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Spring Ball Takeaways
Ballz
Member Posts: 4,735
The defense will be elite. Maybe the best we've had under Petersen. I feel like we're going to get more pressure on the QB and get way more turnovers and defensive scores than last season.
Haener's done. I gave him a fair shot to prove Cal was just a fluke due to nerves but that appears to be who he is. Eason's the guy. Petersen won't name a starter until game week but I bet Eason starts taking the majority of 1st team reps in Fall camp weeks before that.
This O-line is just meh. It is what it is. Nick Harris and Luke Wattenberg may be athletic but they're just not big enough to handle the big boys in pass pro. They are much better moving forward than backward and using their athleticism to get on their blocks quickly in the run game. This team should run the ball A LOT.
I like Ahmed and Newton as the top two RB's. A little thunder and lightening if you will. We'll see if Petersen has the balls to play a rookie RB over the experienced vets in McGrew and Pleasant. I doubt it. At least early in the season. We'll see.
Eason will be better than Browning. That's pretty much all I can say right now. Need to see how he performs in games against lesser secondaries. I like the way he was careful with his decision making the latter part of Spring ball. We don't need him trying too hard. After what we've had to deal with the last couple seasons I would love just having a game manager with a big arm who doesn't do stupid shit and is capable of making a few big plays a game. That's all we need. Just manage the game, take the easy money, and make 2-3 nice throws a game for touchdowns. The running game, defense, and special teams should take care of the rest as long as whoever the kicker is doesn't fuck us over.
Haener's done. I gave him a fair shot to prove Cal was just a fluke due to nerves but that appears to be who he is. Eason's the guy. Petersen won't name a starter until game week but I bet Eason starts taking the majority of 1st team reps in Fall camp weeks before that.
This O-line is just meh. It is what it is. Nick Harris and Luke Wattenberg may be athletic but they're just not big enough to handle the big boys in pass pro. They are much better moving forward than backward and using their athleticism to get on their blocks quickly in the run game. This team should run the ball A LOT.
I like Ahmed and Newton as the top two RB's. A little thunder and lightening if you will. We'll see if Petersen has the balls to play a rookie RB over the experienced vets in McGrew and Pleasant. I doubt it. At least early in the season. We'll see.
Eason will be better than Browning. That's pretty much all I can say right now. Need to see how he performs in games against lesser secondaries. I like the way he was careful with his decision making the latter part of Spring ball. We don't need him trying too hard. After what we've had to deal with the last couple seasons I would love just having a game manager with a big arm who doesn't do stupid shit and is capable of making a few big plays a game. That's all we need. Just manage the game, take the easy money, and make 2-3 nice throws a game for touchdowns. The running game, defense, and special teams should take care of the rest as long as whoever the kicker is doesn't fuck us over.
Comments
My ratings on the ABSOLUTE* scale of our positions:
QB: 8 - I think we are in really good shape, but Try Hard Pete’s sympathies are always an issue.
RB: 6 - I like Salvon a lot and think he will break out, but no one has elite characteristics outside of him. I still think Cam has a chance to play a lot. McGrew looks slow.
WR: 5 - because we play people based on seniority this is a 5. If we played people based on talent, it would be a 7.
TE: 9 - I would like some more depth here, but this is a serious position of strength. Will we use them?
OL: 7.5 - not going to be dominant unless Trey really returns to form. Nick Harris has the Pete-unheralded recruit disease where he’s good against other league teams, but isn’t going to do much against Ohio State. However, with a ton of experience I think he’s going to be decent this year. The real issue is Kirkland and Watty taking next steps. Also, our D is great. You can’t see what Hilbers did last year and think he sucks. He can improve, but he doesn’t suck.
DL: 8 - even though our good players (save Levi) are all freshmen, this is still going to be a position of strength. In two years this could be a 10. Tuli and Taki are fucking massive.
OLB: 7.5 - Tryon is going to have to do it consistently, but he has the chance to be special. Ngata has to put on weight, but also has a chance to be the fast twitch Cory Littleton. Banning will be outside and inside and he’s obviously not a pass rusher, but he is a great run stuffer. Ryan Bowman is this generation’s Chris Stevens. Myles Rice should transfer probably. Latu will play. I don’t love that, and I hope it’s later in the season so he has the chance to shed some baby fat, but he’s going to be too good to keep off the field.
ILB: 7 - really hard to predict this group, but If he’s healthy all year Welly could be special as well. At the end of last year he was really fucking good. The other spot? We have a lot of kids and the traitor who failed to get us Togiai (who would be starting as a Soph this year). While I think Bob Greg is clearly slanted to white people, Jack Sirmon and Josh Calvert are both talented white people and I suspect they will both play a lot. Wildcard here is Hammer. I suspect he’s the #2 WIL behind Welly if Gregory doesn’t just go on seniority - which our coaches all seem to do unless you are white (Jake, BBK) it a certified try hard (Bowman, Bryant, Nick Harris). Ulofashio looked really good last year and could also get a lot of snaps.
CB: 9 - how do you lose Byron Murphy and Jordan Miller (two of the best corners to ever play at UW - you could argue Murphy’s 2018 season was the best of all time rather easily) and still be a 9? Recruiting and development! Whoa!!! KT is a beast and could be a first round pick. Dom, Kyler, Elijah... Elijah looks ready to play at Budda levels and Dom and Kyler are two of the most promising players on our roster. True freshmen McDuffie and KamFab could play, but won’t have to. I love the 4 game rule.
S: 7.5 - even though there’s a little worry here with McKinney’s middling performance in the Rose Bowl and Irvin’s injury, I think Cam has the potential to be 2016 Taylor Rapp for our 2019 team. I think Asa will play.
P: 8 - Whitford isn’t elite but he’s fucking good.
K: 2 - Pete’s passive racism, seniority system (for sucky players) and anti-promotional instincts all hurt our program, but nothing hurts our program like Pete’s inexplicable inability to understand how important the kicker position is. Last year, with a good kicker we are 12-1. Oregon is obvious, but we fucked up the Cal game largely because we had no confidence we could make a 38 yard field goal and got 0 points instead of 3s in a game where 6 points win it for us. You could make a case we’d have beaten Auburn with a good K, too. The DBs under Lake are good till they aren’t, Tim Horn sucks until he doesn’t.
Offense: 4 - hard to say based on what we saw, but it sucks until it doesn’t.
Defense: 8.5 - remember this the absolute scale, 10 would mean one of the best all time. Our D will be one of the best in college football. In 2020, our D could be ‘91 level quite honestly. We are only going to lose Welly as a starter (maybe KT).
This is the year where you are going to see what talent looks like.
I think a bunch of freshmen will play, but the 4 game rule will again serve us well.
Guys I think will play all season:
Cam Williams
Cam Davis
Asa Turner
Josh Calvert
Guys on the bubble who will most likely play, but probabaly 4-game it:
Puka Nacua
Trent McDuffie
Laiatu Latu
Danny Hammer
Faatui Tuitele
Jacob Bandes
*10 - all time top tier unit
9 - elite for CFB
8 - elite for Pac-10
7 - top 3rd Pac-10
6 - top half Pac-10
5 - Middling Pac-10
4 - Bottom half Pac-10
3 - Bottom 3rd Pac-10
2 - 2007 level
1 - 2008 level