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DawgmanRadio: Who would make Beach's 2020 UW rotation? May 16, 2020

Show notes

Dawgman.com's Chris Fetters caught up with the Head of Hoops - Aaron Beach - to talk about all things Washington Basketball and recruiting, starting with the idea they may not be completely done with signings for the 2020 class.

Both Erik Stevenson and Nate Pryor signed letters of intent last month to be Huskies, and now former Lynden Christian star Cole Bajema is back on the market after leaving Michigan. Beach talks about his game and how good a fit he would be for the Huskies if he chooses to stay closer to home this time around.

Then the talk moves to more recruiting, but this time for a loaded 2021 class. With two players graduating after the 2020-21 season (Nahziah Carter and Hameir Wright), and a possible third leaving after the year is done (Quade Green), Washington could grab up to three, and maybe even more players for the 2021 class. Olympia's Jackson Grant has already committed to Washington, and the Huskies are hot on the heels of some other local players, including Jaylen Nowell's younger brother Shane. But Eastside Catholic star Nolan Hickman is right near the top of their list.

But at the very top of their wish list is O'Dea phenom Paolo Banchero, and Beach talks about his options, which include the NBA G-League. the G League, starting this season, will be offering contracts to select players not yet eligible to declare for the NBA Draft, and could earn as much as $125,000 for a season.

Would that be enough to entice a player of Banchero's quality away from college? Beach believes that with the new NLI (Name, Likeness, and Image) rights granted to college players in the coming years might generate enough income for certain players to go to school and stay for a couple of years.

Finally, Fetters and Beach break down what Washington's rotation will likely look like starting this fall. Will Mike Hopkins try and get back to using a strict 8-man rotation? And if so, which players will fit that rotation? It's not an easy question to answer, because at least one or two quality players could be riding a lot of pine this winter as a result.

And what does Beach think the backcourt duo of Green and Stevenson are capable of this fall? And is it a smart assumption to believe Stevenson will be eligible to play right away?

Pac-12 coaches agree that every scenario is on the table May 15, 2020

Show notes

With news from the Cal-State System chancellor recently that most classes would be virtual and then an announcement by California Collegiate Athletics Association that they will not be participating in any fall sports, the questions have started to rise about whether there will be a Pac 12 football season and whether it will start on time or if there will be a delay and extra accommodations made, like a modified schedule, in order to allow the teams to play.

On Thursday, in the fourth of four Pac 12 coach webinars, Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal, Cal's Justin Wilcox and Arizona's Kevin Sumlin all sat down with the media and discussed where their collective heads are at this point-in-time and how they are handling the myriad possibilities that have been put forth in their almost daily conference calls with league officials.

While all three were circumspect to speak in absolutes, they all admitted that every scenario is currently on the table and how they handle the next couple of months -- staying in contact with their players, keeping them engaged and preparing for whatever happens -- will determine whether they have a successful season, whenever that happens.

To listen to the 35-minute podcast, click on the link below.

Pac-12 coaches working hard to stay connected to their players May 14, 2020

Show notes

The COVID-19 pandemic has been difficult for many Americans to navigate, but for football coaches, the uniqueness of the current circumstances has forced them to become creative in the way that they have been able to stay connected with their players.

Typically, coaching staffs across the nation are out on the road this time of the year, doing evaluations and meeting with players. They are also working on setting up visits with the prospects they are after and working to build their respective recruiting classes.

That isn't the case this year and they've had to find ways to occupy their time as well as the young men under their direction.

For players who are used to a heavily regimented schedule, finding ways to stay engaged with their teammates and coaches while also focusing on distance-learning, working out and living whatever sort of life they can.

Arizona State's Herm Edwards, Oregon State's Jonathan Smith and UCLA's Chip Kelly all spoke to the media on Wednesday and shared their challenges with staying connected to their players while also balancing their home life and working from their home offices.

While each had the same goal, they have done unique things to keep their players engaged.

That subject and several others were on the docket for the 40-minute webinar that was hosted by the Pac 12.

To listen to what they had to say, click on the podcast link below.

DawgmanRadio: On the record with Sav'ell Smalls May 13, 2020

Show notes

Dawgman.com's Kim Grinolds spoke Tuesday afternoon with Washington signee Sav'ell Smalls for the first time a while, and a LOT has changed.

For the freshman outside linebacker, it's still all about doing his schoolwork despite obviously not being at school. Everything is done via Zoom conferencing nowadays, and Smalls talked about the tricky nature of trying to keep on top of everything when his schedule can literally change from day-to-day.

Grinolds asked Sav'ell about his beginnings as a football player, when he first started playing, the decision to attend Kennedy Catholic to start his high school career, his move to Garfield, and then the move back to Kennedy for his senior season. They also talked about the people that were part of Sav'ell's circle at Kennedy, including head coach Sheldon Cross.

Washington was the first team to offer Sav'ell, and it happened right before they were set to play Alabama in the CFB Semifinal. They talked about the moment he got the offer, and what it meant going forward.

