SB Nation User Blog: Lear Pilot

Husky Football from 45,000'

Lear Pilot — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 02:17:01 -0000

Being a member of the FL450 club (Flight Level 450 = 45,000’), I am blessed to have a rather unique view of the world, so this should be my "rather unique" view of Husky football so far this season. One extra benefit of membership in this club, way too much free time. You’ll understand by the time you are done reading this novel.

For me, this season has one common thread that runs through out each and every game: mixed emotions. Last night was the perfect example of just that. Sitting through a putrid third and fourth quarter, I was questioning all aspects of the team and coaching staff. What was wrong with our play calling? Why can’t our offense get going? Shouldn’t we try and stick with one offensive style? Why aren’t we running Polk more? Doesn’t this defense look exactly the same as it did last year? Can Holt coach a defense without USC’s "bullets"? Are we really going to lose this game, go 2-4 and prove all the media pundits right, we really are this bad. Then a miracle happened, Husky stadium erupted into a roar that hasn’t been heard in over 15 years, and we actually pulled victory from the clutches of defeat. What a finish.

Overall take on the first half of the season: I’m very pleased with 3-3, halfway through the season and we are halfway to a bowl game. Going into the season I expected a 5-7 record, needless to say we are on pace to improve upon that prediction. If you offered me 3-3 record at the beginning of the season, against our schedule, I’d have taken it no questions asked. Could we have a better record, of course, but I blame that on the refs!

QB – I’ve been an avid supporter of Jake ever since his first game against Syracuse. It’s obvious that his short comings in the passing game were a result of inadequate coaching. He is the heart and soul of this team, and has done everything you could have asked of him. He still needs to have a little bit more finess on the long ball, but for every throw that has missed by inches, he has hit somebody in perfect stride, with perfect placement. Jake has all of the tools necessary to be an NFL hall of famer, but I think one more year of Sark would guarantee a long, successful career in the NFL. Grade = A

RB – What a surprise, I was not sold on Chris Polk, especially his durability. I’m glad to say I was very wrong! I’ve heard of "Grease Lightning", but this kid is Greased Thunder!!! We all knew he was quick and agile, but who knew he’d plow through defenders and drag the pile for extra yards on a regular basis. The next 3 years should be very bright. Grade = A+

WR – Mixed emotions defined. One play we see a ball slip right through a guys hands, dropping a sure touchdown. The next drive they make a clutch catch to snatch victory from defeat. James Johnson is looking like the best under the radar recruit of all time, he’s going to be fun to watch. Overall, I’m a bit disappointed with the number of drops we are seeing from a pretty talented, yet young group of WR’s. If I’m the WR’s coach, these guys are up at 6 am, catching balls from the fastest/hardest football throwing machine I can find, because my "seat" is getting hot. Grade C+

O-Line – Better than expected. They seem to be doing an adequate job of pass blocking and run blocking, some games one and not the other, but still better than expected. I’m a bit scared by the lack of depth, but we still haven’t seen much of Schafer, Ikehara, or a few others. Should be interesting to see how they fill in for Greg Christine. Grade = B-

D-line – Mixed emotions, again. One game they stuff the run, the next we can’t stop it for anything. We’ve got to find a pass rush, it’s not there, and it’s killing our very young, very thin secondary. I was really hoping to see better results from this unit. If we don’t see some improvement, I’m going to buy stock in blood pressure medication, because the entire fan base will be needing large quantities of it! Grade = C-

LB – They are a talented bunch that are working overtime to make up for a weak defensive line. I’d like to see better tackling, but it is greatly improved over last year. I do think they are a bit limited by our schemes, but it probably needs to be that way to protect the young secondary. Grade = A-

CB – Trufant is a stud, watch out Marcus, little brother is going to take your job in a few years! The rest of the cb’s have been up and down, we are giving up way to many yards through the air. They were exposed against Idaho (5-1, who would have guessed??), and taken advantage of against ND and Arizona. Definitely a work in progress, but they are doing better than expected, thanks in part to Trufant. Grade = C

