| HeraldNet - Snohomish County's online news source |
 TUESDAY, MAY 13, 2008 9:31 am |
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• Calling all songwriters May 9 • Notre Dame/Oklahoma game times set May 2 • Woodward announcement coming today May 1 • UW Coaches Tour starts this week, comes to Everett on May 19 April 29 • Gold wins spring game April 26 |
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• Husky Marching Band • pac-10 • Sports Washington • University of Washington athletics |
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• Kelly Foster is back where she belongs May 3 • Ex-Husky McCormack transferring to UConn May 2 • UW interim athletic director is not a candidate for full-time position May 1 • Players from around the state catch on with NFL teams April 30 • Huskies' coaches, players encouraged after low-scoring spring game April 27 • Plenty of questions to answer April 26 • UW's Garcia chooses rehab for foot injury instead of surgery April 25 • Tough decision awaits for Huskies' Garcia -- surgery or not? April 23 • UW's Garcia has Lisfranc sprain April 22 • UW women's basketball team loses another player April 20 |
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Calling all songwriters The UW is looking for a new Song of Washington, and is offering a $1,000 prize to the winner. You can enter here on the UW website. ... [Read More] E-mail | Print | Comment NEW!
Notre Dame/Oklahoma game times set Washington’s home games against Oklahoma and Notre Dame will both be on national TV, and times have been set for the two non-conference contests. The Huskies’ Sept. 13 game against Oklahoma will be on ESPN and kick off at 4:45 p.m. The Huskies play Notre Dame Oct. 25 at 5 p.m. That game will be on either ABC, ESPN or ESPN2. ... [Read More] E-mail | Print | Comment NEW!
Woodward announcement coming today Scott Woodward, who has been the UW's athletic director since Todd Turner resigned on Jan. 31, is going to have a teleconference this afternoon to announce whether he will throw his hat into the ring to be the school's permanent AD He has said in the past that he is leaning towards going for the AD job, but there is also a chance he will tell us today that he wants to stay at his current position, VP of External Affairs. Be back later with more when we hear something. ... [Read More] E-mail | Print | Comment NEW!
UW Coaches Tour starts this week, comes to Everett on May 19 The 37th UW Coaches Tour kicks off Thursday at Fircrest Golf Club in Tacoma. There are seven tour stops between then and June 12, including a May 19 stop at the Everett Golf & Country Club. Each stop consists of a golf tournament and Husky Insider Banquet, where, according to a UW Alumni Association release, "Dawg fans of all ages can rub elbows with Husky coaches and get the inside scoop on everything purple and gold." Football coach Tyrone Willingham, men's basketball coach Lorenzo Romar, and women's basketball coach Tia Jackson all take part in the Coaches Tour, a regional scholarship fundraiser presented by the UW Alumni Association and the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics. You can sign up here for the Everett event or any of the other seven on the tour. ... [Read More] E-mail | Print | Comment NEW!
