The Seattle Times
If all goes according to plan, a couple years from now Jacob Sirmon and Colson Yankoff will be in the thick of the competition for the Huskies’ starting quarterback job.
For now, in the middle of their first fall camp, the two touted freshmen QBs are simply in survival mode.
Sirmon, the 6-foot-5 Bothell High School product, has taken most of the snaps with the No. 3 offense during the first 12 days of camp. He’s made significant strides since taking part in spring ball, as has Yankoff, the 6-4 dual-threat QB from Coeur d’Alene.
During the final team period Wednesday afternoon, Yankoff was under heavy pressure but managed to escape the pocket and run for a 25-yard gain. He wound up getting sacked on two of the next three plays, and that sort of defensive dominance up front has been a common thread for the third- and fourth-stringers.
“They’re better, for sure, than they were in the spring. There’s no question about it,” UW coach Chris Petersen said of the freshmen QBs. “There’s more of a command out there. Sometimes you feel bad for the quarterbacks going with the brand-new guys — it always in the O-line and there’s a lot of confusion there for the young, young guys. So sometimes they (the quarterbacks) don’t even get a chance to set their feet before they’ve got to take off. But in terms of what they’re knowing and what they’re doing, they’re making good progress.”
Petersen tops ‘good guy’ survey
OKG see OKG. OK, even non-OKGs see.
Chris Petersen has always been known as one of the good guys in college football. For years, he was the giant-killer who was forever loyal to his blue-hued underdogs at Boise State. Before Washington finally lured him into the Power Five, Petersen had reportedly spurned USC.
He brought sea change to UW in taking over for Steve Sarkisian, cleaning house and instituting his “Our Kinda Guy” philosophy. He’s even been ahead of the #MeToo reckoning spreading through college campuses. The fruits born from it? A perennial Pac-12 contender, some top-five rankings, a trip to the College Football Playoff — and the enduring respect of his peers, according to a new CBS coaches survey.
Petersen received the most votes, tied with Stanford’s David Shaw, of any coach in response to the question: “Which of your peers do you believe is completely clean and by the book in running his team?”
As our Larry Stone wrote, Petersen is showing it’s possible to win without selling your soul.
From one coach who responded: “Coach Petersen. I know how he recruits, how he coaches. You don’t hear anything — tampering, poaching, transfers. You don’t hear any of that. I believe the perception and reality are the same thing. I have a lot of respect for him.”
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