While most of today's press conference at UW was devoted to the players who will be wearing Husky uniforms next fall, there also was a little news involving the uniforms themselves:

"We might have some uniform changes," new coach Steve Sarkisian said.

Yes, yes, go on, we said.

"We’re going to stay somewhat traditional to what the UW has been, and we’ll have a few wrinkles here and there just to spice it up for the kids and keep the kids excited," he said. "They love that type of stuff."

Sarkisian had hinted earlier that changes might be coming, but there also had been some issue of regarding there was enough time to get things done for next season. And apparently there is.

"Yeah, we’ve worked with Nike, they’ve been great with us," Sarkisian said. "We have a new contract with them, they’ve responded really well. They’ve answered a lot of the needs that we’ve wanted and they’ve been great to us."

These, of course, are dangerous waters.

There are two types of sports fans: Those who care nothing about uniforms and can't even begin to wonder why anyone else would care; and then there are those fans who do care. Very very much.

So, among those who do care, the question arises: How do you please tradition-loving alumni while also pleasing young players who may view the Oregon Ducks as fashion trend-setters, rather than, say, circus clowns?

"Our fan base is extremely important, and we want them to be proud of who we are," Sarkisian said. "But also, I want our kids to feel good about what they’re wearing and what they’re doing, and be excited about what’s going on. So there’s a combination of both in there, and we want to look good. We want to look good when our highlights are on TV."

Coach Steve Sarkisian was asked at his recruiting press conference today about those two secondary violations (outlined in posts below) that the school self-reported.

"Misunderstandings," he said. "We took care of it, we reported ourselves and we'll move on. I was OK with it. It's part of being a new head coach, a young head coach. You've got to learn with experience. We'll be smarter next time."

However, "misunderstandings" is kind of vague, so after the public portion of the press conference I asked a question I had somehow never asked before in all my days as a journalist: Did you know that bringing in a fog machine is illegal?

"They hadn’t used it as a game-day experience here. … They had never done it on gameday before. At the time, in my estimation of it, that wasn’t simulating a gameday activity because they hadn’t done it on gameday before."

(The point is that the rule that was violated is an NCAA prohibition against simulating game-day experiences for recuits. And, as he points out, UW doesn't use fog machines for its Husky Stadium pregame introductions.)

That seemed a fine enough point to draw one more follow-up question: Was he certain that the NCAA ruling was to be read that literally, or did he understand that he might be pushing the envelope?

"I want to be really clear: We’re not trying to push the envelope; we’re not trying to see how many secondary violations we can get," he said. "We want to be compliant with every rule that we can. That’s where I think the misunderstanding comes in. That’s exactly what it was. This wasn’t us trying to beat the rule of anything. We did something that they hadn’t done anything before and that’s the extent of it."

(That last paragraph might read a little angrier than it sounded. He actually seemed understanding of the questions and was polite with his answers.)

One of the cool thinks Steve Sarkisian did today was volunteer a player-by-player rundown on his new recruits.

Here's his opening statement.

"This is a pretty exciting day for us. I am very proud of our coaching staff coming in here with only three weeks to go, three recruiting visits, to increase our number from what was four scholarship players up to 18 is exciting. I think we have filled a lot of needs."

Here's my overview story.

And here's his take on the freshman class of 2009:

Marlion Barnett "He's more of an H-back type of guy - a move guy. He has great hands and was a 1,500 yard receiver as a junior. We are excited about him and had him in camp at SC. He was an early commit here and he stuck with us, and I am really excited about him, and I think he'll have a chance to play early for us."

David Batts "He's a junior college safety and a three-for-three kid. [He's] big, physical, just a good looking kid - that's how they are supposed to look. He still has some work to get done in the classroom but I think he will have an immediate impact for us, especially on special teams.

Dorson Boyce "He's a physical tight end, not the tallest kid, 6-foot-2, 245 guy, that is a physical blocker that we need if we are going to establish ourselves as a physical football team. We need that kind of guy in our program, that can knock guys off the ball. I think he will be a nice complement to the guys we already have in the program."

Talia Crichton "He's a fantastic pass rusher. This guys a split end pass rusher, a LEO in our system, that can really rush. In this conference if you are going to be successful, especially on third down, you better be able to get after the quarterback and this guy can do that for us. I am really excited about this guy and was able to hold onto him in the end. There was a lot of pressure from other schools in the conference, and we held onto him which is big for us."

Nathan Fellner "He's a real physical kid and puts his hat on guys. He played some offense and I'm excited about Nate because not only can he do some things on defense, but he can help us on special teams. He's a very smart kid and the grandson of Jim Sweeney, he's been around football his whole life, and it's good for us to get those type of football junkies in our program."

Dominique Gaisie "Don't be fooled by 5-foot-9, 165, this kid is a physical football player. He's a great return guy and we are expecting him to come in and contribute right off the bat. He's a physical kid that can come in and help on both defense and special teams."

James Johnson "James Johnson, in my opinion, was probably the biggest get in this class. We needed a guy that could come in and play at wide receiver right now. He can do that, and he can make plays down field. He will help in the passing game, and on special teams. Again, his brother is a coach and he just gets it. It's important for us to get more football guys in the program."