Gold wins spring game The gold team held of the purple squad in today's spring game. As I said before, purple went ahead 7-3 in the third quarter on a Jake Locker touchdown pass to D'Andre Goodwin, but gold answered back with a touchdown drive that was capped by a 13-yard touchdown pass from Ronnie Fouch to Devin Aguilar. Puple missed a pair of long field goal attempts on its final two possessions (with Ronnie subbing in for Locker). Locker looked sharp other than his first-half interception, completing 13 of 17 attempts for 159 yards. Taking snaps for both teams, Fouch threw the ball well also, completing 16 of 33 attempts (a lot of those misses were drops). D'Andre Goodwin, who has been talked about all spring as an emerging leader of the receivers, had a big day with seven catches for 109 yards. Chris Polk, one of the most talked about players this spring, had four catches for 25 yards and five carries for 20. Willie Griffin was the game's leading rusher with 71 yards on 20 carries. ... [Read More] E-mail | Print | Comment NEW! Hey, a touchdown The Purple squad just went up 7-3 on an 11-yard Jake Locker touchdown pass to D'Andre Goodwin. That play capped an 80-drive on which Locker was 7 for 7 passing. ... [Read More] E-mail | Print | Comment NEW! Spring game halftime update Not much offense in the first half of today's offense. The teams are divided up, for the most part, as first-string offense with second-string defense (purple) against second-string offense and first-string defense (gold, though they're wearing white. It's so confusing). After two quarters, the gold/white leads purple 3-0 on a 39-yard Cory Rutkowski field goal that bounced off the left upright (couldn't tell from up in the press box if he called bank, sorry). Jake Locker started off throwing the ball well for the purple and is 6 for 10 for 94 yards. He under threw Curtis Shaw on a long pass attempt late the half and the throw was picked off by Quinton Richardson. With Locker off limits to contact and therefore not running much, the purple squad hasn't gotten much of a running game going. Brandon Johnson and Brandon Yakaboski each have 10 yards on three carries. D'Andre Goodwin in the game's leading receiver right now with four catches for 60 yards. Willie Griffin has seven carries for 23 yards for the white squad and Ronnie Fouch is 5 for 12 passing for 23 yards. ... [Read More] E-mail | Print | Comment NEW!
Garcia hoping for "The Last Comeback" Juan Garcia has already come back from season-ending leg and shoulder injuries in his Washington career, and now he's hoping to make, as he put it, "the last comeback" in order to get back next season from the Lisfranc injury he suffered last Friday. Garcia will have the cast taken off his foot on May 23, and at that point doctors expect to be able to tell if the tendons in his foot are healing enough that he won't need surgery. Garcia said that if that happens--doctors have told him there's a 60 percent chance it won't--then he could be back early in the season. If after a month the foot isn't healing on it's own, however, Garcia will almost certainly be out for the entire season. "I went for the miracle healing," he said. "That’s what I’m calling it right now. I’ve been joking around that I have no religion. I believe in all religions. There’s got to be one that works. "It’s all or nothing I guess. Four weeks, and if it shows signs of healing, we’ll rehab it and see if I can come back. If not, that’s the end of that." Garcia said he ultimately decided to go against surgery because he wanted a shot at having an impact next season. He figured that if he had surgery now, any comeback late in the season would be mostly symbolic. "I want to wear the uniform one last time, and I want it to be meaningful," he said. "I don’t want to wear it just to say bye. I actually want to make a difference and help the team out." Garcia said fans have been a big help. The school set up a page on gohuskies.com where fans can send well wishes to Garcia. He said reading those messages have given him hope and brought him to tears. "I was overwhelmed," he said. "I take peeks at it here and there, but they just tear me up. I read it and didn’t realize how much people care about me. I read the messages I’ve gotten, and that’s one of the things that’s helped me get through this. I was like, ‘People really love me and they enjoyed watching me play.’ It made me really proud to be a Husky." "I just wanted to say thanks for them, they really helped me get through this one. That’s one of the reasons I’m still hanging in there. I was thinking when I got injured that this is it. I’ll just finish out this year and go on with my life, but after seeing that, it gave me hope. You know what, let’s just fight it one more time. I call it the last comeback." ... [Read More] E-mail | Print | Comment NEW! A couple of offseason hoops notes A few of us ran into men's basketball coach Lorenzo Romar at today's football practice, and amidst conversations about Muhammad Ali (the coach was shuffling his feet and bouncing up and down to stay warm, leading to him bringing up the boxing legend) free throws (it just had to come up) and football, Romar gave us a couple of quick offseason updates. Artem Wallace, who had surgery earlier this month to repair a torn ACL, is making good progress, Romar reported, and is walking without crutches, though with a noticeable limp (he hobbled past the media room yesterday). The hope is that Wallace will return in time for the start of practice Freshman forward Matthew Bryan-Amaning will be gone for some of the summer while trying to make England's national team. If he does make the team, he could be gone into September, which would cause him to miss some voluntary workouts, but get him back in time for practice in October. ... [Read More] E-mail | Print | Comment NEW! Garcia will try rehab for foot injury We haven't heard from Juan Garcia yet, but we're hoping to a little later this afternoon, but word from a school official is that Garcia is going to wait a month to see if his Lisfranc injury starts to heal on his own rather than have surgery right away. As I wrote the other day, doctor's have told Garcia that there is a 60 percent chance it won't heal on it's own, but waiting and hoping rehab works is his best shot at getting back in time to have a meaningful impact this season. I'll come back with more if we hear from Garcia. ... [Read More] E-mail | Print | Comment NEW!