Safety – Tough call, it’s hard to evaluate them when only one player has been a consistent player. Really hurts losing Glenn for the season, Fellner has a very bright future, but will be doing a bunch of tackling drills this week. We really need to find a FS, the revolving door is going to slow the progress of the defensive backfield as a unit, but you can’t plan for injuries. Lots of questions, should be interesting to see how it all pans out. Grade = C

Penalties – If I see one more personal foul that turns a 4th down and 5, into another first down, I’m going to PUKE!!! Enough is enough, the players committing these STUPID penalties better be running stairs until they puke! The most frustrating part of this year is how we keep finding ways to shoot ourselves in the foot. If we want to be winners, this MUST stop, NOW!!!

Coaching – I’ve been very vocal that winning is all that matters. So I’ve got to give the coaches a good grade, they’ve accomplished far more than we expected. There have been times I’ve wondered what the coaches were thinking (see the second half of yesterday’s game), there have been times that they seem like genius’s. I am wondering if we aren’t trying to do too much on offense. I like the fact that we are spreading out the field, but I wonder if we can be masters of both the pro style and the spread at the same time. Polk is running the ball very well, run out of the pro, stick to the pro, and spread the field on occasion to keep the threat of Locker alive and well. We aren’t running the ball well out of the spread, I’d rather stick with the pro and master it, then dable in mediocrity doing both (Crazi is picking his jaw up off the floor!). Defensive coaching – I know we are thin on db’s, but if I see us come out in a 4-3 defense, against a 4 wide set, one more time, I’ll start calling Nick Holt, Kent Baer!! Our defense is bland and boring, I know we are very young in the secondary, but this isn’t going to cut it, a stunt isn’t being creative, it’s time to dig deep, find an imagination, and GET CREATIVE!!!

Grades

Coach Sark – B+, Overall he has done a fabulous job, but we have shot ourselves in the foot one too many times to get an A. Good teams don’t beat themselves, we have got to stop beating US.

Coach Holt – C+, Coach Holt, go back and watch game tape of the last four years, bland and basic doesn’t work. Move the linebackers around, fake blitzes, blitz a corner or safety on occasion, just do something different. A predictable defense is a losing defense, I know the "bullets" aren’t the same caliber as USC’s, but you are going to have to get aggressive/creative/unpredictable if you want to be successful.

In conclusion, it is great to care about Husky football again. It’s great to see Husky stadium come to life and roar like she use to, there are some good days ahead. It’s going to take a lot of work by the coaches and the players, it’s a good thing we have a young staff, they are going to need every ounce of energy to get us back on top. The second half of the season could go so many different directions, we could go 5-1, or we could go 1-5. Last year we knew one win was all that was possible, it’s SOOOOOO much better to look forward to each and every game knowing that we have a good chance of winning. The amount of freshmen players having outstanding years really makes the future look bright, the rest of the Pac10 should be afraid, very afraid, Washington is on its way back!

GO DAWGS!!!

P.S. - Took the boat from Ivar's Salmon House to the game, absolutely loved it. Below is a picture I took while going through the Montlake Cut, thought a few of you might enjoy it.

Chinook's Dawg Boat

Lear Pilot — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:31:33 -0000

I've always wanted to take a boat to a Husky game and haven't had the opportunity yet. I've read about Chinook's Dawg Boat in the past, and am looking into taking it to one of the future games. Would any of you happen to have personal experience, good reports, bad reports, basically if you have any information, it would be greatly appreciated.

Or if have any other recommendation for getting to Husky stadium via boat, that too would be greatly appreciate also.

Thanks for the help, GO DAWGS!!!

Predictions or Regurgitations???

