Huskies

The ubiquitous Tweet of “Woof” from UW coach Steve Sarkisian earlier today was the tipoff that the Huskies had landed another commit.

A little while later, tight end Chase Blakley of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho confirmed he was the one who had committed via Twitter:

Just committed to the University of Washington!! #UDUB #dawgs #WOOF

— Chase Blakley (@chase_blake208) May 14, 2013

Blakley is rated three stars by Scout.com and four stars by Rivals.com.

The 6-4, 215-pound Blakley caught 51 passes for 598 yards and seven touchdowns last season (full stats here).

He is the fourth known commit for UW’s Class of 2013, joining defensive ends Don Hill (Boise, Idaho) and Tui Talia (Diablo Valley, Calif., CC) and receiver Rahshead Johnson of Long Beach.

You can watch some video of Blakley here, courtesy of hudl.com.

It’s been a little while since we’ve posted some links here. So let’s catch up a bit. …

— Bud Withers reviews UW’s spring as part of his series looking at all 12 Pac-12 teams;

— The ESPN Pac-12 blog has UW fifth in its post-spring power ratings;

— The ESPN Pac-12 blog also has this wrapup of UW’s spring;

— Withers also wrote recently about the growing trend to limit contact in spring practice;

— SaturdayBlitz calls Keith Price one of the 15 most  pivotal QBs in the country for 2013;

— Jon Wilner has Kasen Williams, Austin Seferian-Jenkins and Shaq Thompson on his All-Pac-12 first team, and a few other Huskies listed  on other teams;

— PacificTakes looks at the worst Pac-12 non-conference games of the year;

— AzCentral reviews the Pac-12 following spring ball.

Two former Huskies have reportedly signed free agent contracts — safety Justin Glenn with the Kansas City Chiefs and fullback Jonathan Amosa with the Packers.

Here’s a Tweet about Glenn’s signing:

Congratulations to Justin Glenn! Signed with the @kcchiefs! WOOF!bit.ly/1273no4 @j_gleez twitter.com/UW_Football/st…

— UW Football (@UW_Football) May 13, 2013

Glenn participated in a tryout with the Chiefs over the weekend and is thought to intrigue the team for his special teams ability as well as his play in the secondary.

Amosa, meanwhile, also signed with the Packers after a weekend tryout. Here’s a story with details.

A couple quick  things to pass along today. …

— It was announced that UW’s game in Chicago against Illinois will begin at 3 p.m. Pacific Time and will be shown on the Big Ten Network. That is the only UW game at the moment that has a TV designation  and kickoff time.

— UW coach Steve Sarkisian participated in a Pac-12 media conference call today. There was no big news, but he did say Austin Seferian-Jenkins continues to do the things needed to eventually return to the team, once the legal process has cleared up. And he said all injured players remain on track to be able to return to practice in the fall.

Reports are breaking this afternoon that UW has gotten a commitment for the Class  of 2014 from tight end Don Hill of Timberline High in Boise.

Timberline High DE Don Hill has committed to Washington. He also had offers from Idaho, Washington State, Boise State, Utah and Wyoming.

— Varsity Extra (@IDS_VarsityX) May 3, 2013

The 6-4, 225-pounder is rated three stars by Scout.com. He also plays defensive end, as can be seen in some video here from Hudl.com.

Here is the Idaho Statesman story on Hill.

He also had offers from the likes of Boise State and Utah.

He is the third known commit for  the Class of 2014, joining junior college defensive end Tui Talia of Diablo Valley, Calif.; and receiver Rahshead Johnson of Long Beach.

247Sports also has a story on Hill.

And if anyone needed further confirmation that Hill had committed, there was this Tweet today from UW coach Steve Sarkisian:

Woof, woof, woof!!!

— Steve Sarkisian (@CoachSark) May 3, 2013

And there was also this from Marques Tuiasosopo (the JW an apparent reference to Justin Wilcox):

#bowdown putting in work JW!!#letthedawgsloose

— Marques Tuiasosopo (@therealTUI) May 3, 2013

We’ll start today with some interesting thoughts from Bud Withers on the idea of the Pac-12 playing eight conference games instead of nine,  a topic about which — as Withers explains — there was some internet buzz in the last few days.

As Withers notes, while coaches are pretty much in agreement they’d rather play just eight, creating an easier path to bowl games and undefeated seasons, athletic directors have always wanted nine for two main reasons — finances (for most schools, the one more conference game will bring in a lot more money than whatever non-conference game they could  get) and wanting to keep alive as many traditional rivalries as possible after expanding to 12 teams.

And as Withers notes, there may have been a lot more smoke than fire to the rumblings of a philosophy change by the conference on this topic.

IN OTHER NEWS. …

— Dr. Saturday lists Austin Seferian-Jenkins as one of five players who may have the  most on the line next year in terms of the 2014 NFL Draft.

— The NCAA put the new, relaxed recruiting rules on hold Thursday.

— ESPN.com’s Ted Miller with good stuff on the Pac-12′s views of the playoff system.

— And the Pac-12 blog looks at some of the top  conference prospects for the 2014 draft.

— Finally, Withers also reviews the springs of USC and UCLA.

It’s time to announce some more personal news in this space —I am changing jobs at the Seattle Times and will now cover the Seahawks, helping to replace the great Danny O’Neil, who left recently for a gig at 710 ESPN Seattle.

I wasn’t necessarily looking to change beats here. But it is something lots of others have done at the paper, covering one team for a while, and then another.

