TSIO Episode #29: Coaching Changes and 2018 Recruiting Preview
Comments
-
I think my NTL;DR takeaway is if you're a West Coast team who needs wide receivers or in the state of Oregon, it should be a banner year. If you need running backs or lineman, better luck next year.Dennis_DeYoung said:
Thanks for listening. We are now solidly expecting at least 10 listeners per pod and you are a big reason why.89ute said:Just finished the podcast. Looks like Swaye has a support partner in Pepsi. God speed gentlemen.
You have 28 blue chips on your roster going into this next season. (thanks again for the research on this) Assuming your prediction plays out of only adding about a half a dozen blue chips in 2018, minus graduation seniors, where do you think your blue chip numbers will be for 2018? I have no clue how many blue chippers leave your roster next year but replacing them with only 6ish probably has you standing pat at best.
Keeping in mind the guideline that it takes about 45 blue chippers to win it all, where do you see Worshington finishing 2017 and 2018?
Do you think it's possible Worshington can get to 45 blue chipers? If so, when? Do you think Worshington (or any other program for that matter) can buck the trend and win it all with a roster of something significantly less than 45 BCs?
So, in terms of the question, the one wild car for us right now is whether we might see any change for the future because of our record last year. My mental algorithm for who we can get and who we can't (and Coker's as well) is based off the current 'brand position' of UW. Will that change this year?
Honestly, I think - for several reasons - our market position isn't likely to change very much as a result of last year, but it's an open question. However, if we stack 2-3 seasons like this we are going to see some changes.
My guess is that, given 3 10 win seasons in a row, we will start to hit on classes where we get 12 + blue chip kind of guys. And in that case, we could see our goals reached around 2021.
I know this is CRAZY TBS-y, but the class of 2020 in the state of Washington could be one of the best ever. If, at that time, our brand position is peaking, we could really kill it.
This year is down on the west coast and down for positions of need for us. As such, I expect we will do a little worse than last year and a lot of that has to do with the fact that USC trumped us last year so we won't be beating them for anyone with any consistency. It's getting harder to recruit in Utah because of you fuckers and Oregon is going to kill it in recruiting this year.
Stanford will do their thing and so will UCLA and Cal will probably steal a kid or two. It's just a perfect storm of suck this year for us... but I could see us getting over the hump for the '19 class and then really destroy in '20.
So, TL;DR: 2023 will be special! -
So, the class of kids that are freshmen in HS, that has the potential to be the best class in the state of WA ever.
If you're asking me how I know that @89ute - I would reply with every serious TBSer knows that.
Pete offered his first FR ever in Garfield's Sav'ell Smalls (who is an insane stud). Generally the HUGE TIME kids like Budda, people know about them as frosh. So, while I don't know exactly how the class will fill out, there are already 5-6 kids in that class who seem like they will be "Big Tymers".
This year could be the best year in both the history of Oregon and Utah. It's at least up there in both. -
Mods? Mods!!89ute said:
I'm extremely curious to know how you know that current 9th graders in Worshington could possibly be a blue chip bumper crop? Wait, make that 8th graders, since the 2017 high school class are juniors right now.Dennis_DeYoung said:
I know this is CRAZY TBS-y, but the class of 2020 in the state of Washington could be one of the best ever. If, at that time, our brand position is peaking, we could really kill it.89ute said:Just finished the podcast. Looks like Swaye has a support partner in Pepsi. God speed gentlemen.
You have 28 blue chips on your roster going into this next season. (thanks again for the research on this) Assuming your prediction plays out of only adding about a half a dozen blue chips in 2018, minus graduation seniors, where do you think your blue chip numbers will be for 2018? I have no clue how many blue chippers leave your roster next year but replacing them with only 6ish probably has you standing pat at best.
Keeping in mind the guideline that it takes about 45 blue chippers to win it all, where do you see Worshington finishing 2017 and 2018?
Do you think it's possible Worshington can get to 45 blue chipers? If so, when? Do you think Worshington (or any other program for that matter) can buck the trend and win it all with a roster of something significantly less than 45 BCs?
So, TL;DR: 2023 will be special! -
Coker was allDennis_DeYoung said:
Coker has never explained himself. I think he should have to change his name to @CalorieFreeSodaWaterIsBetterThanMexicanCoke if he wants to remain relevant.TurdBuffer said:Why did Coker stop drinking Messican Coke? WTF is his "need to take care of my body" faggy bullshit? Coker getting fat? Coker not getting it up? WTF?