Lear Pilot — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 01:26:40 -0000

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm getting really tired of preseason predictions and preseason rankings. I must have some disease caused by a winless season that causes delusions of grandeur, I can't seem to find ANY media predictions that are actual predictions, they seem more like regurgitations of last season. Doesn't anybody have a backbone anymore? Is it impossible for anybody to go out on a limb and predict something different than what happened at the end of last year???

Sorry for the rant, but I saw Ted Miller just ranked the UW linebackers as 9th in the PAC10. Way to step up and regurgitate the past Ted. I know we sucked last year, but do you really think we will have the second worst linebacker unit in the conference??? Mason Foster - 2nd leading tackler in the conference, Donald Butler - experienced, high caliber veteran, EJ Savannah - Stud, and former leading tackler. I know we are lacking in depth, but am I missing something?

I've been a fan of Ted's material, so I guess I'm just really disappointed that media writers are too concerned with their reputations to risk an actual evaluation and stop regurgitating old information.

Here's the link - http://espn.go.com/blog/pac10

Expectations

Lear Pilot — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 01:18:54 -0000

Just read a great piece on Bob Condotta' blog, so I thought I'd pass it along, it's worth the time to read.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/huskyfootballblog/2009458954_so_how_have_first-year_head_co.html#continue

The short version is he compared how a new head coach did in their first season compared to how the previous coach had done in their last season. All of this is from 1978 and forward, when the Pac10 expanded to 10 teams. Needless to say, I found it very interesting to see how many coaches did better, how many did worse, and who the coaches that made the biggest difference were. Here's the top five turnarounds since 1978 per Bob:

Tedford 2002, plus 5.5
Kapp 1982, plus-5
Elway 1984, plus-4
Willingham, 1995, plus-3.5
Erickson, 2007, plus-3

It was interesting to here that Kapp and Elway were fired within five years, and there's nothing I can say about Willingham that you don't already know. So 3 of the top 5 weren't all they were cracked up to be.

So, how does all of this apply to us? We know that the best turnarounds were an increase of 5.5 wins and 3 wins. If you simply add that to last year, that would put us between 3 and 6 wins this coming year. That is only if Sark puts himself at the very top of the list. I consider myself a realistic and informed fan, that being said, I know full well that we highly underachieved last year and I believe it's very possible for Sark to put himself near the top of that list. Shoot, I'd even put money on it. But it is sobering to see the overall stats of what happens when you get a new coach. Here's some simple numbers I calculated from Bob's info:

23 out of 49 coaches did better than the previous coach = 47%

6 out of 49 coaches had the same record as the previous coach = 12%

20 out of 49 coaches did worse than the previous coach = 41%

So, what should we take out of all of this? In my opinion, successfully turning a program around doesn't usually show up in the first year. Look at Erickson and Tedford, they have the biggest turnarounds in the last 30 years and they only improved by 3 - 5.5 wins. Most successful turnarounds are a process that take multiple seasons, not one off season. As for the Huskies, the deck is highle stacked in Sark's favor for a big turnaround, but if we only win 4 - 5 games, it will go down as one of the biggest first year improvements in the last 30 years of Pac10 football. Hopefully this helps us fans build realistic expectations for this coming season, if we do better than our expectations, GREAT!!!

Be patient, don't expect for Sark to conquer the world in his first year, we can save world domination for years 2 and 3!!! Then the whole world can BOW DOWN TO WASHINGTON!

Quarterback U

Lear Pilot — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:25:10 -0000

I just ran across an interesting article from College Football News, they took on the old question who is the real Quarterback U. I I was well aware of the amazing streak of QB's the UW enjoyed and sent to the NFL, but I was surprised to find us ranked #4 overall. I knew they were looking over the last 40 years, but I would have thought the last 5-8 years would have knocked us down the list a bit.

