Priorities for 2017

whatshouldicareabout

Looking ahead to 2017, we can gauge where Petersen sees his greatest recruiting needs and challenges by looking at his scholarship offers to date. Another way to view the recruits is to group them into cohorts based on the scholarships to date, such as if they are National (offers from BCS schools all over the country), Regional (heavily recruited by Pac-12 schools, maybe 1-2 other BCS programs), or Local (Pac-12 NW schools, maybe 1-2 other Pac-12 schools).

Using the Scout database of kids still considering UW, here is the 2017 offer list to date:
9 OL (5 national; 4 region)
7 WR (2 national; 3 regional; 2 local)
6 CB (2 national; 4 regional)
5 TE (3 national; 2 regional)
5 DT (1 national; 4 regional)
4 S (2 national; 2 regional)
4 LB (3 regional; 1 local)
3 ATH (1 national; 1 regional; 1 local)
3 QB (2 national; 1 regional)
3 DE (2 regional; 1 local)

One reason why I wanted to break it down by National; Regional; and Local is that I feel that it is important to see where they are going after risky prospects. And by risky, I don't mean that they're bad, but that we often don't land national recruits that have offers from all over the SEC, Big Ten, and others. For me, I see that they're going heavily over some of the best WRs in the West, but they're also starting early on some lower tier WRs to make sure they get some talent before the other schools jump on them during the Spring Eval period.

Of course, the best measure of how Petersen is treating 2017 is overall number of scholarships, which is heavily toward OL, WR, and CB. I think that's fair, especially given the quality we picked up at CB, DE, and LB last year. It is worth noting there are no RB offers out to kids that haven't already committed elsewhere or dropped UW.

BayDawg

1. WR
2. OL
3.WR
4.OL

AEB

What about Connor Weddington at RB? opinions?

bananasnblondes

AEB said:

What about Connor Weddington at RB? opinions?

I think Salmon "Rushdie" Ahmed will be the RB they go after. If they get hom, I doubt they have enough room in this class for Paddington

H_D

I thought this thread was going to be about Club Husky or Husky Heritage seating.

tvoie

Get several WRs who can run fast and catch.

pat_hm

Offensive line. Get a running back and continue to load up the defense. If Petersen sustains his success in state we'll be looking good. I do think UW needs to secure an X receiver type like Terrell Bynum to fill that void we're missing but I'm not of the belief that 1) UW is incredibly weak at wide receiver and 2) a team needs 5 star receivers to win football games.

Not saying I wouldn't want USC receiver talent on Washington's roster. Of course I would. But we can't come close to landing that level of talent. Most of it stays in LA and goes to USC. You build your offense around the offensive line, running game and quarterback that can accurately distribute the football based on what the defense is giving him. Your receivers need to produce when called upon but shouldn't be the focal point of the offense. Alabama has Ridley who is the next Julio/Amari but behind him was a walk on from Oregon Sate. Lane's offense revolved around Henry and a bludgeoning offensive line. Same for Ohio State and Elliot. See Stanford. Petersen isn't tailoring his team around throwing the football like a Baylor, USC or Oklahoma State and i'm not upset about that.

2016 was obviously a disappointment for our wide receiver recruiting given how deep the class was on the west coast. But there's nothing we can do about it now. Pease is gone along with the excuses. It's a new chapter. So what Hamdan needs to do is earn his 295k a year and land Bynum because he's a perfect fit for Washington. Getting his commitment would be huge. However outside of one more receiver they shouldn't waste their recruiting capital on the position. A big time receiver can make life easier for the quarterback ala Reggie Williams but they're a luxury. You win football games with a stout defense that can get the ball back while controlling the line of scrimmage and running the ball on offense.

Look at the best teams in the NFL and one thing that they all have in common is great quarterback play while lacking pro bowl talent at wide receiver. New England, Carolina & Seattle all have average receving corps at best yet they win. Denver's got noodle arm Peyton which hurts Demaryius. Their defense is the reason why they're playing in the Super Bowl. Pittsburgh's got Antonio Brown and Bryant but aren't a legit championship contentor. Same with AJ Green & Cincy. Then you've got your top tier guys like Megatron (rip), Dez Bryant, Julio, Nuk Hopkins, Odell Beckham, Allen Robinson etc who all spend the playoff's vacationing and partying in Miami. Those teams always disappoint and never win big because they funnel the offense through their big time wide receivers. Great for fantasy but not so much for winning real football games.

Tequilla

This class should have a heavy focus on the OL/DL and WR positions

HuskyClaws

We only have 11 seniors (probably 9 or 10 when the season starts) and are currently at 86 scholarships. So it's safe to assume 10 spots available right now for the 2017 class.

Since I don't expect attrition to be nearly as high under Petersen, I bet we don't take more than 15 guys.

3 OL, 2 WR, 1 QB, 1 DT, and 1 CB (already committed) are guaranteed minimums.

That leaves a maximum of 7 scholarships leftover. We're definitely going to have a couple of positions that we won't be able to address.

The good news is that I expect us to have a couple of 10+ win seasons leading into the 2018 and 2019 classes which should be 20+ scholarships each.