People DIED producing The Real Thing, and you think you can just turn the tap off like a light-switch? It's an OUTRAGE!
But now he's all
-
So for some dumbass reason a few weeks ago I said I wasn't going to drink any soda until spring ball starts for UW. Looking back on this I hate myself, but I must see it through. March 27th is going to be a shit show.
-
Were you dropped on your head as a baby, or a few weeks ago?CokeGreaterThanPepsi said:So for some dumbass reason a few weeks ago I said I wasn't going to drink any soda until spring ball starts for UW. Looking back on this I hate myself, but I must see it through. March 27th is going to be a shit show.
Seriously, that's like Tooth Fairy and Easter Bunny shit. -
Great pod.
USC is going to clean up the top kids, but I think we'll be able to do well with the kids who have a great summer and are a little bit underrated at the moment. Alex Cook didn't have an offer at this time last year and ended up a borderline 4 star (depending on the site). Fingers crossed that a few of the kids that have a great spring and summer are 6'4 and 275.
Only question is for Dennis. Do you think we have a shot with Isaac Taylor-Stuart? I think he would be a great fit at DE. -
He's going to play DE with Penei Sewell who Scott Huff followed today. It's the only guy he's followed since coming to UW.Woof said:Great pod.
USC is going to clean up the top kids, but I think we'll be able to do well with the kids who have a great summer and are a little bit underrated at the moment. Alex Cook didn't have an offer at this time last year and ended up a borderline 4 star (depending on the site). Fingers crossed that a few of the kids that have a great spring and summer are 6'4 and 275.
Only question is for Dennis. Do you think we have a shot with Isaac Taylor-Stuart? I think he would be a great fit at DE.
Shoot me. -
Think Huff will actually be ok, but I'm surprised with the stuff coming out on Mac/Colorado that KKKlayton Adams wasn't trying to do everything he could to jump ship to us.
Also think the ratings services and Oregon/few others will help bump our class ranking up...whenever we get a kid I expect Oregon/Utah/UCLA/Cal and even USC to come at them hard. Should move at least 2 or 3 of our "3*" up to "4*" by the end. -
Great pood thanks for the free pub. I wanted my plane to crash when DDY took a minute to figure out the movie he was referring to was Westside Story. Other than that electric as always.
-
Okay, but you won't feel a thing.Dennis_DeYoung said:
He's going to play DE with Penei Sewell who Scott Huff followed today. It's the only guy he's followed since coming to UW.Woof said:Great pod.
USC is going to clean up the top kids, but I think we'll be able to do well with the kids who have a great summer and are a little bit underrated at the moment. Alex Cook didn't have an offer at this time last year and ended up a borderline 4 star (depending on the site). Fingers crossed that a few of the kids that have a great spring and summer are 6'4 and 275.
Only question is for Dennis. Do you think we have a shot with Isaac Taylor-Stuart? I think he would be a great fit at DE.
Shoot me. -
Dennis first needs to shoot himself in both knee caps on principal to heighten the pain and suffering
-
That was the moment you could really see his genius autism come out and shine, he could not let it go.Edwin_Bambino said:Great pood thanks for the free pub. I wanted my plane to crash when DDY took a minute to figure out the movie he was referring to was Westside Story. Other than that electric as always.
-
If it took him an hour to come up with it we would have had an hour of dead airCokeGreaterThanPepsi said:
That was the moment you could really see his genius autism come out and shine, he could not let it go.Edwin_Bambino said:Great pood thanks for the free pub. I wanted my plane to crash when DDY took a minute to figure out the movie he was referring to was Westside Story. Other than that electric as always.
-
I was shocked he struggled with a show tune.CokeGreaterThanPepsi said:
That was the moment you could really see his genius autism come out and shine, he could not let it go.Edwin_Bambino said:Great pood thanks for the free pub. I wanted my plane to crash when DDY took a minute to figure out the movie he was referring to was Westside Story. Other than that electric as always.
-
68:00 "All of our listeners are white"
I don't know how I can make it anymore clear that I am red *and* I hate white people. Fuck. -
You don't count as a listener. You are the spirit animal... horse, perhaps.Swaye said:68:00 "All of our listeners are white"
I don't know how I can make it anymore clear that I am red *and* I hate white people. Fuck. -
The issue is availability. It's not like there are equal 4-star guys at every position every year in every state.FKA_Mousecop said:5 or 6 4*? I get having a slight downturn, but that still seems unrealistic.
