Let's Get Physical

Ted Miller posted this in his Pac-12 blog this morning. I thought it was a pretty good read. I decided to look behind the numbers a little bit and this is what I found.

Stanford: Total Offense and Total Defense of FBS Opponents
San Jose state: Offense 83, defense 94
Duke: Offense 65 defense 93
Arizona: Offense Defense 116
UCLA Offense 62 Defense 90
Colorado Offense 92 Defense 85
Washington State Offense 26 Defense 61
offense avg: 54.6
defense avg: 89.8


Washington: Total Offense and Total Defense of FBS Opponents
Hawaii Offense 35 defense 44
Nebraska offense 49 defense 58
Cal offense 33 defense 49
Utah offense 99 defense 25
Colorado offense 92 defense 85
Offense avg 61.6
Defense avg 52.2


The biggest thing that you notice is the quality of defenses which both of them have faced. It's no wonder Stanford's offense is being hailed as being one of the top in college football. I find Washington's offensive production, and especially the play of Keith Price and Chris Polk much more impressive to date than that of Luck and Taylor.

This game will be in no way a gimme for either team, but I feel like both the Husky Offense and the Husky defense are making huge strides each game. This team has not peaked, and will only continue to get better, whereas I really think you have seen the very best that Stanford has to offer.

I think this Saturday will tell Husky fans a lot about the direction of this program.

Prediction:
Huskies 38
Stanford 23

For Those Who Didn't See The Game

Here is all the highlights!



A special thanks to qbsacker for putting this together.

Nick Montana

Nick Montana, son of Hall-of-Fame QB Joe Montana, is the commitment we're going to spotlight this morning. Besides his obvious bloodlines, young Montana has a lot that he can offer Husky nation in the near future.

One thing that sticks out when watching him is his pocket presence. He quickly recognizes pressure and either steps up in the pocket, or is able to move laterally to avoid pressure and give himself more time to find an open receiver. His footwork is better than expected from most HS QB's, but still has the tendency to throw off of his back foot when there is pressure in his face. He is very accurate on his short to mid-range throws, but lacks the elite arm-strength needed to make deep throws. He is also fast enough to make plays with his feet, but has a great feel for throwing on the run which makes him very dangerous.

It was speculated that he would compete for the starting position when it was thought Jake Locker was heading to the NFL, but he will now most likely redshirt this upcoming season. That year will tell us alot about him, and if he is the ultimate answer for the Dawgs at QB. It will give him the time to mature physically, learn to read and react to the speed of the game at the college level, and to set himself apart as a leader. If he fails to do any one of these three things, he'll struggle to win the QB competition next year after Locker leaves. It'll definitely make for an interesting spring and summer ball next year.

Here's a highlight video of him at Oaks Christian:

Kevin Smith, WR

Kevin Smith is a four star WR prospect who has verbaled to UW. He has some great physical tools, but is still pretty raw. As you can see in the highlight video, he has pretty good speed, great balance, does a great job going up to get jump balls on fade routes into the endzone, and has good body awareness.

Once again, he looks like somebody who might be able to contribute on special teams, as well as maybe some time at a slot WR. He was offered scholarships to UCLA, Arizona, and Colorado, but Chose UW after watching them destroy WSU 30-0.

Here are his highlights from his senior season.

Kona Schwenke still deciding

It appears that he is being patient, and will most likely wait until LOI day to make his commitment known. Here's a highlight video from ESPN. We'd love to have you in purple and gold Kona!

UPDATE:

It now appears that Kona Schwenke did not take his scheduled trip to UW after visiting Notre Dame. This is understandable seeing that making two cross country trips in two days if pretty difficult.I'm still holding out hope though that Haouli Jamora has convinced him to come to UW. I guess we'll just have to wait till signing day to see what's going to happen.

Kona Schwenke coming to UW?

