You think that the lifting program at Washington is lacking discipline?  Donald Butler got 35 reps at 225 which was the most of any LB.  Not to take anything away from Donald because that is a show of his dedication to the weight room but a good portion is also the mindset that he gained at UW.  Very interesting to see where he was before Ivan compared to now.  Congrats D Butler, and knock'em dead March 10th!!!

So personally for me one huge reason I love college sports as opposed to professional is the recruiting.  The year round commitment that the coaches have to make to getting the best players for their systems and watching the mind of a young man/woman work through the  process at their own pace.  I would love to have a running thread that people can post on about recruits that have committed, potentially could commit, or are on the radar of the UW staff.  Personal observations of recruits are greatly appreciated. 

I will start the first post with some big news coming from Realdawg stating that Victor Burnett will be at UW for the Spring semester.  That means that three current recruits (Burnett, Callier, and Cooper) will not count againist this years class numbers meaning of the 23 current recruits, only 20 are a hit on this years 25 limit. 

When its all said and done I think that we are in a good position to make a late push on a couple of really good players that are still uncommitted. 

MLB prospect Hayes Pullard would be a monster get due to Holts comments that true freshmen LB's will have to play next year and if we get him he would probably be canidate #1 along with Burnett because of early enrollment.  Though do not look past VJ Fehoko and Soma Vainku who are both monster MLB prospects who would fill the void as well.  I think that we take the first one who commits and nicely back away from the other two since we have a lot of LB's in this class and more need at OL and DL.

CB prospects Troy Hill and Shaquille Richardson are both players of need due to our skill level at the CB position. Troy will choose between Arizona, Oregon, and UW while Richardson will choose between OrSt, ASU, and UW.  Look for the coaches to get, hopefully, at least one of these guys.

At the OL position we are making a huge push for Micah Hatchie from Hawaii.  He is friends, apparently, with UW committ Taz Stevenson and if we could land him I think it would be tough to argue that UW doesn't bring in a top 5 OL class which is huge considering Sark didnt bring any in last year with the short time frame he had to work with. 

Def Line is becoming an alarming position due to the lack of committed players so far.  We have our hands in the cookie jar with a couple of big time players at DT (Lagafuaina, Tuala, Fuimaono) but not so much at DE with Hudson committed we dont really have any other offers out there unless you consider Shirley (who is a GREAT player in his own right) but he has been listed as an OLB or DE, so put him in whatever category you like.  I think we take at least one more DT committ to go with Potoae.

The one thing that you have to love about this class to date is the athletism that Sark & Co are recruiting.  Guys that can play multiple positions.  This is a strong class but look for it to end with a bang!

Either way below is the link to the committed players we have already and look for the class to fill out once the season is over next week and the coaches go crazy on the recruiting trail.

http://washington.scout.com/a.z?s=147&p=9&c=8&toinid=737&yr=2010 

Look forward to hearing everyone's thoughts on the class and I cant wait to start talking about 2011!!! (Kasen Williams....you out there?)

Thought it was cool that Mandel picked my response to be apart of this Mailbag...wish it was in a lighter note but still pretty cool.  http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/stewart_mandel/08/04/pryor-griffin/1.html 

Since 2000, what team has played Miami twice, Colorado, Michigan, Ohio State twice, Notre Dame twice, Oklahoma twice, Fresno State, Air Force, Syracuse, Boise State, BYU and is scheduled to play LSU this year? The University of Washington. Not that I agree with their scheduling -- the team hasn't been good since Slick Rick won the Rose Bowl -- but at least they don't hide from competition.
-- David Shemaria, Philadelphia

David sent this in response to last week's query about which school most consistently schedules tough nonconference opponents. I have to agree Washington ranks right up there with USC. Colorado isn't far behind, but gets docked a tad for the presence of I-AA foes in '06 and '08. According to Wiz of Odds, USC and Washington are two of just four schools that have never scheduled a I-AA opponent. The others are UCLA and Notre Dame.

What are everyones thoughts on how UW schedules?  Typically I look for the A-B-C (one marquee match up, one againist middle of the road BCS team, and one non BCS game) for UW.  Though in the past it seems that they have been going the A-A-B route which isnt doing anyone any favors.  I long for the days were I feel comfortable with any team on our schedule but until then we need to take it back to the basics...ABC.