Swaye

BayDawg said:

1. WR
2. OL
3.WR
4.OL
5. DT

doogsinparadise

More beef, fewer white slappies, fewer midgets.

Tequilla

I'd expect a class that is roughly the size of this year's class when you factor in transfers, medical retirements, and players leaving early for the NFL

NeGgaPlEaSe

HuskyClaws said:

We only have 11 seniors (probably 9 or 10 when the season starts) and are currently at 86 scholarships. So it's safe to assume 10 spots available right now for the 2017 class.

Since I don't expect attrition to be nearly as high under Petersen, I bet we don't take more than 15 guys.

3 OL, 2 WR, 1 QB, 1 DT, and 1 CB (already committed) are guaranteed minimums.

That leaves a maximum of 7 scholarships leftover. We're definitely going to have a couple of positions that we won't be able to address.

The good news is that I expect us to have a couple of 10+ win seasons leading into the 2018 and 2019 classes which should be 20+ scholarships each.

I'm sure this has been proven false already. Pete would have taken 20 this year if he could have...I can see multiple couches sold this spring , starting with Cooper

bananasnblondes

This year we will finally see some attrition from Pete's recruits, most likely at the d line and cb. Both position groups have a ton of young guys and there won't be enough spots to fit everyone.

H_D

doogsinparadise said:

More beef, fewer white slappies, fewer midgets.

whatshouldicareabout

bananasnblondes said:

This year we will finally see some attrition from Pete's recruits, most likely at the d line and cb. Both position groups have a ton of young guys and there won't be enough spots to fit everyone.

Agree, but only because there are only 5 Sark recruits left on the that would have a meaningful impact on 2017 if they left this year. The way I figure that is that the 11 seniors have no impact on 2017 since their scholarships will be free by the end of the year and 6/11 of Sark's juniors are starters.

RoadDawg55

I hope we don't become pussified if/when we get some good WR's. The scary thing is we know Petersen would prefer to air it out. He likes balance like Sark did. Saban and Meyer aren't getting giddy about the passing game finally overshadowing the run game (actual quote after Arizona). We won't ever hear Petersen say anything about being stubborn with the pass, even though they are certainly stubborn with bubble screens that never work.

NeGgaPlEaSe

RoadDawg55 said:

I hope we don't become pussified if/when we get some good WR's. The scary thing is we know Petersen would prefer to air it out. He likes balance like Sark did. Saban and Meyer aren't getting giddy about the passing game finally overshadowing the run game (actual quote after Arizona). We won't ever hear Petersen say anything about being stubborn with the pass, even though they are certainly stubborn with bubble screens that never work.

Why do you hate the Lindy package stubbornness

Tequilla

RoadDawg55 said:

I hope we don't become pussified if/when we get some good WR's. The scary thing is we know Petersen would prefer to air it out. He likes balance like Sark did. Saban and Meyer aren't getting giddy about the passing game finally overshadowing the run game (actual quote after Arizona). We won't ever hear Petersen say anything about being stubborn with the pass, even though they are certainly stubborn with bubble screens that never work.

I like to say that Urban Meyer doesn't give a shit about the passing game while blacking out the fact that Urban started Cardale Jones because of his abilities in the passing game ahead of JT Barrett and his obvious advantages in the running game ... that's what I like to do.

RoadDawg55

Tequilla said:

RoadDawg55 said:

I hope we don't become pussified if/when we get some good WR's. The scary thing is we know Petersen would prefer to air it out. He likes balance like Sark did. Saban and Meyer aren't getting giddy about the passing game finally overshadowing the run game (actual quote after Arizona). We won't ever hear Petersen say anything about being stubborn with the pass, even though they are certainly stubborn with bubble screens that never work.

I like to say that Urban Meyer doesn't give a shit about the passing game while blacking out the fact that Urban started Cardale Jones because of his abilities in the passing game ahead of JT Barrett and his obvious advantages in the running game ... that's what I like to do.

Saban also gives a shit about his passing game. Way to completely miss the point though.

Tequilla

RoadDawg55 said:

Tequilla said:

RoadDawg55 said:

I hope we don't become pussified if/when we get some good WR's. The scary thing is we know Petersen would prefer to air it out. He likes balance like Sark did. Saban and Meyer aren't getting giddy about the passing game finally overshadowing the run game (actual quote after Arizona). We won't ever hear Petersen say anything about being stubborn with the pass, even though they are certainly stubborn with bubble screens that never work.

I like to say that Urban Meyer doesn't give a shit about the passing game while blacking out the fact that Urban started Cardale Jones because of his abilities in the passing game ahead of JT Barrett and his obvious advantages in the running game ... that's what I like to do.

Saban also gives a shit about his passing game. Way to completely miss the point though.

Way to deflect since you know you've stepped in your own shit ...

You aren't sold on Petersen so you'll go after any little thing that you can ...

There's plenty of things that you can go after him that are legit on ... but criticizing him for wanting to have balance on offense isn't one of them. As the passing game caught up at the end of the year, the offense was obviously far better.