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Tuesday, May 6th, 2008
Posted by Don Ruiz @ 04:22:38 pm
The NCAA's annual Academic Progress Rate report was released today and the bottom line is good news for UW: General improvement, third-best score in Pac-10 football, no scholarship losses. Stanford led all Pacific-10 football programs with an APR of 986, followed by California (967), Washington (948), Southern California (948), UCLA (941), Arizona State (933), Oregon State (926), Oregon (921), WSU (916) and Arizona (902). Washington also had an APR of 943 for men’s basketball. The NCAA average is 934 for football and 928 for men’s basketball, and the benchmark score is 925. “Of course we always want to be the best, and it would be nice to be No. 1 in APR in all sports,” said John Morris, UW senior associate athletic director for compliance and student development. “Sometimes that’s a challenge with a school like Stanford in the conference. All in all, I think we feel pretty good about it. None of our sports are at risk of having any penalties under the APR. Most of them are trending upward in the last year or two, so I think all in all we feel pretty good about it.” They're not feeling nearly as good at Washington State, which will be hit with the loss of eight football scholarships. Here are the details of their situation. Also penalized was USC hoops, which loses two scholarships. Here are the details on that.
Posted by Don Ruiz @ 03:35:16 pm
KRJ radio host Dave Grosby announced today that he will no longer be hosting his solo show from 1-3 p.m. weekdays. His 3-5 p.m. "Groz with Gas" show will continue. The Groz has been a good friend of this blog, and his solo segment will be missed.
Categories: Huskies
Saturday, May 3rd, 2008
Posted by Don Ruiz @ 06:31:45 pm
Former Curtis star Isaiah Thomas has notched an ACT score high enough to assure that he will be part of the Washington Huskies basketball team next season. Thomas, who will graduate from the South Kent prep school in Connecticut at the end of this month, got the good news late last week, and I got a chance to talk to him Saturday. A few of his thoughts: On his test results: On his two seasons at South Kent: On how he has improved on the court since his days at Curtis: On whether he sees himself as a point guard or shooting guard: On whether he can pair with Venoy Overton, UW's returning starter at the point: On his summer plans: Meanwhile, father Keith Thomas said that he has spent the past two seasons watching his so play online. So he is expecially pleased with the prospect of watching Isaiah just up I-5 come November. "That’s the best news I’ve heard since he started high school at Curtis." Keith Thomas said. "He’s my oldest kid and I wonder all the time about all this basketball hype, and we finally see that he’s gotten over that first brick wall of finishing high school."
Categories: Huskies
• 2 comments
Friday, May 2nd, 2008
Posted by Don Ruiz @ 04:10:16 pm
Two of the most attractice home games on Washington's coming football schedule will kick off in late afternoon to accommodate national broadcast. Oklahoma's Sept. 13 visit to Husky Stadium will kickoff at 4:45 p.m. and will be shown on either ESPN or ABC. Notre Dame's visit on Oct. 25 will kickoff at 5 p.m. and be shown on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2.
Categories: Huskies
• 4 comments
Thursday, May 1st, 2008
Posted by Don Ruiz @ 04:58:31 pm
The news is in the next post down ... the one about acting atheltic director Scott Woodward deciding not to apply for the full-time job and to remain instead as the university's vice president for external affairs. However, the most interesting thing Woodward said today was an impression he has picked up over the past few months running the UW atheltic department: "My only concern is a worry about some complacency issues and an acceptance of mediocrity," he said. "People were assuming that doing the right thing and winning were mutually exclusive, and they're not. … Winning is a very important core value of what we do. Frankly the other things – being compliant, doing things in the best interest of the student-athlete – are underpinnings. They're what we do, and to accept anything less is in my book a non-starter." It's an interesting statement, although largely meaningless without names attached. However, it's very close to the language university president Mark Emmert used when he and athletic director Todd Turner decided to part ways. And it certainly indicates that the highest reaches of the university believes that some folks in athletics need to raise the bar of their own expectations. The 2008-09 athletic year should be fascinating.
Categories: Huskies
• 9 comments
Posted by Don Ruiz @ 03:03:05 pm
Scott Woodward, who has been acting as UW athletic director since the departure of Todd Turner, announced today that he will not seek the permanent job. Woodward sounded like he enjoys the duties but that president Mark Emmert seems to need him doing other jobs for the good of the overall university. One of those jobs will be continuing in a lead role of trying to get legislative funding for a major renovation of Husky Stadium. That plan failed last session, but Woodward said he will work the political process to try to have been success for the proposal in the next session. An Emmert-appointed committee is already working to identify candidates for the athletic director job, and Emmert is expected to name someone over the next month or so.
Categories: Huskies
Posted by Don Ruiz @ 09:54:24 am
Former WSU running back Reuben Mayes was named today to the 2008 College Football Hall of Fame class. Here's the full list:
It's a nice list, but my main reaction is to wonder how Billy Cannon took this long. I was just getting old enough to start following sports when Cannon was becoming a living legend in my homestate of Louisiana. He led LSU to its first national championship. He made a long and amazing punt return against Ole Miss which was replayed on local sportscasts every Halloweeen night for as long as I lived there. He went on to a nice pro career and was the model for the sports/soap opera movie "Everybody's All-American."