Jack Sirmon probably ends up a 4*, so we already have 3 committed. Tre'Shaun and one of the other receivers (Spiker) put us at 5. You don't think we'll get 2 more on top of that? Not everyone can go to USC even if they all want to.
This year is a shit year in-state and we may lose Kyler Gordon. I think Lake is going to have a harder time recruiting this year than last because everyone will use it against him that he thought seriously about leaving.
I'm also aware of guys who 'became' 4-star guys last year, but just from watching film, I don't see a lot of guys who we are naturally in line to get that fit that mold.
If Oregon hadn't flipped their staff and we had a decent recruiter in Oregon instead of @Babushka - we would have a real shot to make some hay there (Winston, Lowe, Jaramillo, Hufanga, Bynum, Quitoriano), but as it is I don't think we will get any of those kids. Utah the same way - we got destroyed in Utah last year. Can we elevate this year with the top guys? I doubt it. Kids there either go to USC or to a home school.
Can these patterns change? Of course they can. That's the big curiosity this year - did last year buy us enough to change patterns?
So, right now, I think we will struggle to pull the top 4 kids out of WA (Sirmon, Harrison, Culp, Gordon) and you look at Oregon, probably no one from there is realistic (mmmmmmaybe Lowe), Togiai we will lose to USC and we won't hit on any big time Utah kids (unless Malloe ups his game considerably - don't forget we didn't even get a VISIT from Tufele), then it's all about California.
This year Cali has a million WRs and we can max take 3. So, add that to 3 4-star kids from WA and you have 6, so that's good. But beyond that, we are going to need some upsets (and that's our point).
It's a down year on OL and we have a coach who has no established relationships or track record recruiting: Sewell will literally never happen, they should stop recruiting him. Dedich, Jones and Murray are guys he could get if he were an A+ recruiter. Jaramillo is a kid he can get if he's an A- recruiter. Anything below that and we are going to end up with Ale, Cindric and a scrub from Cali.
Pete Kwiatkowski is trying to 'go national' in search for BUCKs, but I doubt that works and he's whiffed on big time kids on the WC (except for kids from WA - how bow dah?).
Bob Gregory has only been effective in NorCal and at home. There aren't a ton of guys right now who are obvious there.
Lake should get a boost from the combine and we'll see if he can do what he did the last two years again. My hope is he can, but we shall see.
We need a lot of things to break right for us to get to 9-10 again. A class of 10+ 4-star kids this year would be an A+ whereas last year it was more a B+ because of our natural advantages on kids last year. -
Some random thoughts from Listener #9...
First, given @Dennis_DeYoung 's recent penchant for analogies to the Third Reich - e.g., "midnight train to Auschwitz (Peach Bowl)" - I wonder if you guys realize how perfect the Hitler's "Night of the Long Knives" one is. Consider: One of the factions of the Nazi party that Hitler was aiming to purge in that action, were the "Strasserists" (named for Gregor and Otto Strasser). Strasserism was the more left wing, anti capitalist, world view in the early days of the Nazi party.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strasserism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_the_Long_Knives
Second, confound your "fishing looking motherfucker" white guy stereotypes! My first summer job in college was as a fly fishing guide, and I don't look a god damned thing like Scott Huff.
-
This is why we have the best group of 10-15 listeners in the biz. Seriously.YellowSnow said:Some random thoughts from Listener #9...
First, given @Dennis_DeYoung 's recent penchant for analogies to the Third Reich - e.g., "midnight train to Auschwitz (Peach Bowl)" - I wonder if you guys realize how perfect the Hitler's "Night of the Long Knives" one is. Consider: One of the factions of the Nazi party that Hitler was aiming to purge in that action, were the "Strasserists" (named for Gregor and Otto Strasser). Strasserism was the more left wing, anti capitalist, world view in the early days of the Nazi party.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strasserism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_the_Long_Knives
Second, confound your "fishing looking motherfucker" white guy stereotypes! My first summer job in college was as a fly fishing guide, and I don't look a god damned thing like Scott Huff.