A chance for fans to send their well wishes to Garcia The UW has set up a page on its website where Husky fans can send a message of support to Juan Garcia. Here's a link to the page on gohuskies.com. ... [Read More] E-mail | Print | Comment NEW! Hasty Suspended Tyrone Willingham announced today that tailback J.R. Hasty has been suspended from the team. Hasty, who was kept off the field for the first two weeks of spring practice for failing to "living up to the responsibilities of the team," returned to the team last week, but was absent from Monday's practice. "J.R. has been suspended from the team," Willingham said. "His status, as it stands for the spring game, he will probably not play. And I have not made a final decision of what his status will be with the football team." ... [Read More] E-mail | Print | Comment NEW! Garcia not optimistic about next season Juan Garcia met with the media today to talk about his injury, and he didn't sound too optimistic about his chances of playing next season. Garcia, Washington's staring center the last two seasons, suffered a Lisfranc injury last Friday, and had an MRI and CAT scan this week that hasn't painted a great picture for his UW future. Garcia's injury is similar to the one suffered by quarterback Isaiah Stanback, though not as severe. Although as an offesive lineman who carries a lot of weight and spends games pushing on other big guys, Garcia said the injury "might as well be" as bad. One option is to wait about four weeks and see if the injury heals on its own. If that works (doctors told Garcia there is a 60 percent chance it won't) he said he will still miss the first few games of the season, probably returning in October. If after four weeks the injury isn't healing, he will then have to have surgery and will miss the whole season. Garcia said he can also have surgery right away and possibly come back at the very end of the season. Though he admits if he does do that the return will more likely be a symbolic one. "Maybe I'll go for the surgery so I can say goodbye to the fans," he said. "Maybe for the last game I could come in for a play or two or something like that and at least say I'm a Husky." ... [Read More] E-mail | Print | Comment NEW!
Garcia has Lisfranc injury Word today from Tyrone Willingham is that center Juan Garcia has a Lisfranc sprain in his left foot. Willingham said Garcia's knee appears to be OK (we were originally told it was a knee and ankle injury), but would not speculate on how long Garcia would be out with this injury until Garcia can meet with a specialist. If that injury sounds familiar to Husky fans it's because quarterback Isaiah Stanback suffered a similar injury two seasons ago against Oregon State. His injury required surgery and ended his season, though again, Willingham didn't give a timetable other than to say that Garcia is done for the spring, and did not know yet whether or not Garcia would need surgery. Another interesting bit of news from Willingham today is that Mesphin Forrester, a starting safety last season, has been spending time at practice playing cornerback as well. Willingham didn't go so far as to say that Forrester had switched positions for good, but if he does stay there, that would be the second safety, along with Quinton Richardson, who redshirted last season, to move to cornerback. ... [Read More] E-mail | Print | Comment NEW!
