This was posted over on the Dawgman.com boards (big thanks to iqueral for originally posting these), and the links are too good not to pass along here too.

We all expect that new DC Justin Wilcox will implement more odd-numbered fronts here, and in anticipation of that, here are some good primers on understanding a 3-4 defense and that means in terms of roles and responsibilities for the various positions and how it compares to the 4-3:

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Just a few quick observations from the Signing Day Ceremony in Hec Ed earlier tonight.

• These guys work their asses off. All of the coaches looked like they could use a 24-hour nap. They did the best they could and were generally funny, enthusiastic and charismatic, but you could tell they were all running on fumes. Sark mentioned his new DC, "Justin Sirmon" - I think that says it all about his exhaustion level.
• Related to the above point - one of the stories was about how the staff managed to flip Pio Vatuvei from USC. The USC coaches apparently finished up their call with Pio last night at around 10PM. Bad call - that left the window open for Tosh to call him, and by 1AM the staff had succeeded in finally flipping him. This wasn't the only good Vatuvei story...

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Well, yesterday was a wild swing of emotions wasn't it? Definitely stings to have not gotten a high-level, legacy, in-state recruit at not only a position of great importance in general (LT), but also of great need for the Huskies. But the flip side is we also landed what most analysts consider the best Safety prospect in the country (one Scout.com analyst pegs him as an all-decade talent) and among the best prospects this year period. Such is the agony and ecstasy of big-boy recruiting - get used to it Dawg fans; Sark hunts big-game, and with guys like Lupoi, Sirmon & Wilcox on board joining Nansen & Thomas, he looks like he has the weapons to close on some elite talent.

Here's where we currently stand with uncommitted prospects that still appear to be considering the UW:

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With just a few days until Signing Day on Wednesday, the first day recruits can send binding LOI (or slightly less-binding financial aid agreements - hint hint Oregon prospects), here's the latest on Husky recruiting targets, gleaned from various sources (and know that many of these situations are fluid and could change between now and Wednesday):

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Obviously there's been a ton of talk about the performance of Nick Holt as defensive coordinator, and there are now some beginning to express some concerns about Sark himself.  Such is the nature of the beast when the Huskies suffer probably their least justifiable loss of the Sark era.

Plenty of chatter about coaches and people talking about who they'd want to bring in if they had their choice.  One particular thread over at Dawgman.com got me thinking about how fickle are fan perceptions of coaches - a guy who's a hero one day can become a bum who needs to go the next.

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I think I can speak for all of us here when I state this (obvious) point – our defense is not very good.  We can’t stop a good running attack (Nebraska, Stanford) and we can’t stop a good (or even decent) passing attack.  The only teams we’ve done well against are teams struggling on offense with significant injuries (Utah, Colorado).

Seeing Stanford absolutely manhandle our defense in a way not seen since the worst days of this program under Gilby & Ty was monumentally frustrating.  Naturally, Husky fans are fed up with seeing this kind of performance and are looking to vent.  Hence, Nick Holt.

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I think most of us (with the exception of maybe Gekko) would point to Stanford's rise under Jim Harbaugh as a good model to emulate - he took a team that had gone 1-11 under Walt Harris and turned them into a 12-1 team that was widely considered the most physical team in the conference last year, with a powerful running game, a terrific pro-style QB and a strong defense.  Well, the good news is there seem to be a lot of similarities between the two programs, and better yet, Washington under Sark appears to be ahead of the pace set by Harbaugh at Stanford.  

Let's review first the records of both of the programs under each coach:

• Prior year:  1-11 vs. 0-12
• 1st year:  4-8 vs. 5-7
• 2nd year:  5-7 vs. 7-6
• 3rd year:  8-5 vs. 5-1 (so far)
• 4th year:  12-1 vs. ???

I'm sure all of us would be ecstatic to see Sark continuing to stay ahead of Harbaugh's pace.

Another note of interest - each coach inherited a bruiser of a RB.  For Harbaugh, it was Toby Gerhart, though due to injury, he didn't get to use him much his first season, losing him to injury after 1 game.  But in years 2 and 3 under Harbaugh, Gerhart was the bell-cow stud RB and the offense was based off a power running game.  In Gerhart's last year, Stanford broke in a new young QB who did quite well in his first season of starting.

For Sark, he inherited a RB in Chris Polk that was somewhat of an unknown quantity - he'd had an undistinguished first season under the prior staff where he looked tentative and not at all the impossible to tackle machine he'd become.  Under Sark, he's blossomed, and Sark has built a strong running game utilizing his talents.  And in year 3 under Sark, a new QB has been broken in who is doing quite well (so far).

Sark's offense is looking more and more like Stanford's under Harbaugh - pro-style, lots of different formations, lots of shifts, lots of motion, built off a strong running game that sets up play-action.  Sark recruited a number of highly-rated OL in his 2nd class, and those guys are forming the foundation of what could very well become the best, most physical OL in the conference in the next 2-3 years, a status currently owned by Stanford.