In a surprise move that has surprised a lot of people, BYU has pulled their scholarship offer to 4-star verbal commit Kona Schwenke. This comes after BYU laid down an the ultimatum that he would lose his scholarship offer if he chose to pursue trips to both ND and UW.

Total Blue Sports reporter Brandon Gurney, has written an article detailing how all of this went down.

Cougar fans, are already in full meltdown mode.

If Schwenke indeed chooses UW, it will be quite the recruiting coup for Coach Sark, who has detailed the teams need to be deeper on both the offensive and defensive lines.

I'll keep tabs on this story, and may be posting more about Kona Schwenke if it appears that he is going to sign with UW.

Hauoli Jamora

A couple years down the road, and we could very well be talking about the possiblity of Daniel Te'o Nesheim's career sack record being broken. By who? Hauoli Jamora. I've done some digging around on this recruit to find some information for the fans out there, hopefully this will satisfy you!

From an observer at the All-Poly Camp:
"Jamora is going to make fans happy at either DE or DT, no fat on the kid now and he's approaching 240 lbs at about 6-0 or 6-1 (he's not 6-2). He has a high motor and plays mean, definitely has that "poly switch". He also dominated in the one-on-ones we saw"

ESPN also wrote an article detailing three standout defensive lineman from the annual Game Plan Football Academy, which is a four-day event where high school prospects can come and receive instruction from college coaches during a padded camp.

This is what they said:
"It didn't take long to see there was a lot of defensive line talent at the Game Plan Football Academy. Three defensive linemen stood out against the offensive line in the one-on-one competition, and in both the base blocking and pass-protection drills it was these three who dominated the opposition and refused to be blocked:
Hauoli Jamora, DE, (Kahuku, HI)

Jamora was extremely impressive in his overall performance. He was consistently quick out of his stance and immediately struck a jarring blow with his hands into the frame of the blocker. He played with great leverage and was able to press every opposing lineman into the backfield on run blocks, extending his arms and churning his legs while maintaining inside pad control.

The 6-foot-3, 230-pounder was equally successful during pass-rush competition. He did a good job of mixing up his techniques and counters by using the short swim and power rip moves, among others, to make penetration and defeat the man across from him. It's not surprising that this guy is coming on strong on the recruiting front and already has been offered by BYU and Wyoming.

Jamora can develop into a very solid player once he adds some bulk. We look forward to further evaluating him, but based off his performance at the camp he is certainly a serious sleeper at the end position in the 2010 class."

Jamora had committed early to BYU (How many players are they going to lose to us?) following the lead of his teammate Kona Schwenke, but this was before any camps and before he had started to garner the attention he is now receiving. He wisely chose to reopen his commitment and Sark and his crew did a great job landing him.

Here's a Highlight video, sorry about the quality, but it's the only one I could get my hands on:


Original Video- More videos at TinyPic

Shiloah Te'o to transfer to UW

News is coming out that former BYU Safety Shiloah Te'o is going to enroll at the University of Washington in March. This is a really good get for the Huskies. He was on the 2-deep roster for BYU as a true freshman and sophomore, lettering both years. He will redshirt next season, and then have two years of eligibility.

Before heading to BYU, he was A 2007 Honolulu Star-Bulletin and Honolulu Advertiser First-Team All-State selection as both a junior and senior. He was also named the Oahu Interscholastic Association Red East Division Defensive Player of the Year and ranked as the 4th best prospect in the state of Hawaii by Rivals.com.

Here is a highlight video



He was kicked off of the BYU football team after being arrested for a DUI.

A lot of BYU fans and insiders were dismayed at his loss, because he was seen to be a great athlete who had the ability to cover a lot of ground in the secondary, and who played with a real mean streak.

Before his sophomore season he took the time to head to a specialty training center to prepare him to be a better athlete, here are the results:



All in all, we should be pretty happy with this get. Our defensive backfield has been the subject of a lot of criticism, hopefully this is a step in the right direction.