That was what Tyrone Willingham called the performance by Jake Locker tonight, anyway.

Willingham said something about Locker missing a few reads and said "Jake was so-so. He can do better.''

But hard to believe he wasn't really pleased deep down about this one.

Locker is the focus of much of our coverage on-line and in the paper, so I won't repeat a lot of that here. Speaking of that, here's our game story, our notebook, and Blaine Newnham's column. Blaine does a nice job of dissecting the new wrinkles in UW's offense, something everyone is more comfortanble talking about now that it's out in the open.

Here are a few other random notes and thoughts:

--- The attitude after the game was interesting. I think a lot of us in the media were expecting the coaches and players to be a lot more celebratory than they were. Instead, everybody seemed pretty non-plussed about it all. Maybe they're really confident in themselves and knew they could do that. Or maybe they realized that Syracuse really isn't very good (I think Syracuse will turn out to be the worst team UW plays this year) and know that there are a lot bigger tests ahead.

--- That said, UW hasn't looked this dominant in a long time against a BSC team so it's still really meaningful.

--- One unexpected positive is that the win came so easily that the Huskies were able to keep some aspects of their new offense under wraps. Tim Lappano said there was some stuff in the game plan that the Huskies didn't have to get to due to the margin of the game.

--- Caesar Rayford said the same thing about the defense, saying that the Huskies didn't have to show a lot of their blitzes because they were so dominant up front.

--- Rayford was a real revelation. I had forgotten he made only one tackle all last season, that sack at the end of the Apple Cup. In fact, he had only three in his career before this season. He made only two tonight, but 1.5 were sacks. Rayford said he played at 225 last year but is now at about 247.

--- Interesting quote from Dan Howell that didn't make my game story: "They weren't ready for what we had to throw at them. We played a little harder than them in the first half and eventually we turned the game.''

--- So who would have ever imagined J.R. Hasty's debut would be so overshadowed? In case you missed it, Hasty got his first carry on the second-to-last drive of the game, gaining six yards.

--- There appeared to be only one new injury with Luke Kravitz hurting his hand, though the severity is unknown.

--- The 30-point margin of victory was the largest win of the Willingham era. The last time UW beat someone as bad was the 42-10 win over Oregon in 2003.

--- After missing his first two passes, Locker was 14-17 the rest of the way. In fact, he missed three of his first four, then hit 13-14.

--- You had to love the way the offensive line played. It was interesting that really only six guys played, with Ben Ossai and Cody Habben essentially rotating at left tackle, with the other four spots stable all game.

--- Fred Wiggs made three tackles and is emerging as the walk-on who could be the biggest contributor

--- Jared Ballman was another who played better than might have been expected. He averaged 46.2 yards on three punts and 64.2 yards on six kickoffs (compared to the 58.2 yard average of Syracuse kicker Patrick Shadle who is being pumped by the school as a Groza Award candidate).

--- Got an early flight home, so all for now.

I have to turn my attention now to doing stuff for the paper and on-line but I'll check back after the game.

SOME THIRD QUARTER STATS --- UW has 412 yards to 161 for Syracuse, including 270 on the ground to minus-seven for the Orange. That's just total domination up front, which along with Locker has to be the most encouraging sign of the day.

LOOKS LIKE LOCKER'S DAY IS DONE: Here are his numbers after what surely ranks as one of the most impressive debuts in UW history --- 83 yards on 10 carries with two touchdowns, and 14-19 passing for 142 yards. That means he hit 14 of his last 16 passes after missing on his first three.

WOW. JUST WOW: Isn't that what a lot of the kids say today? That sure fits what we are seeing here. Did any of you really see this coming? I thought they'd win, as I wrote yesterday, and by more than the spread, as I called for an 11-point win. But nobody could have really predicted this.

The wonder now is just how bad is Syracuse. They look like they've already begun to give up.

MAYBE THEY CAN STILL CATCH THAT KENNY CHESNEY CONCERT: The fans are beginning to stream out of here after that drive ended in futile fashion.

Locker's going to get the lion's share of the attention for this one, and for lots of good reasons, but this has been a real team effort. Caesar Rayford looks as if he's finally emerging as a legit pass rusher, the young secondary is performing just fine, and the two kickers have been flawless.

THIS GAME'S OVER --- The boos have started here after Locker scores on an 8-yard run. This is the third year for Syracuse coach Greg Robinson and he will most swiftly up those "hot seat'' rankings after this one.