I’ve covered Washington football since 1997, having attended every single game the Huskies have played in that time (even the 1998 O’ahu Bowl, which was attended by maybe 572 people). It was a really fun run — no matter what school you attend, for a sports journalist any major college beat is a great gig and I really enjoyed it, and the people I met along the way. It’ll be weird not going there every day in the fall, and not heading to Eugene and Tucson and every other Pac-12 outpost.

But it felt like time for a new challenge.

You can be assured the Times will make a great hire to fill this space, and as for me I will just be a couple clicks over.

The switch doesn’t officially happen for a few weeks yet, so I plan to come back to this space with some final thoughts on the last 16 years of UW football.

And as always, thanks for reading.

With spring football growing ever further into the rearview mirror, time to look at five key questions that still face the Huskies as they enter the heart of the off-season. …

1, Who will play free safety? Fifth-year senior Will Shamburger  is the obvious candidate, entering the spring atop the depth chart after starting last season there, as well, before the now-departed Justin Glenn took over. But UW defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox said consistently throughout the spring that there was no real depth chart for the secondary and that the job would likely remain open deep into fall camp. That obviously indicates Shamburger did not close the door on the deal and some of the other players competing in the secondary — guys like Tre Watson, Brandon Beaver, Trevor Walker and Taz Stevenson — will be given every chance to win the job.

2, Is Keith Price really back? If you read this space regularly last year, you know my take was always that Price’s success in 2011 was helped great by the personnel he had around him, and that his struggles last year were also influenced greatly by the issues of some of the personnel he had around him. So assessing Price is also an assessment of the offense. As such, Price is well-positioned for a rebound — as appeared evident with his play for most of the spring — as the UW offense appears better-constructed this season, with a veteran offensive line, a proven running back, proven elite talents at WR (Kasen Williams) and TE (Austin Seferian-Jenkins) and some highly-touted young receivers coming in to bolster the depth at that spot. Price’s skill set also seems a good match for the move to more up-tempo, no-huddle offense. So yes, there’s a good chance Price will  be back in 2013 — with a lot of help from his friends.

3, Is the offensive line set? It was easy to assume there might be a lot of shuffling on the line during the spring, given the struggles it had throughout the 2012 season. Instead, the starting five appeared the same throughout the spring — left tackle Micah Hatchie, left guard Dexter Charles, center Mike Criste, right guard James Atoe and right tackle Ben Riva. Hatchie, Charles and Riva were all 2012 starters, so it made sense they would enter the spring at the same spot. Each then held on to that spot throughout, appearing to solidify themselves for good at those positions for 2013. Criste from RG to center to take over for the graduated Drew Schaefer, with Atoe taking over for Criste. Criste, in particular, appeared to make the position his own and may be hard to unseat even when the likes of Erik Kohler, Colin Tanigawa and Shane Brostek get fully healthy for the fall. Kohler and Tanigawa are each returning starters attempting to come back from knee injuries, and their health will likely determine how quickly and seriously they can contend for starting jobs. For now, though, UW a pretty set starting five entering the fall.

4, Will all  of the players who sat out the spring be back in the fall? The list of potentially big contributors who sat out the spring is long, including DE Hau’olia Jamora, DT Lawrence Lagafuaina, DE Pio Vatuvei, RBs Jesse Callier and Deontae Cooper, LB Travis Feeney, and the aforementioned Tanigawa. The good news is that UW coach Steve Sarkisian said following the spring game that none have suffered any setbacks in rehab and all appear on course to returning in the fall. That doesn’t mean the expectation should be that they all are immediately 100 percent full-go on the first day of fall camp — that would be unrealistic and players such as Jamora and Cooper, who have suffered multiple knee injuries and been out for multiple seasons, will have a long road to travel  to get back to where they were — expectations should be tempered for what they can contribute until they are back on the field and contributing. But the good news for now, based on Sarkisian’s comment, is that all  should be able to at least give it a go this fall.

5, Will Austin Seferian-Jenkins miss any games this season? As the legal update on ASJ published earlier this week on the blog shows, it is still not known what criminal punishment he will receive for his March DUI arrest. So how much he will  be punished by the school won’t likely be determined until that process is finished (though that doesn’t mean it will be made public). Given the nature of the crime, assuming he is found guilty, it’s hard to imagine he wouldn’t miss a game or two. But for now, it remains conjecture.

A few  links to pass along this morning. …

— We’ll start with this Q-and-A with UW coach Steve Sarkisian from the ESPN.com blog. Sarkisian says his confidence level  in  Keith Price is high, that Bishop Sankey had a 3.8 GPA and that Cleveland Wallace is one to watch this fall;

— Jon Wilner examines recent NFL Draft/Pac-12 draft trends;

— NFL.com looks at 30 top prospects for the 2014 Draft, with a few Pac-12 players included (no Huskies, though you’d figure Austin Seferian-Jenkins could easily work his way onto that list, as well);

— The way-too-early Top 25 of ESPN’s Mark Schlabach has Oregon third and Stanford fifth;

— Bud Withers review of Pac-12 spring football camps continues with Arizona;

— PacificTakes looks at the 10 most interesting Pac-12 games this season, though none include UW;

— ESPN with some notes about Stanford’s post-spring depth chart.

Here is the latest on the legal situation facing UW tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins, who was charged earlier this month with misdemeanor DUI.

A spokesman for the Seattle City Attorney’s Office says Seferian-Jenkins was arraigned on April 18, entering a not guilty plea while the court found probable cause. Bail was set at $1,000 and he was ordered to abstain, not drive without a valid license and insurance, not drive without an IID (an ignition interlock device), have no criminal law violations and not refuse a valid request for a blood or breath test.

The case was set for a pretrial hearing on May 20.