Here's the link: http://cfn.scout.com/2/861180.html

Here is the part on the Huskies:

4. Washington

The Flag-Bearer – Warren Moon
The Ensemble – Mark Brunell, Chris Chandler, Marques Tuiasosopo, Sonny Sixkiller, Brock Huard, Cody Pickett, Steve Pelluer, Hugh Millen, Billy Joe Hobert, Cary Conklin, Jake Locker and Damon Huard

Amid little fanfare, Seattle has been an NFL pipeline for quarterbacks the past three decades. Washington holds the distinction of having had six alums on NFL rosters during the 1999 season.

Moon, a Hall of Famer, was a star wherever he laced up his cleats. The 1977 Pac-10 Player of the Year is the NFL’s No. 3 all-time passer and a member of the CFL Hall of Fame. Brunell and Chandler have had long and very productive pro careers, while Tuiasosopo is the best all-around quarterback the school has ever had; he’s the only man in NCAA history to pass for 300 yards and rush for 200 more in the same game. Hobert never lost a college game he played in and helped lead the school to its only national championship in 1991. Sixkiller had more than just the best surname in college football history. En route to becoming a local folk hero, he led the country in passing in 1972.

If Jake Locker turns into the NFL style QB I think he will, and Jake Heaps comes to Montlake, we could quickly return to and continue a great UW legacy.

Spring Game

Lear Pilot — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 22:37:13 -0000

I just got home, and had a great time watching the spring game, I'm guestimating there was a crowd of 10-15,000 people. They basically played the one's vs. the two's, with some players playing double duty. I did get to see the new uniforms, which are a nice improvement over last year. The tops are a little darker with traditional block numbers. The pants have the stripes back, two purple stripes with a center white stripe, they appear to be a little shinier, but nowhere near as much as I'd like. The color of the pants looks pretty similar, I'd really like a darker gold.

The first team offense looked great the whole game, which is to be expected going against the second team defense. The MVP of the day easily goes to Jake Locker, to everyone who has ever said he won't be a great passer, you are dead wrong. I haven't seen any stats, but he didn't have a single bad throw. His accuracy and touch were excellent, and he seemed to do a great job of going through his progressions and finding open receivers. Paul Homer had a few really nice catches that turned out to be around 10 yard gains. Willie Griffin had a great catch that he then ran in for a 20-30 yard TD. Anthony Boyles had some really nice acrobatic catches, mainly due to Fouch being under a good deal of pressure.

The running game looked far better today, some of which was the first string o-line pushing the second string d-line around, but they were pushing someone around. Chris Polk looked great, he is definitely the most athletic RB we have. His ability to juke, shift directions, and accelerate really showed on his big runs. If he stays healthy he could be fun to watch. Shaw, Bronson, and Griffin all looked very solid and made the best out of what was available. Shaw took some big hits and kept going, which is expected when Daniel Teo-Nesheim isn't getting blocked.

The first string defense looked very solid and our LB's are a bunch of studs, even with Savannah not playing. Donald Butler really stood out, making some great plays and some really nice hits. The d-line was in Ronnie's face all day, and did a really nice job of stuffing the run game. Ronnie had a tough day, looked like a flash back of last year, but when the first string defense is in your face all day what else would you expect? Brandon Huppert did a nice job of filling in for Savannah, and Matt Houston looked good with the two's, which is a relief given the lack of depth at LB.

Overall the first team offense was basically able to do whatever they wanted today, and Locker couldn't have looked any better. I can't stress enough how good he looked today, he was on FIRE! The first team defense also manhandled the two's, they really disrupted everything the two's were doing. All that being said, it was exactly what you'd expect from a game of the first string vs. the second string, had it been any different I'd be very worried right now.

Now that spring ball has wrapped up, I really like what Sark has done, especially how good Locker looked today. So far the coaches easily get an A. The real test comes in September when LSU comes to town.

GO DAWGS!!!

"The Dawgman.com Show" on KJR

Lear Pilot — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 22:32:37 -0000

I was lucky enough to spend a good deal of time on the road this morning and was able to catch “The Dawgman.com Show” on KJR. I had heard a quick rumor that KJR and John Clayton had a falling out, but haven’t heard anything else about it, then they were calling this morning’s show their “inaugural” show. If anybody has more details on John Clayton or “The Dawgman.com Show”, I’d love to hear about it. The show consisted of Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Ecklund, and had a nice lengthy interview with Jake Heaps.