Only question now is just how much do the Huskies win by.

It's been years since the Huskies really dominated someone like this. Even that win at Arizona in 2005 had a somewhat fluky nature with the Hail Mary pass before halftime and all that. This has been a rout from the start.

HUSKIES DOMINATING --- The UW fans gathered are now cheering "Whose House? Dawgs' House'' and no one can argue that fact right now. This is as impressive a performance as anyone could have really hoped for. Syracuse is completely deflated right now and there is little noise in this place.

SOME HALFTIME STATS --- Hadn't realized UW was dominating on the ground quite this much. The Huskies have 130 yards rushing while holding the Orange to minus-two. That's how you win games.

Locker has 67 yards on eight carries, while Rankin has 57 on nine carries.

And after missing on his first three passes, Locker hit seven of his next eight and is now 7-11 for 47 yards.

Also, while penalties always seem costly when they occur, UW has just two for 11 yards, a below average total, especially for a first game.

HUSKIES UP 14-6 AT HALFTIME: Simply put, the Huskies look like the better team at halftime. UW will get the ball to start the third quarter and another long drive would probably all but put the game away. Syracuse is playing sloppily and looks like it is beginning to lose its confidence.

I'll pass along some halftime stats in a few minutes.

ROMAR WATCHING IN GREECE: Here's a note from the UW sports information department on Lorenzo Romar:

Coach Lorenzo Romar is watching the Husky football game in a hotel lobby of
the Electra Palace in Thessaloniki, Greece along with assistant coach Paul
Fortier and video manager Darren Talley.

The group is watching on a small computer screen via the internet
thanks to a SlingBox unit set up in the UW basketball offices in Seattle.

The game kicked off at 3 a.m. in Greece. The team boards a bus at 9 a.m.,
heading to Trikala for a game Saturday night.

HUSKIES BEGINNING TO DOMINATE --- The air has really come out of this place as Locker scores his first TD as a Husky to put UW ahead 14-3.

Did you notice on that run to the 2-yard line how Locker Brandon Gilbueax, a 271-pound defensive lineman, for about three yards? Locker is beginning to really wow them here with his strength and running ability.

That's two straight 80-yard drives of 10 plays or more, the kind of consistent moving of the ball UW fans haven't seen in a long time.

Also, note that Cody Habben played that entire drive as he appears to be rotating by quarter with Ben Ossai.

Also note that there has been little impact made by Jameel McClain.

GREAT DRIVE BY THE HUSKIES --- 80 yards on 10 plays there. Rankin had 47 yards on four carries.

END FIRST QUARTER --- Huskies have a little momentum now after that amazing escape by Louis Rankin. The crowd noticeably quieted after that one. Considering how Syracuse has had the field position advantage most of the quarter the Huskies have to feel good to be down only 3-0 and to now have the ball in Orange territory.

I did notice Chris Stevens on the punt return team, so he is playing some.

Also, you might give the game ball for the first quarter to Jared Ballman. He was a big question mark entering this game, but he has looked good so far. He's probably kicking in a dome.

MID FIRST QUARTER --- Locker looked a little too hyped there and the Syracuse D-line looked pretty good on that first series. People here are saying that D-line could be a real strength for the Orange this season.

For those wondering about where the coaches are on the field, defensive coordinator Kent Baer and secondary coach J.D. Williams are each on the field.

Also noted that Chris Stevens, who was on the nickel defense last year, isn't playing at all.

SYRACUSE TAKES 3-0 LEAD --- That could have been worse, obviously. You'll notice that Nate Williams was playing in the nickel defense. Williams, Victor Aiyewa and Mason Foster were all on the kickoff team, making three true frosh who have played so far. And while Trenton Tui was starting, Donald Butler came on the field for the nickel, as well.

Trenton Tuiasosopo is starting at MLB for the Huskies.

UPDATE 4:57 --- It's maybe two-thirds full in here, if that (guess there are really a lot of Kenny Chesney fans in Syracuse) but it is getting loud and you can easily see how the noise can be really distracting when this place is full. But not sure it's going to be a huge factor tonight.

There are 24 minutes until kickoff, and for now, I'll use this as a running thread for the game.

If the team warmups are any indication, Ben Ossai is going to start at left tackle, as he's running with the first team while Cody Habben is with the backups. Also, J.R. Hasty took the first handoff with the backup unit, indicating maybe he is the backup RB. But word is several of the backup RBs will get carries tonight.

