competing to justify his $45,000 signing bonus and some $100,000 in total potential earnings over a four-year developmental contract that allows him to continue playing football.
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While on the Washington theme...

They offered a friggin 8th grader and he committed. :{

Stupid. :| :| :| :|
 
Lookin for my huskies to have a big year. Lots of young talent coming and a well improved coaching staff.
 
Q46totheE said:
Penn State about to take that route.
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It appears CBS will spend more time in Fayetteville this season than just the Alabama and LSU games it is scheduled to televise.

The network is working on a behind-the-scenes look at the Razorbacks’ 2012 season to air later this year on CBS Sports Network, said Tracy Wolfson on Wednesday during an appearance on “Sports Talk with Bo Mattingly”.
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:hat
 
Denard is not a good passer... Not even close... Terrible reads and throwing off his back foot 90% of the time is not going to change much.... The skill positions just took a huge loss with Fitz going down...The TEs are bad and AJ Williams and Devin Funchess might see the most PT... The LBs and Secondary should be solid but the DL is a huge question mark.... Going against Bamas OL... Yikes... I have a feeling it could get ugly because Bama is going to send 7 at Denard every chance they get
 
I hope Nike doesn't try to make silver helmets a new thing. I loved when Oregon did it last year but let it just be Oregon's thing.
 
He should leave ..competing for a title > playing 12 games and being done.

I know the Bucks are the same way but that's only for a season.

If you're a PSU freshman/sophomore why would you stay.
 
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