John, feel free to delete this since its non football and a personal post but I could really use the help.  I am currently looking to apply to UW for their MIT program (Master in Teaching).  Since I am a Business Management major I know its a long road, but one I want to pursue.  I have emailed the appropriate people in regards to making sure that I have all my documents in order but I was wondering if anyone had any extra advise or maybe knew someone who could ultimately help me put myself in the best position possible obtain admittance.  I know its a long shot but I am hoping someone could help me out.  If you have any information please feel free to let me know and I will contact you personally.

Heres to praying that two dreams are reached...teaching and going to UW!!

Thanks for all your help.

First let me say Congrats to the basketball team for giving the UW nation something to cheer for, something we have been craving for months.  Thank you Brockman and Dentmon for you contribution and never giving up.

With that said its time to move on to Spring Ball and recruiting.  With Dawgman's ratings coming out today its amazing to see UW with already 2 four star recruits in Simone Potoae (#6 DT) and Chris Young (#13 OLB) along with Melvin Davis (#21 RB).  Fogerson could very well end up the top FB recruit also but at least top 5.  Waters should end up somewhere in the middle and I expect great things.  I know rankings don't mean much but this is a great start for Sark & Co.  I expect us to sign Heaps (#1 QB) soon along with Moore, Riva, Porter, and Kearse (#25 WR) before the season starts and this is just the guys from Washington.  This is a great opportunity to get UW back to where we want...need to be.  I absolutely know we will end this year with another top 25 recruiting class but the big difference between this year and the ones past is that we finally have coaches who know what to do with the talent they recruit.  I am excited and pumped to see how this class shapes up and cannot wait to for the season to start. 

For all of those UW fans out there we need to plan a tailgate for the spring game this year.  I would really like to meet my fellow UW fans that I look forward to talking to day in and day out.  Let the planning begin.

I came across this article from Bob Condotta's Seattle Times blog....

In it Nick Daschel breaks down the Big 12, Big 10, Pac 10, and SEC's out of conference schedules over the past 20 years and I could not disagree with his finds anymore than I do.  Sometimes its not the fact that a conference plays BCS teams that are considered out of conference but which BCS schools are they playing?  The top three teams last year in the Big 10 were Penn State, Ohio State, and Michigan State.  Below is their out of conference schedules...

Penn State 2008 - Costal Carolina, Oregon State (BCS), Syracuse (BCS), and Temple   

Penn State 2009 - Akron, Syracuse (BCS), Temple, and Easten Illinois

Ohio State 2008 - Youngstown State, Ohio, USC (BCS), and Troy

Ohio State 2009 - Navy, USC (BCS), Toledo, and New Mexico State   

Michigan State 2008 - Cal (BCS), Eastern Michigan, Florida Atlantic, Notre Dame (for Nick's article they were not included)

Michigan State 2009 - Montana State, Central Michigan, Notre Dame, and Western Michigan.

Does anyone else see a trend here?  What a joke of a conference and the fact that he does not bring this up in his article is a travesty.  No I know this is only a two year period and his article goes back 20 years but you have to wonder what level of BCS teams were they playing?

Can we get an update on who will be at the Junior Day this weekend?  This is going to be a big ordeal where the coaches get to see first hand the talent they are recruiting and so Coach Holt can grip them up in his uber-manly-in-your-face style to see if these are the truly the future Huskies that will take us back to the promised land.  So far I have noticed only two kids...

Moore (DT, Bellevue) and Nick Rowland (OG, AZ)....I would assume Heaps will be there and Riva came last night because he wont be able to come Saturday.  Any info would be great.  Thanks.

Coach Sark and Co. have landed another recruit for 2010 and this one is 6'2" 220lbs runningback Melvin Davis.  He is said to be able to play any position on the field but plays runningback and DE at Narbonne (sound familiar?  Big Dawg Tim Tucker was his teammate last year). 

From Scott Kennedy at Scout.com

Speaking of big, Melvin Davis is listed by Narbonne at 6-2 and 220 pounds. He is a jumbo athlete that plays both running back and defensive end. He has extremely quick feet, uses his off hand as a weapon when he's running the ball, and can make a tackler miss or punish him for not missing.

I featured Toney Williams and Jahron Brown earlier this week (Battle of Big Men), and Davis follows a similar path. He's so big that it's hard to picture him staying running back, but the more I watched him, the more it seemed silly to move him.

I am very happy about this pick up and look forward to watching Sark & Co work the west coast in the coming months.