Jordan White-Frisbee and Morgan Rosborough look like they are the backup guards. The Huskies are now leaving the field and when they return, it will be ballgame time.

The entire team has now come out on the field for warmups, and I was curious to see if Chris Stevens still had his left hand and thumb wrapped up.

We've never been told he was hurt but we noticed the injury at practice on Tuesday. Stevens does, indeed, still have his left hand wrapped pretty well. Not sure how that will impact his playing time tonight or not as he looks ready to go. But worth watching.

There's a pretty good turnout of UW fans already here, most seated in the end zone, or above it. Some of them are wearing T-shirts that read "Locker 3:16.''

Another small tidbit is that walk-on WR Charles Hawkins appears to be the backup holder to Carl Bonnell.

Around the time of kickoff, we'll do a running blog during the game with thoughts, notes, etc. We'll do it like Geoff Baker does with the Mariners where I'll keep it all on one file to make it easier to write and view comments.

At least one of you wanted to know if the Huskies really do have names on the backs of their uniforms. So consider it duly noted that as the UW special teams unit runs on the field for pre-game warmsups --- the first group to make an appearance in full uniform --- they do have names.

I have arrived at the Carrier Dome, and the students are already beginning to roll in.

Many are wearing 44 jerseys, which definitely has a proud history here --- it was worn by Jim Brown, Floyd Little and Ernie Davis.

There is a big banner of Brown in the corner that says simply "Greatest Player Ever.''

It's a little warm in here but not too bad, but everyone says it will heat up once all the fans get in.

The students are already chantinig "Let's Go Orange,'' and you at least have to admire their spirit considering a 5-18 record the past two years.

As I finish this up, the Syracuse players are running onto the field on their way to the locker room to get in uniform, most heading over to the student section to some loud cheers. The song greeting the team is the old Twisted Sister song "We're Not Gonna Take It.''

HUSKIES COULD HAVE FACED BRENNAN TONIGHT: A reader passed along the note that UW could have been facing Colt Brennan tonight, instead of at the end of the season, if things had turned out a little differently.

This story details how Brennan was offered a scholarship by Syracuse coach Greg Robinson but the school president then forced Robinson to take the offer away due to Brennan's legal problems.

PROGAMMING NOTE: I'll try to keep updating the blog as events warrant. I also plan to try to do a running blog during the game, ala what Geoff Baker does for the Mariners, so we'll see how that goes.

As the title suggests, here are some keys to tonight's game (not necessarily in order of importance, just in order of how I thought them up):

1, Turnovers. Get some, and don't give any away. The latter part of that may be most critical with Jake Locker getting his first start, in case you haven't heard. The UW offense will feature some new wrinkles taken from the offenses of the likes of West Virginia and Florida, and you'll likely see some option plays. That, obviously, means the ball will be flying around a little bit. UW has to make sure it takes care of the ball. It'll be fun to finally see the whole offense as Husky coaches have gone to great pains to shield it from the public --- trust me, you didn't see any of the new stuff in either the Spring Game or the one scrimmage that was open to the public. You'll see some quite different looks tonight.

2, Paul Homer. Was talking to someone who knows a lot more football than he did and he said Homer's potential value to the Huskies can't be overstated, calling him the best blocking fullback UW has had in a decade or so (since Pat Conniff, at least). Homer's blocking will be especially critical on those option plays. Figure the Huskies to be in two-back sets quite a bit, sometimes with no tight ends, to utilize Homer's blocking skill (Luke Kravitz will also get his share of playing time but he's regarded as more of a running fullback with Homer the better blocker).

3, Don't let Jameel McClain get any free shots on Locker. The Orange surely knows all about Locker and how important he is to the new-look offense. UW has to keep Locker upright. Syracuse is sure to try to put McClain in positions to take advantage of UW's young left side of the offensive line.

4, Don't give up big plays. This especially pertains to the inexperienced secondary. Syracuse's offense will likely feature a lot of short passing routes (a staple of the West Coast offense and also said to be a good fit for QB Andrew Robinson who is said to be more of an accurate-type thrower than a deep bomber). The Huskies need to play those routes correctly and make the tackle when it is there and not let short gains turn into long ones.

5, Win the special teams battle. Both teams have some issues on special teams, and obviously we know all about UW's two new kickers. The Huskies can't give up free yards in the punting and kickoff games and have to convert FGs when they are there. Also, there are likely to be quite a few young players on the special teams (walk-on Fred Wiggs will apparently be on some of the teams as well), so again, sure tackling will be important.