Also worth noting for the Holt bashers that Harbaugh brought in a new DC in his 4th season in Vic Fangio, a change that some have credited with being the final key thing to turn Stanford from a good program into a great one as their defense took a major step forward.  Now, I doubt Sark will get rid of Holt, but it's another interesting comparison.

Oh, and of course another similarity - both Sark & Harbaugh are former QB's.

So there's been a lot of discussion on this blog and other Husky forums regarding Sark being both the Head Coach as well as the guy calling plays on offense.  Some feel like this is a bad idea, that he needs to take a step back.  I've been somewhat neutral on the issue - I get what the critics are saying and I think back to how Don James ran his program, where he was "coaching the coaches" as he liked to say.  I get the idea that if he relinquished play-calling duties, he might have more of a chance to assess the entire team on Saturdays.

On the other hand, I also get where Sark is coming from - he felt he was a really good play-caller at USC, and why take away one of his perceived strengths?  There are plenty of examples of successful coaches that also called plays either on offense or defense based on their specialty.

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I figure I'm probably not the only Husky fan out here frustrated that the official UW site does not have the football Fall Camp schedule posted anywhere you can easily find it.  Nor is it easily found on Coach Sark's site.  So with that in mind, I found the schedule on Condotta's blog and am posting it here:

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Nathan Dean commits

Dwayne Washington commits

Dean is an OL from Juanita; he's not quite as highly rated as Garnett & Banner, but had offers from UCLA, Arizona, Colorado, WSU and Idaho so far and would have received quite a bit more as the recruiting season progressed.

Washington is a WR from the same H.S. that produced Josh Perkins last year, so the Husky coaches had obviously seen a lot of film of him and liked what they saw.  He's smaller than Perkins but faster - he will probably be one of the fastest kids in the Huskies' 2012 class if his numbers are legit.

I was able to head over again today (with my little son in tow) for another Saturday practice session.  I got there a little after 1 and stayed for about an hour and 15 minutes before the blustery conditions got the better of my little man and I decided to take off.  They were doing position drills for the first 40 minutes or so, followed by situational 11 on 11 work, and were breaking to go back to more position drills (I think) when I left.  I spent some time watching the OL drills and then the QB/WR drills before the 11 on 11 stuff.  I don't have detailed notes or anything, but here were a few things that I noticed:

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December 12th, 2010 – One of my cousins is invited by a business associate to watch a Chargers game from his suite at Qualcomm Stadium.  In the course of conversation, comes to find out he has the suite year-round and has no plans to use it for the Holiday Bowl; my cousin posts a photo to Facebook and says it’s available, and within 4 days plans come together and me and two additional cousins and their wives are set to travel down to San Diego to watch the game courtesy of cousin #1.

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So here we are, looking ahead to the Apple Cup with a bowl berth - potentially a bowl as good as the Holiday Bowl - on the line for the Huskies.  Before the season, we all figured this was a near-certain win.  Now though, there are reasons to be concerned by this game:

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Interesting news out of Boulder as Mike Bellotti visited with Colorado officials but then decided to withdraw his name from consideration for the Buffs job, saying he's decided to not pursue any job for 2011.

Link here:  http://www.denverpost.com/colleges/ci_16674053

He cites the standard family concerns regarding his son still being in High School and being able to attend basketball games and such.  I'm sure there's more to it than that though.  Makes you wonder - maybe Iron Mike is positioning himself for a possible job at UCLA for 2012?  Wouldn't that be rich - Mike taking over for Neuheisel.  You'd have to figure Bellotti would get the Bruins rolling again (finally?), and it might be kind of scary to see what he could do with the raw talent that Neuheisel has recruited there.

I also found this little bit to be really interesting:

The candidates considered on athletic director Mike Bohn's "A" list are Air Force's Troy Calhoun, Louisiana State's Les Miles and former Colorado coach Bill McCartney.

Les Miles?  How in the heck does Colorado think they could lure Les Miles?

Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat has jumped on the topic of renovating Husky Stadium vs. moving full-time to Qwest Field, citing supposed Husky fan Mick McHugh as a person of authority on the matter.  This opinion article is filled with a number of questionable assertions and angles, worthy of being "fisked" (see here for the definition if you're unfamiliar with the term:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisking

The article in question can be found here in full:  

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Let me start off by saying that I'm a die-hard Husky fan.  And like most Husky fans, I despise everything having to do with the Ducks.  I despise their Johnny-come-lately attitudes, the way they come across as the younger brother that has always been inferior, and when they finally taste some success are aggressively obnoxious about flaunting it.  Now, I acknowledge that many Duck fans still have historical perspective, and many are level-headed fans just like the rest of us.  And I acknowledge that as bad as some of the behavior that has been documented in Autzen Stadium, no fan base is devoid of idiots and a$$holes.  So with all of that as a preface, let me take the time to give the Ducks football program their due (but first let me throw up in my mouth a little):

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