They started the show by running down the current commits to the UW and gave their opinions on them. I know very little about individual recruits, besides what I read online, so here is what they said that I can remember:

Zach Fogerson: #1 rated fullback, should do very well as a fullback and in the hybrid position of H-back.

Sione Potoae: very athletic for a lineman, should be a very good nose guard or defensive tackle, is athletic enough to play on the o-line also.

Melvin Davis: very good player from a very good school, could be a good big RB, or could play TE.

Chris Young: “The Vicious Clown” he’s always smiling, and knows how to hit, had a lot of knock out hits last year.

Darius Waters: Don’t remember exactly what they said, but they did have a ton of praise for him, and thought he would be a real playmaker at LB.

Ben Riva: Like most college linemen, he’ll need two years to get the conditioning and strength necessary to be a solid Pac10 player. But has the athletic ability to be pretty good.

Jamaal Kearse: Makes the easy plays look really tough, and the really tough plays easy. Great size, just needs to be more consistent and he could be a big playmaker for the UW.

Later they had Jake Heaps on for an interview, and I must say, he sounded pretty darn good. The kid has got a good solid head on his shoulders, has very good priorities in life, and seems to have a lot of self generated drive which has led to a great work ethic. In a lot of ways, he reminds me of Jake Locker, he handles the pressure extremely well, he’s well grounded, and just has his stuff together. He does a much better interview than most college football players. As I am sure you’ve already heard, he has narrowed his list down to 5 schools, BYU, Cal, LSU, Tennesse, and UW. After the interview it really sounded to me like he is leaning toward BYU and UW. It sure sounds like he has all the intangibles that you need to be very high caliber QB. Whoever lands this kid is going to be in great shape for the next few years.

They also discussed the six JC players and how they were progressing with their academics to get enrolled at the UW. Overall is sounds like they are all on track to get in, they just need to pass the classes they are taking. Some guys needed extra classes to get in to the UW, they are taking those classes now. Some guys couldn't get the classes they need in time for spring, so they'll be here in the summer, and the others won't be done with school until summer anyway. All are still on schedule to be here in the fall as long as they pass their classes.

Saturday Scrimmage Report

Lear Pilot — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 23:29:25 -0000

I had another great day of watching Husky football. I spent the first half of practice watching from the stands, and spent the second half watching from the west endzone. There is absolutely nothing like standing at the edge of the endzone watching the offense come right at you. Two drives in a row we got to see the offense work in the redzone and score. That had to be the best way to watch college football, totally AWESOME!!!!

Locker looked good today, his accuracy seems to be continuing to improve. I was disappointed at the number of dropped balls. I saw and heard multiple WR's getting chewed out for dropping the ball. Jake had a PERFECT to Aguilar in the endzone, but Aguilar wasn't able to hold on to it. Austin Sylvester had a nice catch out of the backfield, so at least one position can catch the ball.

The offensive line looked horrible the first half of scrimmage, there were many running plays that got stuffed for little or negative yards. In the second half the offense was able to move the ball well inside the redzone on mostly running plays. They were even able to run the ball in on two plays from the five yard line. So it was good to see them have success when the defense knew runs were coming. The offense continued to improve as the day went on, Bronson looked pretty solid in the redzone.

The defense looked pretty solid. The d-line had their way with the o-line for the majority of the scrimmage. Darrion Jones and Daniel Teo-Nesheim looked really good at DE. Savannah, Foster, and Butler looked very good at LB, and Nate Williams looked very good in the secondary.

Overall I was very pleased with Locker, but am getting worried about our ability to catch the ball. The offensive line needs work, but showed they can get the job done when necessary. The defense looks like it should be the strength of the team.