6, Stay calm. Syracuse is sure to make a few plays at times that will get the crowd riled up. The Huskies, especially the younger players, will have to weather the storm. It's worth pointing out that the Huskies actually did this real well last season, when they were almost a better road team than they were at home.

Was out walking around near campus and the tailgating has already begun. Parking lots are filling up, and while the Carrier Dome isn't expected to have more than 30,000 or so, it could be a pretty well, uh, prepared crowd.

It's also a bit warmer today than it was yesterday, with the sun shining bright, so could be a little warmer in the dome today, as well.

Wanted to make sure you saw our coverage today, which included this look at where Tyrone Willingham has the program headed in his third year as coach, and how critical third seasons have often proven to be. (For those who asked, I did make an error initially in the chart in the section on Jim Owens but it has since been fixed).

For all your Syracuse needs, here's the coverage from the Post-Standard as that newspaper published its annual season preview today.

You'll not that all three of the writers picked Syracuse to win tonight, all by relatively close scores.

ALUMNI REPORT

--- Reggie Williams had a much-needed solid night for the Jaguars Thursday.

---So did Jerramy Stevens, with seven catches for 100 yards.

--- And so did Dane Looker.

--- And so did C.J. Wallace (maybe this all indicates a trend for the Huskies tonight, as well).

I'll have some keys to tonight's game in a little while, then will have some pre-game stuff from the Carrier Dome.

Here are the rest of my picks for this weekend:

UCLA 28, Stanford 13 --- I think the Cardinal is going to be a little bit better of a team than might be expected and will give the Bruins a better run than a year ago, when UCLA beat Stanford 31-0. Sounds as if the players are responding much better to Jim Harbaugh than they did Walt Harris, and Stanford's receiving corps is good enough to improve the offense a bit. Still, UCLA will get it done with the defense forcing a key turnover or two to turn the tide.

Oregon 27, Houston 17 --- Straight from the Phil Steele book is this stat --- Oregon is 25-1 in non-conference home games under Mike Bellotti (the loss coming somewhat inexplicably against Indiana in 2004). Houston's not going to upset that record, though the Cougars are good enough to cause the Ducks some nervous moments. But in the end, Oregon's running game will prove the difference.

Wisconsin 38, WSU 17 --- This could be the beginning of a long season for the Cougars, especially if Brandon Gibson isn't (or doesn't soon get) completely healthy. WSU will score some points due to its passing attack, but hard to see them staying with the Badgers all the way through this one.

Arizona 21, BYU 13 --- I've been touting Arizona as my surprise team in the Pac-10 this year, so I can't go away from the Wildcats in week one, even if this looms as just about a tossup. For now, I'm assuming the change in offense is going to work, and that Arizona's defense will be even better than it was a year ago, with basically everybody back.

Cal 31, Tennessee 17 --- Take that Les Miles. Cal gets a chance to score some nationwide respect for the Pac-10 and thrust itself into the national title hunt in the process. Jeff Tedford with a veteran QB is always dangerous. Key is whether the Bears' defense can hold off the Vols enough, but I'm thinking the home field advantage will help quite a bit.

Arizona State 41, San Jose State 21 --- Dick Tomey has done a real nice job with the Spartans, but not good enough to win this game. I've been high on Arizona State, as well, and I think the Erickson Era (which I really think will last long enough to truly be called that) gets off to a nice start.

USC 156, Idaho 0 --- Okay, maybe that's about 100 points too high, but you get my drift. Last time these two played, USC won 72-0 in 1929

Sadly, we were unsuccessful in our attempt to catch the Oregon State game on TV, which only leads some of us who were on our exploration to reconsider our thoughts about the so-called "East Cost bias.''

We went to about 10 different bars and pubs and couldn't find the game anywhere, leaving us to wonder if people out here don't know about Pac-10 football simply because they can't find it.

Trust us. We tried. It was nowhere to be found in Syracuse.

But seeing that Oregon State won 24-7 in a game I called as a 24-14 win for the Beavers has me thinking, for once, that maybe I know a little something.

Which could be good news for Husky fans since I'm calling for a fairly dominating Husky win against the Orange, predicting a 24-13 win for UW in the pages of the Seattle Times tomorrow.