If you look at this bored and then the dm.c boreds it's basically the difference between UW grads who actually know things and a bunch of doofy doogs who can't reason their way out of a paper bag.
Scott Huff is from fucking Arizona, and as such his 'slogan' is 'Ride The Lightning'.
I assume his main recruiting pitch is going to be about how Chelan is like Havasu in the summer and that he can get everyone free 'RTL' koozies. -
#occupybabushka
-
So that's what the noises had been at night.. makes senseSwaye said:#occupybabushka
-
Another Caucasoid listener, I won't do much for your audience diversity
But I did especially like the "pasty mortician" observation...
And I listened to the Peach Bowl peecast two...
I think you are under reporting listenership, bet it's up around 40 -
If Trump counts, sure.tenndawg said:Another Caucasoid listener, I won't do much for your audience diversity
But I did especially like the "pasty mortician" observation...
And I listened to the Peach Bowl peecast two...
I think you are under reporting listenership, bet it's up around 40 -
Goal is 40 by the start of the season, I think we can do it.tenndawg said:Another Caucasoid listener, I won't do much for your audience diversity
But I did especially like the "pasty mortician" observation...
And I listened to the Peach Bowl peecast two...
I think you are under reporting listenership, bet it's up around 40 -
We would need the grid in Poulsbo to become a lot more stable for that to get close to happening.CokeGreaterThanPepsi said:
Goal is 40 by the start of the season, I think we can do it.tenndawg said:Another Caucasoid listener, I won't do much for your audience diversity
But I did especially like the "pasty mortician" observation...
And I listened to the Peach Bowl peecast two...
I think you are under reporting listenership, bet it's up around 40 -
@Dennis_DeYoung hit on many of the points that I was going to add to regarding how difficult the class will be this year ... I'll still put the over/under at 8 for 4 star kids or better ... but the challenges are going to be vast ...
QB: Doesn't matter because we have Sirmon in position ... at this point it may be beneficial to not have any issues with Babushka until AFTER the early signing period to not upset the apple cart (not that I expect Sirmon to go anywhere else anyway) ...
RB: Boner Popper is an average to above average recruiter but the need for us this year at the position isn't vast ... we need 1, at most 2 ... but our depth at the position isn't bad and definitely passable in 2018 without anything of note this year ... it will put the pressure on for a top tier (at minimum) RB in the 2019 class if we have a relative miss here this year (again, not the end of the world if we miss here)
WR: In theory we still have a strong need here (will take 2 to 3) and this is coupled with this being a position of strength on the West Coast this class PLUS what's likely a Top 3 recruiter on our staff ... we should expect good results.
TE: This is another year where we can expect 1 to 2 TEs on our roster to come through here ... given that we rely so much on 2 TEs I don't have a problem with us recruiting decent numbers here particularly when you consider that IF you have the right TEs on your roster they are massive matchup problems for a defense. We listed a number of reasons on the pod for why it is reasonable to think that we should land Cupp (potential matchup issue) and the TE out of California who is really good IF healthy (which I think he will end up showing that he recovered from his massive Achilles injury) ... I don't pay enough attention to know what the 2019 class is looking like but this could be a situation where we "buy forward" on our TE depth and then more or less skip the position in 2019 if needed ... also important to keep in mind that someone like Cade Otton could end up being switched back over to defense if needed
OL: This is where the misses of Strausser's past are going to haunt us given that the 2018 class is HORRIBLE on the West Coast and the OL hire that we made has NEVER successfully recruited guys at the level that we need to be recruiting guys ... IF we miss on the top tier of recruits in this class we're going to be looking primarily at recruiting JAGs that will cycle through the depth ... Huff basically has this class and next where he MUST find at least 3-4 premium prospects on the OL ... the risk (however small it may be) that BOTH Adams and McGary leave early after this season is the definition of worst case scenario for the UW program
DL: For as much as Huff is in a PROVE IT mode from a recruiting standpoint, Malloe isn't that far behind. However sneaky, dirty, corrupt, and pathetic the SC sales job on Marlon Tui was, it is IMPOSSIBLE to not see that Malloe was caught with his pants down regarding the whole thing. As DDY mentioned, and can't be stated enough, for a guy in Malloe that coached in Utah and is Poly himself, to not even be able to get a visit out of Jay Tuefele is damning ... like the OL this isn't the strongest year on the West Coast ... we have a bit of a gift that one of the stronger DL recruits on the West Coast is in Idaho which should be relatively favorable to us ... can Malloe close here? Malloe's also apparently trying to expand our presence back into Hawaii ... will that deliver results this year?