I'll be out for the rest of the evening, but will try and answer questions and add more stuff as I remember.

GO DAWGS!!!

Monday Husky Practice Report

Lear Pilot — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 02:26:56 -0000

What a fun afternoon, great weather, a beautiful campus and HUSKY FOOTBALL!!! You can't beat it.

This was my first time attending a college football practice and my head is still spinning. There was so much going on that it's pretty hard to process it all. If you are watching Jake to see how he's doing, you probably just missed what everybody else did. I was really impressed by the coaching staff, they were EVERYWHERE and they were working their tails off. The practice was as advertised, high paced, very organized and activity everywhere. They really did a great job of optimizing the time they had on the field. I loved the energy from the coaches and especially the players. After a big play or a big hit the players are really getting excited and congratulating the player. The players REALLY seem to be enjoying the competitive atmosphere.

QB's - I love offense, passing and scoring, so I spent a lot of time watching the QB's, WR's and RB's. I especially love QB's, there's just something about the field general that sets the tone for the rest of the team.

Jake looked pretty good, Ronnie looked average and well, I hope we don't have to go deeper than that. Jake hit a few long passes, and they were placed perfectly. His short to medium range accuracy looked good, only saw one pass over thrown. He did have two passes that make you wonder what he was thinking, but from the sidelines it could easily have been a WR running the wrong route or a hundred different things. Ronnie just seemed average, some throws were great, some weren't so hot. I saw Luther Leonard throwing some long passes, and he either is working on his release or really needs to work on his arm strength if he wants to stay at QB. Either way its VERY early in practice and I expect great things out of Sark and Nuss.

WR's - I saw the play were D'Andre Goodwin caught a medium long pass over the middle and almost had everybody beat, but one guy grabbed him from behind (very similar to a horse collar tackle) and you could hear D'Andre scream and grab his hamstring. Vince Taylor made some nice catches, along with Kearse and Augilar. Boyles had some nice plays, and had a few where he got his butt chewed out. TE's looked good, Middleton had several nice catches and a very good stretched out grab, no drops from him that I saw.

RB's - Curtis Shaw will be the starting TB next season, mark my words. He had some very nice carries, one ending with him laying a HIT on the defensive player trying to stop him, by far the best offensive hit of the day. Griiffin had several good runs, one in which he juke the defender out of his shoes and then grabbed a bunch of yards after it. Bronson looked pretty solid, I wouldn't be surprised if he gets some solid playing time.

The play of the day: Cody Bruns caught a pass over the middle and immediately got his clock cleaned by Victor Aiyewa. The best part of the play, as soon as it happened the defense was all over Aiyewa celebrating the big hit. At the same moment the offense was all over Bruns celebrating the fact that he hung on to the ball. To me it really summed up what the coaches are striving for: PASSION and COMPETITION!!!

So far I really like what the coaches are doing, I even saw a few plays that will use Jakes legs, which tells me they are smart enough to use his talents. I don't want to go into details, but one play and formation will make Crazi cry. Those of you that know his likes and dislikes can figure it out.

Hopefully you guys find this info useful, I'm sure I'll pass on more as it comes back to me.

GO DAWGS!!!

Get to know your fellow bloggers

Lear Pilot — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 03:13:27 -0000

Lately it came to me that I really know very little about my fellow Husky bloggers. I think it would help our discussion quite a bit if we knew more about each other. For instance, age, location, how long you've been a Husky fan, and if you are willing your profession. So far, the only other blogger I have any clue about is Gekko, the numbers guy.

I'm 31 years old and have been a Husky fan my whole life, literally. I remember watching the Huskies play as far back as I can remember, my grandfather was a Husky fan, my dad was a Husky fan, and my little girl is a Husky fan, even if she doesn't know it yet. I'm an Air-ambulance pilot flying, yes you guessed it, Lear jets out of Seattle.

I hope others are interested in posting, that includes you John B., otherwise it's going to look like I want to talk about myself.