SEATTLE — Marcus Peters has spoken in the past of last season’s disappointing finish, and how it stuck with the Washington Huskies during offseason workouts.
Now, those workouts might end up being the reason Peters, a sophomore cornerback, and his teammates finish this season with a different feeling.
Their preparation prior to last year’s Las Vegas Bowl, which the Huskies lost to Boise State, was lacking, Peters said. Conditioning was part of the problem.
“They ran up-tempo at the start of the game, and we weren’t really prepared for that,” Peters said. “This year, we just want to make sure we’re prepared for everything. We’re studying film real hard and we’ve just been working hard throughout the week of preparation. We just want to go out so there’s no lumps in our game plan.”
This year’s Fight Hunger Bowl opponent, Brigham Young, will operate at the same offensive speed, but the Cougars will do so with a more physical front.
“They have Stanford’s offensive line, and (Arizona State’s) playbook,” Peters said. “It’s going to be a real fast game, but a physical game at that.”
BYU (8-4) ranks 14th in the country in total offense, and is one of just four teams to run 1,000 or more plays in 12 games this season.
Interim coach Marques Tuiasosopo said UW and BYU are “close” in terms of style of play, though the Cougars feature a few more veteran players.
The Huskies practiced longer on Tuesday than they had in previous bowl-week preparations. Tuiasosopo said afterward that they’re treating this week’s practices as if it were game week. Their final practice in Seattle is Thursday, and the team departs for San Francisco on Sunday.
“The excitement builds by day, and these guys have done a great job of plugging through,” Tuiasosopo said. “We had another good one today. It wasn’t perfect, but Tuesdays aren’t perfect. So we’ll correct them and come back for tomorrow.”
New assistant coach?
According to CoachingSearch.com, former Florida offensive coordinator Brent Pease will join the staff of new UW coach Chris Petersen. The report doesn’t specify Pease’s role. No official announcements have been made by UW in regard to any new assistants since Petersen was hired last week.
Pease was fired by Florida after the Gators stumbled to a 4-8 record this season, their first losing season since 1979. Florida’s offense was depleted by a handful of injuries to key players, including the Gators’ top two quarterbacks.
Pease was an assistant under Petersen from 2006-2011 at Boise State, and was the team’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2011. Prior to that, he coached receivers. He was Florida’s offensive coordinator for two seasons under coach Will Muschamp.
UW’s current offensive coordinator is Eric Kiesau.
Huskies add another recruit
After two players made oral commitments Monday to play for Washington, another recruit announced Tuesday that he plans to do the same.
Joseph “JoJo” McIntosh, a 6-foot-1, 180-pound safety prospect from Chaminade College Prep in West Hills, Calif., told several recruiting outlets that he intends to play for the Huskies after being previously “committed” to UCLA.
McIntosh was previously recruited by Petersen at Boise State. Scout.com ranks McIntosh as a three-star recruit, and the No. 34 safety prospect in the 2014 recruiting class.
The Huskies now have eight known oral commitments for the class of 2014, according to Scout.com. Quarterback Jalen Greene (Gardena, Calif.) and defensive back Darren Gardenhire (Long Beach, Calif.) made public their commitments to Washington on Monday.
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