Outside LBs: As DDY mentioned, it looks like Kwiatkowski is looking at a wider net trying to get more elite edge rushers into the program ... we'll see how that plays out. He's probably one of the right guys on our staff to be making that effort on given his stability combined with identifiable results. I'm not going to knock the process or strategy until we see it play out ... if we go back to this point a couple of years ago would Levi even been on our radar of being able to pull out of Texas? Given our depth chart here, it's not the end of the world if we don't hit a homerun here in this class ... could this be a situation where Kwiatkowski is laying a foundation for the 2019 class?
Inside LBs: Really helpful that we've already got Jack Sirmon lined up ... we lose a lot in the middle after this year and need to refill. There's a lot of strong prospects available to us here and the hope is that we'll be able to land a really good player just by process of elimination. Gregory is a solid but not necessarily spectacular recruiter. Like the balance of our program, he will recruit well with players where solid but not necessarily spectacular speaks to.
DBs: By far the most intriguing part of our recruiting class for me. In a vacuum, there's no reason to think that we won't end up with a good class because of Lake. There is evidence that things may be more of a challenge this time around. We probably were short 1 DB in last year's class ... Lake's flirtation with taking the Cal DC job can be used against him on the recruiting trail ... Lake's eventual leaving could gut the current class (why it will be imperative that we get a lot of guys before the early signing day locked up and in BEFORE Lake leaves ... the Kyler Murphy situation is really telling because prior to this year what were the odds that Stanford would beat us for an IN-STATE DB prospect ... hell Lake got an Oregon legacy recruit out of Oregon to pick UW over Stanford ... in the end, there's a good chance that we'll still end up with a strong class here and possible that we'll get a couple of 4-star plus players here ... but it's going to be way more of a tough sledding environment than what we've been used to ... our depth here is pretty good in that we can get away with a relatively lackluster class although safety depth could be an eventual issue ... this will be an area where Pete really needs to get the Lake replacement right
TL, DR Summary: It's not the end of the world in this class but we have a lot working against us ... the two positions where we have the most need are met with a lack of quality quantity on the West Coast combined with our two most unproven recruiters (Huff and Malloe) ... it's possible that Lake's ambition (can't argue with it) could be a massive albatross for us this year -
I like what you wrote here, just wished it could have been a bit more in depth. And longer.Tequilla said:@Dennis_DeYoung hit on many of the points that I was going to add to regarding how difficult the class will be this year ... I'll still put the over/under at 8 for 4 star kids or better ... but the challenges are going to be vast ...
QB: Doesn't matter because we have Sirmon in position ... at this point it may be beneficial to not have any issues with Babushka until AFTER the early signing period to not upset the apple cart (not that I expect Sirmon to go anywhere else anyway) ...
RB: Boner Popper is an average to above average recruiter but the need for us this year at the position isn't vast ... we need 1, at most 2 ... but our depth at the position isn't bad and definitely passable in 2018 without anything of note this year ... it will put the pressure on for a top tier (at minimum) RB in the 2019 class if we have a relative miss here this year (again, not the end of the world if we miss here)
WR: In theory we still have a strong need here (will take 2 to 3) and this is coupled with this being a position of strength on the West Coast this class PLUS what's likely a Top 3 recruiter on our staff ... we should expect good results.
