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DawgmanRadio: Wrapping up a big recruiting weekend Jan 21, 2020

Show notes

It was a huge recruiting weekend for the Washington Huskies, so it seemed to be the right time for the guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund - to talk about it.

Earlier on Saturday, the Huskies hosted a Junior Day chock full of talent. From the 'Big Three' of Sam Huard, JT Tuimoloau, and Emeka Egbuka, to a ton of other big names on the west coast - Steven Ortiz, Caden Jumper, Josh Conerly, Will Latu, Owen Prentice, Tobias Merriweather, Jabez Tinae, Junior Alexander, Denzel Burke, Julien Simon, Jayden Wayne, Malik Agbo, Austin Terry, David Iuli, and others.

Kim and Scott were at the Oregon-Washington basketball game, so they were able to see a lot of the recruits, and also new UW Head Coach Jimmy Lake's impassioned halftime speech.

And then later Saturday night in Honolulu, four 2020 UW signees - Myles Murao, Rome Odunze, Mark Redman, and Roger Rosengarten - took part in the 2020 Polynesian Bowl at Aloha Stadium. Chris was there and gave his first-hand account of the players and not just what they did during the game but also during the week of practice. 2020 RB signee Sam Adams was also there, but he was rehabbing a recent shoulder surgery.

Fetters was also able to talk to a number of top 2021 prospects from the islands, and at least two of them - Mililani LB Wynden Ho'ohuli and Kamehameha OL Kuao Peihopa - have current UW scholarship offers. One other prospect, Campbell DB Peter Manuma, is receiving interest from the Huskies.

DawgmanRadio: Hoop Dawgs target three areas that have to improve Jan 16, 2020

Show notes

Four games into Pac-12 play, and Mike Hopkins has seen all he needs to see. The Washington Head Coach knows where progress needs to be made in order for the Huskies to turn their fortunes around after losing point guard Quade Green at this time last week. After losing both their Bay Area games this past weekend, the Huskies host Oregon State Thursday night at 8 pm PT (Fox Sports 1) and Oregon on Saturday at 12:45 pm PT (CBS).

Truth be told, Hopkins has targeted three key statistical areas where UW just hasn't been able to keep up, and it's not just based on the last four games. It's a trend that started at the beginning of the season, and hasn't changed all that much.

Here are the three stats Hopkins mentioned Wednesday...

Assist-to-turnover ratio: 268 out of 350 Division-1 teams.

Three-point shooting: 255 out of 350 Division-1 teams.

Three-point defense: 126 out of 350 Division-1 teams. The top Pac-12 3-point defense right now is Stanford, who currently ranks 74th.

To break it down in its simplest terms, Washington can't hold on to the ball, and when they do they can't make shots from outside. And when they are defending, they haven't done that nearly as well as they did last year.

"We've got to do a better job in those three areas," Hopkins said. "And if we can, we'll be successful. That's the bottom line."

The media also spoke with sophomore guard Jamal Bey and redshirt frosh forward Nate Roberts. Bey is one of the three players tasked with figuring out how to run the offense in a way that is similar to how things were running with Green, who was declared academically ineligible until at least the NCAA Tournament. He talked about moving into a new role and trying to move on and lead in a post-Quade world.

DawgmanRadio: UW coaching staff, CFB Title Game, other topics Jan 14, 2020

Show notes

Even though we're just 22 days away from National Signing Day, things on the recruiting front have been a little slow, but that doesn't mean there isn't a lot of news to talk about.

In today's DawgmanRadio episode, Kim Grinolds and Scott Eklund cover a number of subjects, most notably, the completion of the Washington coaching staff and why they kept the coaches they did and what it means to bring in a coach like John Donovan to run the offense and why head coach Jimmy Lake tabbed Derham Cato, an offensive analyst for the Huskies the past couple of years, to become the next tight ends head coach.

Will he only be with the tight ends or will he have a larger role in shaping the overall offense?

Also, is there a chance someone like Jeff Tedford could be brought on to help as an analyst now that he's left Fresno State to take care of his health.