Here's what I wrote for Friday's paper:

"If the Huskies can overcome the unique setting and raucous crowd, and some first-game jitters from young players such as Jake Locker, it should be a happy trip home. The Huskies ought to be able to get the running game going centered around Locker's talents, assuming turnovers are kept to a minimum, and the defensive line should be able to get enough pressure on the QB to take some of the onus off the secondary. Washington 24, Syracuse 13."

In a nutshell, I think UW's advantage running the ball on offense will be greater than its apparent disadvanage defending the pass, which should be enough to get the win.

However, I disagree with the poster who said I'm placing too much importance on this game. I agree that this is a team that should get better as the year goes one, but every team in college football could say that. But the more I look at it, I'm not sure UW can make it to a bowl game without winning tomorrow. Can UW go 7-5 against the rest of its schedule without winning tomorrow, which is what would be necessary? I'm not so sure.

But I think UW should have a big edge running the ball considering Syracuse's problems at linebacker, and its iffy secondary, and I think UW will have a significant edge with its defensive line against Syracuse's offensive line, which should allow the Huskies to cover for some youth in the secondary.

So unless I'm surprised, this should be a productive trip for the Huskies.

--- Also, I think I should reconsider my list of freshmen who may play tomorrow and include Victor Aiyewa, who may see some time on special teams. That would make seven true freshmen seeing playing time, which would be the most of the Tyrone Willingham era and maybe signifiy that this recruiting class could turn out to be pretty darn good.

--- To those who asked, UW had only two true frosh play last year --- Donald Butler and Paul Homer. Pretty sure the only ones to play in 2005 were Chris Stevens and Darrion Jones, so potentially playing as many as seven this year is significant.

--- Should add that it was fairly crispy here tonight, probably in the high 60s or so with a litte wind, so I think the Huskies are definitely catching a little break with the weather.

--- The pizza place I attended earlier was Cosmos and I heartily recommend it. Two large slices and a large coke for $5.11. Hard to beat that.

--- Lastly, thanks to Nic for the link to Marques Tuiasosopo having a solid game tonight. Not sure how much it's going to help him since it sounds as if the Jets have three QBs they want to keep --- Chad Pennington, Kellen Clemens and Brad Smith --- but glad to see Marques have a good game for a night.

About to head out to explore a little Syracuse nightlife and hopefully find the Oregon State game on TV somewhere.

First, I'll pass along a few links from the Syracuse student newspaper, The Daily Orange. Here's a link to their main sports page that includes a number of stories on the game.

Of most interest to Husky fans might be this piece attempting to explore why Washington's recruiting has suffered in recent seasons. Not sure I agree with some of the conclusions in it, but given it's a student author, no need to be too harsh and I'll let you guys draw your own assessments.

I would point out, however, that for all that Rick Neuheisel did (or didn't) do at UW, he never recruited 12 wide receivers in one year. We've detailed that Class of 2003 on here several times previously. At the most liberal reading of it, you could conclude that UW signed eight receivers that year, though only six were listed as receivers on the day they signed.

Here's that chart again, which is worth revisiting with four of those receivers beginning their final season tomorrow night:

Craig Chambers ---Played two years at UW, catching 50 passes for 981 yards before deciding to transfer to Montana where he has been battling a back injury this year.

Quintin Daniels --- Fifth-year senior has 24 catches for 391 yards and three touchdowns in his career.

Cody Ellis ---- A receiver the past two years after splitting time on offense and defense early in career. Has 27 catches for 389 yards and two TDs, including a circus catch for a 64-yard score in the 2006 Apple Cup.

Anthony Russo --- Fifth-year senior has 73 catches for 1,178 yards and four touchdowns.

Sonny Shackelford --- Caught 119 passes for 1,648 yards and 10 touchdowns in four seasons. Cut this week by the Chargers.

Charles Smith --- Caught one pass for the Huskies before being declared ineligible prior to 2006 season. Now playing for Central Washington.

Corey Williams --- Fifth-year senior has caught 31 passes for 359 yards and two TDs in his career, including the game-winner against WSU in 2003.

Bobby Whithorne --- Caught 18 passes for 215 yards in 2004 before deciding to transfer. Went to UCLA as a walk-on but is no longer on the team.

Attendance isn't expected to be a sellout tomorrow. In fact, a crowd of only about 30,000 or so is expected in a dome that has a capacity of about 50,000.