TE: This is another year where we can expect 1 to 2 TEs on our roster to come through here ... given that we rely so much on 2 TEs I don't have a problem with us recruiting decent numbers here particularly when you consider that IF you have the right TEs on your roster they are massive matchup problems for a defense. We listed a number of reasons on the pod for why it is reasonable to think that we should land Cupp (potential matchup issue) and the TE out of California who is really good IF healthy (which I think he will end up showing that he recovered from his massive Achilles injury) ... I don't pay enough attention to know what the 2019 class is looking like but this could be a situation where we "buy forward" on our TE depth and then more or less skip the position in 2019 if needed ... also important to keep in mind that someone like Cade Otton could end up being switched back over to defense if needed
OL: This is where the misses of Strausser's past are going to haunt us given that the 2018 class is HORRIBLE on the West Coast and the OL hire that we made has NEVER successfully recruited guys at the level that we need to be recruiting guys ... IF we miss on the top tier of recruits in this class we're going to be looking primarily at recruiting JAGs that will cycle through the depth ... Huff basically has this class and next where he MUST find at least 3-4 premium prospects on the OL ... the risk (however small it may be) that BOTH Adams and McGary leave early after this season is the definition of worst case scenario for the UW program
DL: For as much as Huff is in a PROVE IT mode from a recruiting standpoint, Malloe isn't that far behind. However sneaky, dirty, corrupt, and pathetic the SC sales job on Marlon Tui was, it is IMPOSSIBLE to not see that Malloe was caught with his pants down regarding the whole thing. As DDY mentioned, and can't be stated enough, for a guy in Malloe that coached in Utah and is Poly himself, to not even be able to get a visit out of Jay Tuefele is damning ... like the OL this isn't the strongest year on the West Coast ... we have a bit of a gift that one of the stronger DL recruits on the West Coast is in Idaho which should be relatively favorable to us ... can Malloe close here? Malloe's also apparently trying to expand our presence back into Hawaii ... will that deliver results this year?
Outside LBs: As DDY mentioned, it looks like Kwiatkowski is looking at a wider net trying to get more elite edge rushers into the program ... we'll see how that plays out. He's probably one of the right guys on our staff to be making that effort on given his stability combined with identifiable results. I'm not going to knock the process or strategy until we see it play out ... if we go back to this point a couple of years ago would Levi even been on our radar of being able to pull out of Texas? Given our depth chart here, it's not the end of the world if we don't hit a homerun here in this class ... could this be a situation where Kwiatkowski is laying a foundation for the 2019 class?
Inside LBs: Really helpful that we've already got Jack Sirmon lined up ... we lose a lot in the middle after this year and need to refill. There's a lot of strong prospects available to us here and the hope is that we'll be able to land a really good player just by process of elimination. Gregory is a solid but not necessarily spectacular recruiter. Like the balance of our program, he will recruit well with players where solid but not necessarily spectacular speaks to.
DBs: By far the most intriguing part of our recruiting class for me. In a vacuum, there's no reason to think that we won't end up with a good class because of Lake. There is evidence that things may be more of a challenge this time around. We probably were short 1 DB in last year's class ... Lake's flirtation with taking the Cal DC job can be used against him on the recruiting trail ... Lake's eventual leaving could gut the current class (why it will be imperative that we get a lot of guys before the early signing day locked up and in BEFORE Lake leaves ... the Kyler Murphy situation is really telling because prior to this year what were the odds that Stanford would beat us for an IN-STATE DB prospect ... hell Lake got an Oregon legacy recruit out of Oregon to pick UW over Stanford ... in the end, there's a good chance that we'll still end up with a strong class here and possible that we'll get a couple of 4-star plus players here ... but it's going to be way more of a tough sledding environment than what we've been used to ... our depth here is pretty good in that we can get away with a relatively lackluster class although safety depth could be an eventual issue ... this will be an area where Pete really needs to get the Lake replacement right
TL, DR Summary: It's not the end of the world in this class but we have a lot working against us ... the two positions where we have the most need are met with a lack of quality quantity on the West Coast combined with our two most unproven recruiters (Huff and Malloe) ... it's possible that Lake's ambition (can't argue with it) could be a massive albatross for us this year -
That's what every dude I've ever been with has said.Swaye said:
I like what you wrote here, just wished it could have been a bit more in depth. And longer.Tequilla said:@Dennis_DeYoung hit on many of the points that I was going to add to regarding how difficult the class will be this year ... I'll still put the over/under at 8 for 4 star kids or better ... but the challenges are going to be vast ...
QB: Doesn't matter because we have Sirmon in position ... at this point it may be beneficial to not have any issues with Babushka until AFTER the early signing period to not upset the apple cart (not that I expect Sirmon to go anywhere else anyway) ...
RB: Boner Popper is an average to above average recruiter but the need for us this year at the position isn't vast ... we need 1, at most 2 ... but our depth at the position isn't bad and definitely passable in 2018 without anything of note this year ... it will put the pressure on for a top tier (at minimum) RB in the 2019 class if we have a relative miss here this year (again, not the end of the world if we miss here)
WR: In theory we still have a strong need here (will take 2 to 3) and this is coupled with this being a position of strength on the West Coast this class PLUS what's likely a Top 3 recruiter on our staff ... we should expect good results.