They also talked about the importance of social media and Sav'ell's take on what it all means, not just in general, but also within the recruiting process. Twitter can be a rough place, and Smalls was candid in his assessment of how he felt about comments that were made to him in the middle of his recruitment, especially when he was thinking about leaving the area to play.

Smalls then outlined the events that took place in the process that eventually saw him change his mind and view UW in a different light. And, as you'll find out, sometimes those events aren't really events at all but can be simple, little things that turn into something more profound.

Grinolds and Smalls went into Sav'ell's decision to commit to Washington, the first person he told, and his version of how events unfolded during his Under Armour All-America jersey unveil at Kennedy, the ceremony where he also revealed his decision to become a Dawg.

Then they spoke about how Sav'ell's life has changed since the decision to stay home and also his take when Chris Petersen decided to step down and how important it was to him that Jimmy Lake was the man tasked with taking over the UW program.

Lastly, Smalls gave a scouting report on some of his Kennedy teammates, including 2021 UW quarterback commit Sam Huard, as well as issued a special challenge to top prospect J.T. Tuimoloau if he becomes a Husky. He updated us on his current workout regimen, diet, and his plans to get at the ideal weight the UW coaches want him at before the start of the season.

Pac-12 coaches in agreement on ramp-up time for season May 12, 2020

Show notes

Like Jimmy Lake taking over for Chris Petersen, Kyle Whittingham went through a similar transition when he took over for Hall of Famer Urban Meyer at Utah. Whittingham's words of advice to the new Washington head coach?

"Don't change just for the sake of change."

But the fact is, a lot of things have already changed ahead of the 2021 football season, including the idea that the season may not happen at all. And Whittingham, Lake, and new Colorado Football Coach Karl Dorrell all took part in the Pac-12's second coaching 'webinar' this week to talk about those changes and what the coaches would need to get their programs headed back toward some semblance of normalcy.

Much like trying to figure out how to get to third and reasonable when you're staring second down and 20 right in the face, what's it going to take to get teams back on schedule? The coaches talked about the possibility of getting some things back up and running by as early as June 1, but the situation surrounding the coronavirus pandemic is so fluid and unpredictable, those dates are set in quicksand at the moment.

The three coaches also talked about the amount of time it would take to get the programs up and running again, including the minimum amount and what is commonly accepted by the Pac-12 coaches as the amount they'd like to have to get things up to speed as reasonably as possible.

The theme of Tuesday's webinar was 'Approach to replacing key components from last year’s squad, especially at QB', but they didn't touch much on that - although coach Lake did talk about the obstacles first-year offensive coordinator John Donovan has had to deal with while not having seen any of his quarterbacks take a live snap to date.

But mostly the conversation centered around what it would take to get the teams ready to play the season, including what that season might look like, and if possible, would all the teams be able to start up the preseason at the same time? Lake suggested there should be a blanket time set by the NCAA so everyone has to abide by a level playing field.

Pac-12 coaches talk coronvirus and planning during webinar May 12, 2020

Show notes

The Pac-12 hosted the first of four football coach 'webinars' Monday with Stanford Head Coach David Shaw, USC Head Coach Clay Helton, and new Washington State Head Coach Nick Rolovich taking part in a 30-minute discussion led by Pac-12 Networks' host Yogi Roth. The first half was Yogi asking the coaches questions, and the second was the 100-plus media members in attendance asking questions to the coaches.

The section led by Roth centered around the spring Pac-12 meetings and what came out of them in terms of planning moving forward. How has the Pac-12 responded to the coronavirus pandemic and how will the conference respond moving forward. The three coaches talked about not only their interactions with the conference administration but also the work done within the coaches' working group to try and come up with contingencies and scenarios that come into play once they've been given the green light to go ahead with preparations for the season.

The media then had a chance to talk to the coaches about the difficulty of recruiting without getting a chance to see prospective student-athletes and families face-to-face, as well as scheduling ideas - including one that has a full 11-game schedule of each Pac-12 team playing the rest of the conference. How would these ideas work within the framework of a larger playoff discussion, for instance? And how would it be possibly playing in empty stadiums, or not being able to play until there are students back at school?

DawgmanRadio: Catching up on the Week May 08, 2020

Show notes

The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund - gathered around their respective microphones (social distancing employed) to catch up on the latest Washington Football, Basketball, and recruiting news. And, despite not having spring football, there's still news being made.

They first talk about Michigan forward Cole Bajema entering the transfer portal and what that might mean for Washington. Bajema prepped at Lynden Christian near Bellingham and his sister Kara just finished her volleyball career at UW. Does this mean there's a chance the younger Bajema might be the next Husky in line?

Then news goes to recruiting, with the late Thursday news that O'Dea offensive lineman Owen Prentice earned a scholarship offer from LSU. What does that mean for Prentice, who already narrowed his final six schools down to Stanford, California, Arizona State, Washington, USC, and UCLA a couple of weeks ago? And what does an LSU offer to a Seattle kid mean in the larger picture? Does it simply confirm the trend of bigger programs outside the region coming out west to try their luck?

Scott Eklund put together an interesting take of current freshman offensive lineman Gaard Memmelaar, one from the opposition. With UW OL Coach Scott Huff recently nabbing another small school lineman in Robert Wyrsch, can we start to identify a trend in the kind of players Huff likes to recruit?