They also touch bases on the College Football National Championship Game from Monday night, a 42-25 win that gave LSU it's first title in over a decade as well as the optics of seeing Odell Beckham Jr. handing out cash to players following the win.

Fake money or not, it's not a good look.

Other subjects covered included Chris Fetters' trip to Hawaii to watch the Polynesian Bowl (to be played on Saturday the 18th) and where recruiting is headed over the next few weeks including what is shaping up to be a big visit weekend in less than two weeks (January 24th-26th) when upwards of 10 prospects are expected to be on campus to check out Washington and see what the program has to offer.

To listen to the 40-minute podcast, click on the audio link above.

DawgmanRadio: John Donovan Emergency Podcast! Jan 10, 2020

Show notes

Jimmy Lake clearly was thinking of Chris Fetters when he announced John Donovan as Washington's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Friday morning, so what better birthday gift than to announce the hiring first thing in the morning? Thank you Jimmy!

But the hire definitely came out of left field and prompted a bunch of quick research to find out more about Donovan, including his coaching past, his coaching tree, and what to make of the hire in general.

So Fetters got together with Kim Grinolds and Scott Eklund for an emergency podcast to talk about the hire, Donovan's roots in the Ralph Friedgen system at Maryland along with James Franklin, his move with Franklin to Vanderbilt and ultimately to Penn State, where Donovan was Franklin's offensive coordinator and tight ends coach for two years. He has since been working with the Jacksonville Jaguars in various offensive capacities.

What does the hire mean for Washington's offense moving forward? And does Lake have just one more hire to make - the tight ends coach - or will this move be the first in a series as the Huskies' offensive organizational chart undergoes a reconstruction?

UW hopes positive feelings from USC win follow them on the road Jan 08, 2020

Show notes

They've played plenty of games away from home so far this year, but the Washington Huskies have really only played one game that could be even remotely considered a home game - their win over Hawai'i in the Diamond Head Classic. And even that is not technically considered a road game on the schedule.

So when looking at the 11-4 schedule to date, there's a big fat goose egg when looking at Washington's road record. But UW Head Coach Mike Hopkins is hopeful the lessons learned already from an eventful home stand versus the Los Angeles schools will come in handy as the Huskies travel to the Bay Area to play Stanford Thursday night and California on Saturday evening.

Hopkins called their game against the Cardinal a 'heck of a challenge', primarily because the rest of the conference is sleeping on Stanford. They are currently 12-2, with their only losses being to Butler and Kansas. He talked about what they do well, especially outside with guys like Tyrell Terry and Daejon Davis, and inside with Oscar da Silva.

He was also asked questions about his team, especially about Nate Roberts and whether or not his game against USC was a breakout and how it will impact guys like Hameir Wright. He also went more in-depth on Isaiah Stewart, Jaden McDaniels, RaeQuan Battle, Quade Green, and a lot more.

DawgmanRadio: Catching up on a busy week Jan 06, 2020

Show notes

The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds and Chris Fetters - recap what was a very busy past week on Montlake.

First, they talk about Washington's 32-point curb-stomping of USC, what went right, and what it means moving forward. They highlight the play of Isaiah Stewart (just named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week for the third-straight week), Jaden McDaniels, and wonder what head coach Mike Hopkins will do now that Nate Roberts has emerged as a legitimate big man threat. What might that mean for Hameir Wright, for instance?

Moving over to football, they talk about Salvon Ahmed's declaration to turn pro and what his future may hold in the NFL. They also break down Jimmy Lake's first hire as Washington's new head football coach, defensive assistant coach Terrence Brown. Brown was a graduate assistant under Lake for three years at UW before moving on as Vanderbilt's defensive backs coach the past two seasons.

Finally, they look at Washington's search for a new offensive coordinator. NFL assistants Mark Helfrich and Kellen Moore have been the names floated most often, but how does Dallas hiring Mike McCarthy as their new head coach change things for Moore, if at all? Does he stay in Texas, or does he have a legitimate interest in coming back to his home state?