TE: This is another year where we can expect 1 to 2 TEs on our roster to come through here ... given that we rely so much on 2 TEs I don't have a problem with us recruiting decent numbers here particularly when you consider that IF you have the right TEs on your roster they are massive matchup problems for a defense. We listed a number of reasons on the pod for why it is reasonable to think that we should land Cupp (potential matchup issue) and the TE out of California who is really good IF healthy (which I think he will end up showing that he recovered from his massive Achilles injury) ... I don't pay enough attention to know what the 2019 class is looking like but this could be a situation where we "buy forward" on our TE depth and then more or less skip the position in 2019 if needed ... also important to keep in mind that someone like Cade Otton could end up being switched back over to defense if needed
OL: This is where the misses of Strausser's past are going to haunt us given that the 2018 class is HORRIBLE on the West Coast and the OL hire that we made has NEVER successfully recruited guys at the level that we need to be recruiting guys ... IF we miss on the top tier of recruits in this class we're going to be looking primarily at recruiting JAGs that will cycle through the depth ... Huff basically has this class and next where he MUST find at least 3-4 premium prospects on the OL ... the risk (however small it may be) that BOTH Adams and McGary leave early after this season is the definition of worst case scenario for the UW program
DL: For as much as Huff is in a PROVE IT mode from a recruiting standpoint, Malloe isn't that far behind. However sneaky, dirty, corrupt, and pathetic the SC sales job on Marlon Tui was, it is IMPOSSIBLE to not see that Malloe was caught with his pants down regarding the whole thing. As DDY mentioned, and can't be stated enough, for a guy in Malloe that coached in Utah and is Poly himself, to not even be able to get a visit out of Jay Tuefele is damning ... like the OL this isn't the strongest year on the West Coast ... we have a bit of a gift that one of the stronger DL recruits on the West Coast is in Idaho which should be relatively favorable to us ... can Malloe close here? Malloe's also apparently trying to expand our presence back into Hawaii ... will that deliver results this year?
Outside LBs: As DDY mentioned, it looks like Kwiatkowski is looking at a wider net trying to get more elite edge rushers into the program ... we'll see how that plays out. He's probably one of the right guys on our staff to be making that effort on given his stability combined with identifiable results. I'm not going to knock the process or strategy until we see it play out ... if we go back to this point a couple of years ago would Levi even been on our radar of being able to pull out of Texas? Given our depth chart here, it's not the end of the world if we don't hit a homerun here in this class ... could this be a situation where Kwiatkowski is laying a foundation for the 2019 class?
Inside LBs: Really helpful that we've already got Jack Sirmon lined up ... we lose a lot in the middle after this year and need to refill. There's a lot of strong prospects available to us here and the hope is that we'll be able to land a really good player just by process of elimination. Gregory is a solid but not necessarily spectacular recruiter. Like the balance of our program, he will recruit well with players where solid but not necessarily spectacular speaks to.
DBs: By far the most intriguing part of our recruiting class for me. In a vacuum, there's no reason to think that we won't end up with a good class because of Lake. There is evidence that things may be more of a challenge this time around. We probably were short 1 DB in last year's class ... Lake's flirtation with taking the Cal DC job can be used against him on the recruiting trail ... Lake's eventual leaving could gut the current class (why it will be imperative that we get a lot of guys before the early signing day locked up and in BEFORE Lake leaves ... the Kyler Murphy situation is really telling because prior to this year what were the odds that Stanford would beat us for an IN-STATE DB prospect ... hell Lake got an Oregon legacy recruit out of Oregon to pick UW over Stanford ... in the end, there's a good chance that we'll still end up with a strong class here and possible that we'll get a couple of 4-star plus players here ... but it's going to be way more of a tough sledding environment than what we've been used to ... our depth here is pretty good in that we can get away with a relatively lackluster class although safety depth could be an eventual issue ... this will be an area where Pete really needs to get the Lake replacement right
TL, DR Summary: It's not the end of the world in this class but we have a lot working against us ... the two positions where we have the most need are met with a lack of quality quantity on the West Coast combined with our two most unproven recruiters (Huff and Malloe) ... it's possible that Lake's ambition (can't argue with it) could be a massive albatross for us this year
-
I'm #blessed I get a shoutout every show as one of the 20 listeners.
