Huskies

The latest news and analysis on the Montlake Dawgs.

A few notes worth passing along tonight, including that I will hold a live chat Friday at noon. I haven’t had a chance to hold a chat since the bowl  game with the holidays and other stuff, and while it’s not our usual day, wanted to get a chat in this week.

Now for a few other links and notes. …

— Much of this has already been covered on the blog. But here’s a UW notebook with various items that runs in the Friday paper.

— Mason Kelley of Husky Nation  has a really nice story on UW commit Elijah Qualls (it is an Insider story, just to clarify) that details how Qualls overcame a tough upbringing to end up as one of the top football recruits on the West Coast.

— Here’s another ESPN Insider piece that leads off with a note on DE Joe Mathis of Upland, Calif., who will announce his decision at the U.S. Army game Saturday. Mathis has been thought leaning toward UW. And maybe it’s just to keep the suspense, but he says in this story that he remains undecided, also considering UCLA, Alabama and USC. He says in the story that he is considering them all evenly. Interestingly, three of the coaches he says are handling his recruiting have UW ties — Tosh Lupoi for UW, Doug Nussmeier for Alabama and Demetrice Martin for UCLA.

— OL Na’Ty Rodgers, who is considering UW, had been expected to announce his decision Friday but Tweeted Thursday night that he will not wait a little while  longer.

— Scout.com among those reporting that UW will get a visit from USC LB commit Michael  Hutchings.

— Oregon won the Fiesta Bowl Thursday night, making the Pac-12 4-4 in bowl games, and 2-0 in BCS bowls, both by teams in the Pac-12 North, and each with redshirt freshman QBs, which speaks to the strength of the division and the challenge faced by UW to get back to the top. Obviously, though,  lots could change at Oregon with Chip Kelly possibly interviewing with a number of NFL teams. USA Today reported Thursday Oregon will name offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich as its new coach if Kelly leaves. That’s worked for Oregon in the past as both Kelly and Mike Bellotti were offensive coordinators that ascended to the head coaching job.