Part of the reason for the low number is Syracuse's lack of success the last few years. It's also down a little because of the New York State Fair being held here this weekend, featuring a Kenny Chesney concert tomorrow night.

UW sold about 1,000 tickets for this game, including 170 from Whatcom County who are here to see Jake Locker. That number includes about 70 from Locker's hometown of Ferndale.

--- Also, there are 11 true freshmen on the trip. They are: Brandon Johnson, Willie Griffin, Curtis Shaw, Vonzell McDowell Jr., Ronnie Fouch, Marquis Persley, Nate Williams, Mason Foster, Victor Aiyewa, Austin Sylvester and Cory Rutkowski.

My guess would be that only six are expected to play --- Johnson, Griffin, Shaw, McDowell, Williams and Foster. With an expanded roster for a non-conference game, the Huskies could bring players just for the experience of the trip.

My guess would also be that everyone else who didn't make the trip is slated for a redshirt season. Fouch will make every trip this season as the No. 3 QB but is expected to try and redshirt if possible.

--- UW has sold 43,100 season tickets for this season, about 500 more than last year.

Was out walking around campus and stumbled into a pizze-by-the-slice place straight out of The Sopranos or something.

And I kid you not, the first conversation I overhead at the counter was about tomorrow night's game.

"If we win it, we've got a prayer this season,'' said an older guy, probably in his 50s, to the man making the pizzas. "Not so much, then not so much.''

That's as good a way of wrapping up what this game means to both teams as anything else.

Both are rebuilding programs looking at this as a game they have to win to do anything this season --- and if they don't win it, look out.

Consider that the two coaches are each in their third year. Tyrone Willingham has gone 2-9 and 5-7 in his two seasons, Greg Robinson 1-10 and 4-8.

And consider that each is going with a new "savior'' QB tomorrow night who will be getting his first start --- UW's Jake Locker and Syracuse's Andrew Robinson.

Nothing new, I know, to most of you who've been reading everything on here, but the man's comment in the pizza joint just reinforced to me what the theme of this game is.

A FEW OTHER NOTES. ...

--- The only player on the Syracuse two-deep who is listed as not having a chance to play tomorrow is backup MLB Mike Stenclik (concussion). Latest word today is that RB Curtis Brinkley (knee) is expected to start, if not play all the time.

--- Was able to buy the Chicago Tribune college football special section in the airport this morning. The paper ranked all 119 D-I teams and had UW at 74th, with a one-sentence assessment about how tough the schedule is. The paper rated Syracuse 88th saying "it's a sad state of the program when the kicker is the team's best weapon: Pat Shadle fills that bill.''

--- The officials for the game will be from the Big East Conference. If you recall, one of the controveries that arose out of the Oregon-Oklahoma debacle last year was that the Pac-10 is the only conference that likes to use its officials at home for non-conference games, and then let the other conference use its officials at home, instead of the other way around. It's in part a money-saving device to not have to fly officials all over the country for games, though the Pac-10 insists it also shows faith in the officials to not assume they will be biased being at home.

--- The Huskies had a walkthrough at the Carrier Dome a little while ago and it was reportedly "hot and muggy'' inside with the temperature gauge on the wall reading 75.

--- To answer one question, I don't have to pay for my travel, the Seattle Times does that. But I also don't get to fly First Class. Like most businesses, they like us to do things as, uh, economically as possible here.

I have arrived in Syracuse after flying all night --- not the smartest travel decision I've ever made, but what the heck.

It's clear and sunny and a little muggy as I write this at 10 a.m., but it's apparently a little cooler than it has been, which might make it just a little better in the Carrier Dome.

Here's the story I wrote for today assessing each position grouping on the Huskies by whether it has improved, stayed the same, or regressed since the beginning of camp. Those last few words are the key part, as it's not an assessment of since last season, but what has happened the last few weeks, as a way to let people know the most current status of the team.

Feel free to disagree.

--- Here's maybe the most interesting thing in the Syracuse paper today, a story on Orange quarterback coach Phil Earley who is the son of Bill Earley, who was a star halfback for the Huskies from 1950-52. I actually put in a call to Phil Earley this week intending to do something on his ties to the area but we never connected. This story, however, details about what you would need to know about him.

--- Syracuse is also unveiling a statue honoring Ernie Davis this weekend.