Categories: Huskies
• 4 comments
Wednesday, April 30th, 2008
Posted by Don Ruiz @ 02:52:49 pm
The Pacific-10 Conference has released its annual football prospectus looking ahead to the 2008 season with schedule, bowl and team-by-team information. Pretty useful stuff to get us through this early part of the off-season.
Categories: Huskies
• 3 comments
Tuesday, April 29th, 2008
Posted by Don Ruiz @ 01:54:06 pm
Just a final reminder that the UW coaches tour -- a golf and banquet event featuring Tyrone Willingham, Lorenzo Romar and Tia Jackson -- will open at Fircrest Golf Club on Thursday. Here's a link to the details.
Categories: Huskies
Posted by Don Ruiz @ 09:14:29 am
First and second round games of next season's NCAA men's basketball tournament will be held in Portland and in Boise -- where UW started its Sweet 16 run a few seasons ago. Here's the link for ticket information.
Categories: Huskies
Monday, April 28th, 2008
Posted by Don Ruiz @ 04:04:46 pm
Washington's crowd for the spring game on Saturday was estimated at about 9,000, a nice enough crowd for a clear spring day. However, it was just a drop in the bucket compared to some of the other spring game crowds around the country (most in the South, not surprisingly). Here's this spring's Top 10 attendance figures for spring football games played through last weekend: Nebraska - 80,149
Categories: Huskies
• 4 comments
Posted by Don Ruiz @ 09:12:03 am
The free agent signings have continued, with UW's Louis Rankin (and Western Washington linebacker Shane Simmons) signing with the Oakland Raiders. I've also heard Marcel Reece is signing with the Dolphins, Greyson Gunheim with the Rainders, Jordan Reffett and Roy Lewis to the Steelers and Chad Macklin to the Vikings. Here's the current list from UW.
Categories: Huskies
Sunday, April 27th, 2008
Posted by Don Ruiz @ 03:48:15 pm
Over its two-day draft, the NFL selected players from Army and Bentley and finally even Idaho. NFL teams also drafted a player named "Washington," but ultimately they drafted no one from Washington. At least not the University of Washington. One player who played his collegiate career in the state of Washington was taken: WSU quarterback Alex Brink by the Houston Texans in the seventh round. And shortly after the draft UW receiver Anthony Russo of Lakewood and WSU's Michael Bumpus were about to sign with the Seahawks. Before the draft, Russo had worked out for the Seahawks and said that former UW coach Keith Gilbertson -- now receivers coach for the Hawks -- had said the team was excited about him. That leaves other hopefuls such as UW receiver Marcel Reece, defensive end Greyson Gunheim, cornerback Roy Lewis, tailback Louis Rankin and outside linebacker Dan Howell; Washington State offensive tackle Bobby Byrd, fullback Jed Collins, safety Husain Abdullah and defensive tackle Ropati Pitoitua; Eastern Washington guard Matthew Alfred and safety Gregory Smith; and Western Washington inside linebacker Shane Simmons free to look for free agent contracts. This was the first draft since 2003 when no UW player was selected, and it marked the lowest number of draftees from the state since 1994, when Washington’s Pete Pierson was the only pick. Pac-10 champion Southern California led the league with 10 drafted players, followed by California, six; Arizona State, five; Arizona, four; UCLA and Oregon, three each; Oregon State, two; WSU, one; UW and Stanford, none. Before the draft, Washington coach Tyrone Willingham had acknowledged that the ability to produce pro players says something about the strength of college programs. “I think it does,” he said. “I think when you have good players, other people want good players.”
Categories: Huskies
• 3 comments
Posted by Don Ruiz @ 09:46:13 am
As we anticipated in our Saturday story, no Huskies were taken on the first day of the NFL draft. It's also not a sure thing that any will go today, either, but there should be at least some suspense for players such as Anthony Russo of Lakewood, Marcel Reece, Louis Rankin and maybe some others. Rankin told his hometown paper that's he's confident that he'll get a shot. And even if undrafted, a handful of Washington players are likely to get their chances as free agents.