Juan Garcia update Not much new on Juan Garcia's injury Saturday. As I wrote about in Friday's paper, Garcia suffered a leg injury in practice and had to be carted off the field. Word from the school Saturday was that Garcia suffered an ankle and knee injury to his left leg, and will have an MRI Monday. I'll check back in Monday once we know something more. ... [Read More] E-mail | Print | Comment NEW! Another women's basketball player to transfer Add freshman Kali Bennett to the list of players leaving the Washington women's basketball program. Bennett is the fourth member of the Huskies' six-person recruiting class to leave. Candice Nichols left just before the start of the season, Jess McCormack left late in the season, and leading scorer Katelan Redmon announced her decision to leave at the end of the season. All of Washington's freshmen were recruited by June Daugherty, who was fired last spring. Monroe grad Sarh Morton and Seattle native Mackenzie Argens are the two remaining members of the 2007 recruiting class. Dominique Banks, who redshirted during her senior season because of injury, has also decided not to come back for her fifth year. Banks will graduate in the spring, and said she was ready to move on to live after basketball. I talked to Banks yesterday and she said that the new coaching staff had absolutely nothing to do with her decision to not use her final year of eligibility. Here's a statement from Bennett that the school just released: “This is probably the hardest decision I have ever had to make. My choice to leave UW has been a struggle but I know it is in my best interest. Although UW is an amazing school, basketball-wise I do not feel like this program can make me the player I've envisioned myself becoming. I think that the hardest aspect to overcome is leaving my teammates. They have become like sisters and I have so much love for them. Although it has been very difficult for me to come to this decision, I know that I need to find another school that will help me to become the player that I aspire to be.” And here's the release on Bennett from the school: Bennett To Transfer From UW Women’s Basketball Team SEATTLE – Washington freshman center Kali Bennett has decided to leave the Husky women’s basketball team and transfer to another institution, university officials announced Saturday. "We are saddened that another Husky has decided that her journey into adulthood and in the world of basketball needed to continue away from the University of Washington and our women's basketball program,” head coach Tia Jackson said. “We are building and developing a championship culture here at Washington and we want everyone who signs on to be aware of the level of commitment that championship basketball requires. We will band together as a team and build on the successes and lessons we learned over the past year. I will never deny anyone the chance to determine where they will pursue their athletic and academic goals because it is my desire that at the end of the day every student-athlete has the opportunity to enjoy their intercollegiate experience. We wish Kali our very best in the next step of her life, with hopes that she ultimately reaches all the goals she has set for herself." Bennett, a native of Ventura, Calif., came off the bench in all but one game this past season, averaging 4.9 points and 3.0 rebounds. She shared the team lead in blocked shots (15) and was named to squad’s Most Improved Player at the season-end banquet. ... [Read More] E-mail | Print | Comment NEW!
Juan Garcia suffers leg injury in practice A school spokesman just informed us that center Juan Garcia had to be carted off from practice moments ago after suffering an undisclosed injury to his left leg. The injury happened on a goal-line play on which Garcia ended up at the bottom of a pile. Practice was stopped and Garcia was down for about 10 minutes before trainers put an air cast on his leg and took him away on a golf cart. He is being evaluated now, but we may not hear anything more today. Obviously if we do hear anything I'll check back in here. Garcia missed the 2004 season after suffering a dislocated ankle and a broken fibula on his left leg in the spring of 2004. ... [Read More] E-mail | Print | Comment NEW! Huskies short handed at tailback for today's scrimmage The UW is about to hold a scrimmage this afternoon. It's too bad this one is closed to the media, because it would have been interesting to see how the Huskies handle the tailback position today with a lack of depth. Brandon Johnson, who injured his ankle and knee Tuesday, sounds like he'll likely be out again, and Brandon Yakaboski, who suffered a minor neck sprain, is also going to be out. Yakaboski said his injury is minor and he plans to be back Monday. During his briefing with the press, Tyrone Willingham suggested that today might be a day for the fullbacks to get a few extra carries, something they certainly will enjoy. ... [Read More] E-mail | Print | Comment NEW!
Thursday practice update Not a whole lot to see in the little bit of time we were out there, but it's worth noting that Brandon Johnson, as expected, did not participate. He showed a definite limp while jogging at the start of practice and did not go through any other drills. In other injury news, Tyrone Willingham said today that Darin Harris (knee) is back on a limited basis, but not fully back, while Jordan Murchison is still limited by his ankle injury. The good news for the Huskies is that linebacker Donald Butler, whose knee was a problem last year, has so far been able to practice full time this spring without problems. ... [Read More] E-mail | Print | Comment NEW! Tailback Brandon Johnson injured Tyrone Willingham announced today that tailback Brandon Johnson, the leader this spring to win the starting job, suffered some sort of knee and ankle injury during Tuesday's practice. "He did a little bit to his ankle, did a little bit to his knee the other day, but I don’t think it’s anything that will be threatening in terms of the season," Willingham said. Willingham said Johnson was day to day, and didn't know how much, if at all, he will participate in the rest of spring practice, which concludes April 26 with the spring game. ... [Read More] E-mail | Print | Comment NEW!