Daniel Mafoe "He's a big physical tackle and again another JC guy that can hopefully fill a need on the offensive line. I know some people will look at this class and ask why there were not more o-lineman if the offensive line was such a need. Well, it's one thing to fill a need with numbers and to fill it with guys that can come in and play. It was not a big year for offensive line on the West Coast, and instead of just taking numbers at the position and not get better, we decided to take what we thought was the best guy at tackle."

Will Mahan "He's the top junior college punter in the country and we are estatic to have Will in here. Again, if you are going to be good, you need to be good in all three areas. Special teams is huge for us and playing the field position game is big."

Kimo Makaula "He's a fantastic athlete out of Hawaii. This kid was a quarterback on a state championship team. The first day I saw him I though he was somebody else and you guys will know who I am talking about (Manti Te'o), because he is such a good looking kid. He can play fullback, tight end, possibly defensive end and his upside is huge. I am very excited about him and again he's a football junky, a well equipped athlete that can do a lot of different things. I love the fact he was a quarterback on a championship caliber team and he brings a lot of leadership, and a winning mentality to our program."

Keith Price "He's a fantastic football player and when I got here one of the first guys I got on to stay with the program. He can make plays with his arm, he can make plays with his feet."

Andru Pulu "He's a local kid and I am anxious to watch him develop. He may develop into a defensive lineman, I don't know, but right now he's a big physical inside linebacker who can put his hat on guys. I think he can have an immediate impact on special teams and you are going to hear me come back to this because we were not very good on special teams last season if you guys didn't notice. It's a third of the game, a third of the time our special teams are out there and we need to get better at it."

Chris Robinson "He's another kid that we had to hold onto late because guys were coming after this kid hard. Nick Holt did a great job fighting people off and keeping him. I think this guys going to have a big impact. He's a big, physical, and explosive kid that can really come off the football. He reminds us a lot of Cedrick Ellis back at SC, he has the same kind of build and explosiveness."

Will Shamburger "He's a fantastic athlete, a safety, receiver, outside linebacker. Where exactly he ends up I don't know. Again he's another special teams guy and we will give him his opportunity at safety, but he could fill out into a linebacker, or lengthen out into a receiver. But, we need guys like him that can play a lot of position and do a lot of things for us."

Johnny Tivao "He's a defensive tackle and he's a load now - he's a load. He's a nose guard, he can handle the center really well and is two gap guy. He's a JC kid and is more mature and very physical. He has highlights of him at fullback and moves very well for his size. Again he's an immediate impact guy for us."

Semisi Tokolahi "This kids is great, a fun kid, and 6-3, 320. This is what they are supposed to look like when they come in. I am anxious to get this guy apart of the program because I think he just has a winners mentality and a beautiful family."

Desmond Trufant "He was a big get and when I hired Nick Holt the first thing we did was visit Desmond. He's a big get, keeping the local in Washington. Obviously we all know about the lineage of the family and I think he will have huge upside in the program and start to change the scope of who we are."

Tim Tucker "He's a linebacker and possible fullback. He's a big physical thumper type of guy, which if we want to become the physical football team we want to be, we need to get more guys like this in our program."

I'll be back with more information on some of these, but here's what caught my ear first time through (in no particular order).

* He said he's excited and proud of his first class and that he believes he filled some needs.

* Like Willingham, he's not predetermining that anyone should redshirt. But there were a good handful of players who he actually mentioned as likely to provide immediate help.

* He said the class is big on roughly linebacker sized guys, and that's because those are the kinds of guys who run down on special teams -- which was an area of emphasis at several points of his talk.

* Concerning his secondary violation in the recruitment of Desmond Trufant, he said he didn't think fog machines would be considered part of the "gameday experience" because they haven't traditionally been used at Husky Stadium.

* He called wide receiver James Johnson "the biggest get in the class."

* He said he's already offered 20 players for the class of 2010... with emphasis on offensive linemen, running backs, depth at receiver and what he called "outside linebacker body types."

* He said that next year's class of in-state talent is better over a good variety of positions.

* He said Jake Locker is throwing and doing well.

* He said another player or two could be added to the class at some point, but apparently not over the next few days.

* He said he has plenty of good candidates for the receivers coach position and might have an announcement next week.

* He gave the class a grade of "C." But he added that he almost never gives grades above C.

* He said he expects all 18 recruits to make it into school.

* He said there have been no position changes of exisiting personnel ... or at least that he had none to announce.

* He said he hasn't looked at other Pac-10 classes enough to say which schools might have helped themselves most today.

*He implied heavily that the Huskies will be playing in new uniforms next season. But otherwise, he didn't give much away in terms of what they might look like.

The Huskies have received 18 letters of intent today -- completing what they expect will be Steve Sarkisian's first class.

You can meet the new Huskies at GoHuskies.com.

I'll report back in with reaction after Sarkisian 1 p.m. press conference.

If you want to listen in live, there's a link in the post below.