Categories: Huskies
Saturday, April 26th, 2008
Posted by Don Ruiz @ 02:49:43 pm
Coaches and players seemed to agree that the UW spring game was a fair representation of what had been happening behind the scenes through the previous 14 days of spring. It's always hard to tell whether a low-scoring spring game indicates a strong defense or a weak offense. In reality, it might not indicate much of anything. Both teams really played vanilla because, as offensive coordinator Tim Lappano pointed out, there were green shirts -- Oregon green -- in the stands. Also, the running clock made for fewer offensive plays than a typical game. Here is my game story. Here are the stats. Here's a quick overview: GOLD 10, PURPLE 7 Offensive player of the game: Locker completed 13 of 17 passes for 159 yards with one touchdown and one interception. “I felt comfortable,” he said. “I had fun, I saw things really well, and I felt like I was really accurate when I was throwing the ball. I think everything’s coming along.” Defensive player of the game: Junior linebacker E. J. Savannah seems determined to regain his starting job. He had a game-high eight tackles, including two for loss. And after an early-spring suspension, he said he now knows how to stay out of the doghouse: “Just go to all the workouts – that’s about it. Do everything that (coach Tyrone Willingham) asks.” Observations: Redshirt freshman Willie Griffin showed a nice knack for one stutter move before breaking hard into the hole. He led all rushers with 71 yards on 20 carries. ... Charles Hawkins had five catches, but also two notable drops, including one in the end zone. … The Purple blew a fourth-down attempt when Locker fumbled the snap. … Starting center Juan Garcia watched from the sidelines, using crutches to get around with his injured left foot. His replacement, Matt Sedillo, played with an ankle injury. … Freshman Chris Polk was manhandled on separate plays in the fourth-quarter while trying to block end Daniel Te’o-Nesheim and linebacker Chris Stevens. Next: The Huskies begin off-season work. They will return for fall camp in early August. The regular season begins Aug. 30 at Oregon. (And here's a report from the Ducks' spring game.)
Categories: Huskies
Posted by Don Ruiz @ 02:25:07 pm
Jake Locker went 7-for-7 in leading an 80-yard drive, capped by an 11-yard pass to D'Andre Goodwin over Quinton Richardson.
Categories: Huskies
Posted by Don Ruiz @ 01:45:55 pm
The only score was a 39-yard field goal by Cory Rutkowski. The Gold had actually given up possession earlier, but got the ball back because the Purple had too many men on the field for the punt. And that's the kind of half it's been. A few stats: Willie Griffin has 23 yards on seven carried, while the Brandons -- Johnson and Yakaboski -- each have 10 on three carries. Leading receiver is D'Andre Goodwin, with four catches for 60 yards. Linebacker E.J. Savannah, apparently running with the No. 2 defense, leads all tacklers with six ... twice as many as anyone else. A few observations: Griffin shows nice little ability to take one stutter step and then break hard for the hole. Charles Hawkins has two catches, but also two drops including one in end zone. The Purple tried a fourth and one on their first possession, but Locker fumbled the snap. Goodwin was flagged for excessive celebration after a 28 yard catch down the sideline over Mesphin Forrester. Locker was picked late in the half by Quinton Richardson, but on a badly underthrown pass. Juan Garcia is watching on crutches. His sub, Matt Sedillo, played some center for both teams.
Categories: Huskies
Posted by Don Ruiz @ 01:10:19 pm
Jake Locker fumbled the snap on a fourth-down attempt. Charles Hawkins has had a couple of big drops, including one in the end zone. As the score indicates, not much offense.
Categories: Huskies
Posted by Don Ruiz @ 11:53:02 am
The kids and visitors are being cleared from the Husky Stadium field, making way for the main event: the annual Purple and Gold football game. It's a beautiful day -- sunny, football-weather cool, with lake and mountains shimmering in the distance. In other words, if you can get up here, you'd probably enjoy yourself. If you can't or don't, the game will be broadcast on KJR, 950-AM, and I'll blog a bit during and after. We've just been given the rosters, and it appears that the Purple will feature the No. 1 offense and No. 2 defense , while the Gold will have the No. 1 defense and No. 2 offense. Assuming that's right, here's the Huskies No. 1 (purple) offense at the end of spring: QB Locker, FB Homer, TB Johnson, WRs Chris Polk and D'Andre Goodwin, T's Ben Ossai and Cody Habben, G's Casey Bulyca and White-Frisbee, C Sedillo and TE Michael Gottlieb. The No. 1 defense (Gold) is: DEs Te'o-Nesheim and Jones, DTs De'Shon Matthews and Cameron Elisara, LBs Josh Gage, Donald Butler and Mason Foster, safeties Nate Williams and Victor Aiyewa and CBs Mesphin Forrester and Quinton Richardson.
Categories: Huskies
Friday, April 25th, 2008
Posted by Don Ruiz @ 08:09:37 pm
Here's my spring game preview for the Saturday paper, mostly trying to outline some of the areas fans might find most interesting in their one spring look at the time. I'll be especially interested in watching the play of the large secondary, the small defensive line, the passing of Jake Locker and Ronnie Fouch, the running of the young runners, and maybe most of all, the performance of the new receivers. Meanwhile, here once again is a Spring Fling overview from the GoHuskies.com Web site. The game will be live broadcast on KJR-950-AM, and of course I'll blog some thoughts Saturday and have a general spring wrap-up in the Sunday paper. Today also marks the start of the NFL draft, and we have preview of hopeful Huskies, Cougars, Eagles and even a Viking.
Categories: Huskies
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News Tribune sportswriter Don Ruiz is in his sixth season covering the Pacific-10 Conference and his fourth covering Huskies' football and men's basketball. This blog features breaking news, instant analysis and answers to your questions and a place to discuss the Huskies. 