Going back to recruiting, Eklund has also put in a UW crystal ball for a local recruit, and one that current 2021 quarterback commit Sam Huard will know quite well, receiver Jabez Tinae. Eklund talks about the timing of the crystal ball, and also the prospects of Washington taking both Tinae and his teammate, Junior Alexander. Who are the Huskies targeting at wide receiver for the 2021 class?

And finally, the Pac-12 revealed Thursday their scheduled 'webinars' with the football head coaches and the media. These will start this coming Monday, and Washington Head Coach Jimmy Lake will take part in the Tuesday one with new Colorado Head Coach Karl Dorrell and Utah Head Coach Kyle Whittingham.

DawgmanRadio: Breaking it all down with Brandon Huffman May 01, 2020

Show notes

If there was a guy in the recruiting business that knows the stories behind the stories, it's Brandon Huffman. Dawgman.com's Kim Grinolds got the 247Sports National Recruiting Editor to open up a little bit about how he got in the recruiting game, as well as a special pact he has with fellow National Recruiting Analyst Greg Biggins.

The two also talk about the recent NFL draft, including the players Huffman got to know through the whole process from the beginning of high school all the way to the draft. Players like Jordan Love, Michael Pittman, Jacob Eason, Ezra Cleveland, Budda Baker, and Colby Parkinson. In fact, Huffman opines on who he thinks could end up being good coaches once their playing days are done.

They move on to Washington's Defensive Backs Coach, Will Harris - a guy Huffman covered when Harris was just a prospect at Charter Oak High School in Covina.

Finally, Grinolds asks for Huffman's take on some current prospects. You might know the names: J.T. Tuimoloau and Sam Huard. And with offensive lineman Robert Wyrsch verbally committing to the Huskies on Thursday, Huffman offers his thoughts on the Soquel, Calif. native.

To finish things off, Grinolds and Huffman go rapid fire on some of Brandon's favorite food spots when he's on the road.

DawgmanRadio: What happened with UW and the Draft? Apr 26, 2020

Show notes

If you tried to predict how things would go for the Washington Huskies in the 2020 NFL Draft, that prediction would have gone straight into the garbage can. In many ways, things couldn't have gone much worse for UW, as only two players were drafted for the first time in four years, and no defensive players were drafted for the first time since 2014.

But why? With every story, there's usually at least two sides to it, and in this case, there are some silver linings that have come via the undrafted free agent market.

To recap, Jacob Eason was taken in the fourth round by Indianapolis, and Cleveland snatched up Nick Harris in the fifth round. That's it. That's the entire draft. So if you are a Washington fan and you watched all 12 hours of NFL draft coverage, you got roughly five minutes that involved UW - and four of those minutes were about Eason.

Did he drop? And if so, why? Is he in a good situation in Indianapolis? Can he flourish?

These are all questions the guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund - attempt to answer.

They also talk about the Browns moving Harris from the Dawg Pack to the Dawg Pound, and whether or not they were right to do so.

Then it's on to the thornier issues. Like what the hell happened to the draft stock of Hunter Bryant and Trey Adams? Why did they go from being draft locks to getting locked out of the draft entirely? They wade into those questions.

Lastly, they look at the other Washington players who - at the time of this recording - have signed free agent deals. There's nine so far. Could there be more?

Trey Adams - BUF

Salvon Ahmed - SF

Andre Baccellia - KC

Hunter Bryant - DET

Myles Bryant - NE

Aaron Fuller - SEA

Jared Hilbers - NYJ

Benning Potoa'e - TB

Brandon Wellington - IND

DawgmanRadio: Assessing the newest UW 2021 commits Apr 24, 2020

Show notes

On Wednesday, the Washington Football Ohana ('family') received some fantastic news from Hawai'i, as Kamehameha OL/DL Kuao Peihopa verbally committed to Washington over scholarship offers from Arizona, Arizona State, California, Colorado, Fresno State, Hawai'i, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon State, UCLA, Washington State, and Wisconsin. Peihopa is being recruited by Washington as a defensive lineman.

Does Peihopa compare at all to any of the recent defensive linemen that have made their way from Oahu to the 206? Physically, he compares favorably to Faatui Tuitele, but does he play like Tuitele? Or is his play reminiscent of other current Washington defensive linemen?

Twenty-four hours later, the Huskies received even more good news as Eatonville athlete Caden Jumper quickly 'jumped' on a Washington scholarship offer tendered just two days before. The 6-foot-3, 245-pound Jumper committed to the Huskies as a jumbo offensive athlete over scholarship offers from Army and UC-Davis.

But how will he be used? Some think he might be given some reps as a tight end, some think he'll be more of a fullback or H-back, depending on how new UW Offensive Coordinator John Donovan wants to use him. But are there any comparisons to current or former players that make sense?

Two very different players, two different reactions to their commitments - as you might expect. But how do the Dawgman guys see these 2021 recruiting class additions? Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund break down each commitment and where they see each player fitting into what the Huskies want to do on offense and defense.

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