UW women's hoops signs Australian point guard and other non-football specif... A couple of non-football things to report today. With three of the six freshmen from last year's recruiting class having left the team, the Huskies had room to add some players for next year, and on Tuesday head coach Tia Jackson announced the signing of Australian point guard Nicole Romeo. Jackson said she first heard about Romeo from Australian Jessica Foley, who played at Duke while Jackson was an assistant there. Foley came to Seattle for a visit in January. Here's the release from gohuskies.com.. Also, the school announced today that executive associate athletic director Jeff Compher will leave to become the AD at Norther Illinois University. Here's more from the NIU website. ... [Read More] E-mail | Print | Comment NEW! Willingham: Hasty and Savannah are back. Tyrone Willingham met very briefly with the media this week, and comfirmed that E.J. Savannah and J.R. Hasty are back with the team. "E.J. Savannah and J.R. Hasty are back in full status with the football team," he said. "That started Monday." Asked what they did to get back, Willingham said that "They started living up to the responsibilities of the football team. That’s always what gets you back." Willingham said the two would start "Probably at the bottom" of the depth charts. As to the pair's first practice, Willingham said it was "In some cases not bad. They did some good things. But still you could see that the conditioning and all of those things aren’t there, but those things will come." ... [Read More] E-mail | Print | Comment NEW!
Monday notes I had to miss the 25 minutes of today's practice that was open to the media, but word from a school official is that J.R. Hasty and E.J. Savannah, both of whom have been kept out of practice all spring for not living up to some sort of responsibilities, were participating in practice (or at least the part open to the media). Tyrone Willingham didn't meet with reporters today, so we didn't hear anything from him about that, but hopefully we'll learn more tomorrow. I had a few interesting conversations with players today. Johnie Kirton, who moved from tight end to defensive tackle this season, said the position switch is going well so far, but admitted that he has felt lost a few times out there. Ryan Perkins, last year's starting place kicker, said that his right knee, which is his kicking leg, hurts more now than it did last season. Perkins suffered a severe knee injury in the spring game two years ago, and had to have two reconstructive knee surgeries. He admitted that he considered not kicking this year because of the pain and the possible long-term damage he could be doing. UPDATE: I said earlier in this blog that Perkins hinted at not returning for his senior season, but I just heard from him and he wanted to clarify that that wasn't the case and wasn't what he meant to imply when talking to the media today. Perkins said that as of now, he has no intention of leaving the team early. Look for more on Perkins in Wednesday's paper. Offensive coordinator Tim Lappano met with reporters today as well. Here's a few of the highlights: Lappano said that some of the young players on offense struggled a bit in last weekend's scrimmage in part because of a bit of information overload that can be common this time of year when coaches are installing more offense. "I think there was a lot of thinking going on that slowed them down a little bit, and that’s all of them," he said. "There’s nothing going in today, we’re going to go review today, because they’re flooded." Thoughts on the play of the tailbacks: "I thought Brandon [Johnson] did some nice things, he ran the ball physical inside, but I was disappointed with some of the losses. They have to understand that it’s OK to get two yards, but it’s not OK to try to get a big run every time, because what happens is we get three or four two- or three- yard losses that shouldn’t have been. . . that was a little disappointing, but that’s youth." Asked what the positives were about Saturday's scrimmage, Lappano pointed to the play of quarterbacks Jake Locker and Ronnie Fouch, as well as that of receiver D'Andre Goodwin, who appears to be emerging as the Huskies' go-to receiver this spring. ... [Read More] E-mail | Print | Comment NEW! |
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