POST-GAME AUDIO: Quade Green, Nate Roberts, Mike Hopkins talk about 32-point rout over USC Jan 06, 2020

Show notes

Washington Head Coach Mike Hopkins said after Thursday's 66-64 loss to UCLA that championship teams respond. He was excited to see how the Huskies would respond Sunday night versus USC. Well, he got what he was looking for.

UW held the Trojans to 35 points below their scoring average, blowing them out 72-40 in front of an announced attendance of 8774 at Alaska Airlines Arena.

"We had a game plan," Hopkins said. "There were different things we had to have executed, and they had a great focus, and they had great energy. Those are the two things in any defense you play, you've got to be able to compete like that, with focus and energy. Everybody that came off the bench impacted the game and that was with focus and energy. I was really, really happy with our performance.

"It's not about making shots and missing shots, it's about playing great team defense. It's finishing, being tough, and rebounding. I thought those guys did that tonight. They executed the game plan."

Quade Green, Nate Robertsand Hopkins talkedpost-game about the win and how they were able to pull it off.

POST-GAME AUDIO: Isaiah Stewart and Mike Hopkins talk after 66-64 loss to UCLA Jan 03, 2020

Show notes

Until Thursday night, the Pac-12 knew very little about Jake Kyman. But after his 21 points in UCLA's 66-64 win over Washington at Alaska Airlines Arena, the league is now on notice.

The freshman wing hit a dagger three-pointer - his seventh trey of the night - with 9 seconds to play in the game to give UCLA a two-point lead after UW's Nahziah Carter hit a dagger three of his own 15 seconds earlier.

Washington had one last possession to tie or win the game, but Nahziah Carter couldn't hold on to the ball and UCLA regained possession after a held ball with 1.1 seconds to play.

Chris Smith's double-double provided UCLA (8-6, 1-0) their only other scorer in double-figures. He finished the game with 17 points and 12 rebounds.

Washington (10-4, 0-1) was led by the 24 points and 11 rebounds of freshman center Isaiah Stewart, whose 10 points kept the Huskies in the first half after UCLA threatened to run away with the game before intermission. Carter added 16 points and Quade Green for the Huskies.

Here's post-game audio from Stewart, as well as UW Head Coach Mike Hopkins.

Mike Hopkins excited for Pac-12 play to begin Jan 02, 2020

Show notes

Mike Hopkins was in a festive mood on Wednesday, and why not? The Washington Huskies are about to embark on their Pac-12 campaign as the reigning regular-season conference champions, and after working through a schedule where they went 10-2 in non-conference play (they were 9-4 last year), everything is lining up for them to make another strong run at a title. They host UCLA Thursday night at 7 pm.

But that doesn't mean they're the finished article, not by a long shot. Hopkins talked to the media Wednesday about the areas where the team needs to improve, and also specific questions about certain players (Jaden McDaniels, Quade Green, Isaiah Stewart, Nahziah Carter).

EMERGENCY POD: Eason to the NFL, what does it mean for UW? Dec 26, 2019

Show notes

The guys from Dawgman.com - Chris Fetters and Scott Eklund - dissect the decision of Washington junior quarterback Jacob Eason to declare for the NFL Draft in this emergency podcast. They definitely come at the decision from different viewpoints, and they share them here.

They also talk about whether or not he should be considered a sure-fire first-round draft pick, and they also have some differing takes on this question. Depending on the strength of the quarterback class, Eason could be ranked anywhere from the third or fourth-best available QB to near the bottom of the top-10. That range suggests that he could go early, or he could end up in the third round or even lower.

Of interest to UW fans, Fetters and Eklund also talk about where the Huskies go from here. Who has the inside track on next spring's quarterback battle between Jacob Sirmon, Dylan Morris, and Ethan Garbers? And will the coaches be able to keep everyone in the fold until fall ball? And how much of a change will new Head Coach Jimmy Lake be able to make with a newish offensive staff based on the available talent on the roster? Can they make wholesale changes?

Will the coaches go for another quarterback now, with the regular signing period still available to them? Or will they scour the market for a top preferred walk-on, especially now that Blake Gregory is gone too?

Eason's decision has opened up a number of big questions, and Fetters and Eklund get right to them in this emergency podcast.

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