Huskies

The latest news and analysis on the Montlake Dawgs.

UW coach Steve Sarkisian had some interesting things to say today during an interview on the Portland radio station 1080 The Fan on a show co-hosted by Josh Wilcox, brother of UW defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox.

Here’s a link to the podcast.

Here are a few of the more noteworthy things he said:

— Asked about the status of Austin Seferian-Jenkins, he said the investigation is continuing (in fact, no decision  yet from the Seattle City Attorney’s office and it could still  be a few more weeks). However, he said he met with Seferian-Jenkins “again this morning” and that “he seems to be in a good place and is already starting to take the steps” that need to be taken to “earn his way back onto our roster, which is encouraging to me.”

— Asked about Shaq Thompson playing baseball, he said Thompson will be with the Red Sox right now for “about 10 days” and will return for the rest of spring ball and then go back down in the summer. He said he has no concerns with Thompson juggling both and that “it’s a commitment he made to baseball and we agreed to that.”

— Asked to assess the offense so far he said he’s been pleased with UW being able to be more explosive in both the running game and the passing game and that “Keith (Price) is playing at a high level for us right now.” He also cited basically all of the tailbacks as well as Kasen Williams, saying Williams “looks better than ever, which is big for us in our offense.”

— In elaborating on Price, he reiterated what has been said earlier about Price doing more weight work on his legs this off-season in contrast to last year when they took an approach “to keep him fresh.” He said he thinks because of that, Price “lost some explosiveness” with his legs, noting that in 2011 so many of the big plays Price made were scrambling to find open receivers and create plays down field. “That didn’t happen last season so we’ve made an emphasis to get his lower half as explosive as it can be, and we are seeing that.”

— He also said he thinks it has helped Price “having Marques (Tuiasosopo) back” and that it was a natural fit to move Eric Kiesau back to receivers and that “the continuity of our offensive staff has been really good and I think that’s helped Keith.”

— He also talked about the receiver spot and cited the return to health of James Johnson and Kevin Smith and the emergence of Kendyl Taylor and Jaydon Mickens and the addition  this fall of the three receivers UW signed in February and that “it’s a position we think will be one of strength for us come the fall.”

— He also talked about the lines and said the OL has shown improvement so far with so many players returning from last year and contrasted that to the defensive line where he said “we are a little bit young right now and that’s one of our bigger struggles on the defensive side of the ball  is getting that depth and going against an offensive line that has that depth right now.”