--- To answer a question on whether the Huskies should switch Cody Ellis to cornerback to make up for the depth problem there, I just don't see it happening. UW coach Tyrone Willingham said this week he didn't think there were any position moves that would make sense that wouldn't also weaken the team somewhere else. Ellis could probably do it, but he hasn't played CB since 2004, and switching him just as his senior season begins would be a lot to ask as he seems to have finally found a home at receiver.

--- Glad to see a few of you actually want to see my weekly Pac-10 picks, something I think could be a fun segment of the blog if we all chip in. I need just a little more time to get them all done, but since Oregon State plays Utah tonight, I want to get that one out there, so here it is --- Oregon State 24, Utah 14. OSU is simply better than Utah, but I do think the Beavers could struggle a little bit on offense while breaking in two new QBs and a receiver corps that will apparently remain without Sammie Stroughter (here's the latest on his situation). But the Beavers still have a veteran O-line and Yvenson Bernard, and should eventually wear down the Utes

The Washington Huskies have landed in Syracuse, but cornerback Byron Davenport isn't with them.

Davenport hurt his hamstring the second day of fall camp and has practiced little since then, and while he improved enough to practice a few days earlier this week, he didn't get the okay to make the trip.

The Huskies have 72 players on the trip, with the travel roster expanded for a non-conference game.

Others who didn't make the trip include PK Erik Folk (back) and RB Brandon Yakaboski (concussion), who have also been bothered by injuries.

Among those who did make the trip is true freshman cornerback Marquis Persley, who could potentially be forced into action now with the team having so little depth at cornerback.

The Huskies will have just five players listed as cornerbacks available for the Syracuse game --- starters Roy Lewis and Vonzell McDowell Jr., backups Matt Mosley and Desmond Davis, and Persley.

Davenport had been listed as having a "60 percent chance'' at making the trip on Tuesday by UW coach Tyrone Willingham but apparently the 40 percent won out.

He is one of three cornerbacks who began the year with the Huskies who won't play at Syracuse --- Cory Nicol quit the team earlier this week due to a groin injury while Jordan Murchison is essentially suspended while dealing with legal issues.

Here are a few more stories I've run across:

--- First, I was remiss in not linking earlier our national college football preview stuff today from Bud Withers. First is his column on what to expect this season, including a prediction buried near the bottom of UW to beat Boise State next week. Also, here's his annual survey of college coaches, getting their thoughts on a variety of topics. Maybe most interesting is their contention that the worst officiating in the country is in the Pac-10, a sentiment many of you, I would suspect, also share.

--- Here's a story from Syracuse on the last (and only) time Tyrone Willingham took a team into the Carrier Dome, a 38-12 defeat with Notre Dame in 2003. Not sure it's relevant to anything this week but college football is nothing if not tradition and history, so such pieces are always kind of interesting.

--- Here's a piece on Syracuse receiver Lavar Lobdell who was ranked as the No. 7 receiver in the nation in 2005 but had a middling true freshman season with just five catches for 68 yards. Sounds like he's primed for a better season this year, and certainly one to watch Friday given UW's cornerback situation. Lobdell is 6-3, 200 so he has decent size. Lobdell is one of the reasons there is so much optimisim about Syracuse's receiving corps among the team's fans.

--- Sounds as if the knee of starting Syracuse running back Curtis Brinkley is still an issue. Also sounds as if no one has a real clue who takes over if Brinkley can't go. Listed backups Paul Chiara (59 yards on 17 carries last season) and Jeremy Sellers (a senior who has no carries the past two seasons) don't appear dangerous at all.

--- Here's a pretty good overview of the legitimate prospects for Syracuse this season.

--- Here are some predictions from CollegeFootballNews.com, with the consensus going with the Huskies.

--- Finally, Sean Douglas was cut by Tampa Bay Tuesday. By my count, that leaves the only graduating UW players from a year ago still on NFL rosters as Isaiah Stanback (Dallas), Dashon Goldson (49ers) and C.J. Wallace (Seahawks).

The team is off to Syracuse today, leaving a day earlier than it normally would for a road game to get acclimated to the time change.

Their early departure means there will be little new news coming out of Husky camp. We have no more scheduled briefings from Tyrone Willingham until after the game Friday night.

I'll first pass along our stories from today --- a look at Vonzell McDowell Jr., and the fact he could become the first true freshman to start a season opener at cornerback since at least 1975; as well as this item on the kicking situation for the Syracuse game.

Both loom critical to UW's success in this game. As others pointed out, UW has started redshirt freshmen at CB to start a season, most recently both Mel Miller and Jermaine Smith in 1996. But according to the UW media guide, the only true frosh to start at all since 1976 are Nate Robinson in 2002 and Derrick Johnson in 2000.

In fact, UW hasn't had a true frosh of any kind start since 2004, when Jordan White-Frisbee and Greyson Gunheim each became regular starters on the defensive line.

IN OTHER NEWS. ...

--- One of you asked about Jordan Murchison. Willingham said Tuesday there is no change in his status, and as reported before, he has a court date for Thursday. So I don't think he's a viable option any time soon, if he ever returns.

--- Glad to see Husky Fan in New York take the answer about Jameel McClain's sacks. However, I notice that only adds up to 7.5 and not the 9.5 he was credited for last year. But breaking down his stats in the media guide does, indeed, only give him 7.5. I'm thinking there's a mistake in the media guide somewhere. Anyway, uptshot is that McClain had at least five of his sacks in the first five games of the season and didn't get as many once Syracuse was playing solely Big East foes. However, he is regarded as a pretty big-time player. Here's one draft expert ranking him as the No. 69 prospect for the 2008 NFL Draft.

--- This was posted on the comments board, but I'll put it here as well. It's an article from Fox Sports detailing how the season turned out on one playing of the NCAA 07 video game, with the Huskies finishing 24th in the nation and third in the Pac-10.

--- Sounds as if Reggie Williams got the message and will make the Jacksonville roster after all.

--- Here's an update on Isaiah Stanback in Dallas, though I think the author misses the point on Stanback's time as a WR at UW. He wasn't a decoy at all. He was a full-fledged receiver in the 2003 season, starting three games and making 10 catches. By the final third of the season, he was a regular member of the receiver rotation. That doesn't necessarily take away from the larger point that he hasn't played the position much, however.

--- Here's a good overview of Marques Tuiasosopo's situation with the Jets.

--- Sounds like Dashon Goldson's elbow injury is worse than originally portrayed as it is now being reported he's out 3-4 weeks.

--- Though there is no more access to the team until after the game, I still plan to update the blog regularly with whatever I come across. That includes my breakdown of the game and a prediction, which will run Thursday someday, as well as Pac-10 picks. As always, your input in all those areas is much encouraged.

Washington's cornerback situation may be improving just a bit as UW coach Tyrone Willingham said today there is a "60 percent'' chance that Byron Davenport could see action Friday at Syracuse.

That still sounds a little tenuous, but Willingham said it was a lot better than a few days ago.

"A few days ago I don't know if there was a 10 percent chance of him playing,'' Willingham said. "It's amazing what happens as you get closer to a ball game.''

However, Willingham also said there was still a chance Davenport wouldn't even make the trip to Syracuse depending on how he progresses.

"Don't know yet,'' he said. "Still got day and a half of work to go, so we'll know all of that tomorrow.''

Willingham said Davenport did quite a bit more in practice on Monday, apparently more than he had in previous days, saying "he basically did all of practice so we'll see what happens.''

Vonzell McDowell, however, is still scheduled to start at cornerback, Willingham said.

He also said it is unlikely he will move anybody from another position to cornerback to fill in the depth there.

Willingham also said the left tackle spot remains wide open and might be a game-day decision, though he also indicated he has already made up his mind.

The backup running back spot also remains iffy due in part to J.R. Hasty's ankle injury. Willingham said Hasty "did okay, did some things'' in practice on Monday.

There were apparently no new injuries with Willingham saying that MLB Donald Butler participated fully.

However, he also said if Butler can't go that "we are pleased with Trenton Tuiasosopo and won't be afraid'' to use him as the starter if Butler can't go.

Willingham did essentially rule out DE Darrion Jones and PK Erik Folk from making the trip.

PRACTICE UPDATE: While Willingham told us there were no new injuries to report, there appears to be at least one --- LB Chris Stevens had his left thumb in a hard cast, though he seemed to be playing with it, going through the paces of early practice. Hard to know how serious that may or may not be.

Also, Davenport was participating in more of practice than previously, confirming what Willingham told us. Watched him twice cover UW receivers in a coverage drill. He was beaten pretty badly by Anthony Russo one time and then retreated to the sideline to stretch his legs just as our time to watch practice ran out.

And FWIW, Cody Habben ran at left tackle with the first unit offense when it first ran through plays, with Ben Ossai taking over after two plays in what appeared to be a rotation at that spot. So that could be the order come gameday as both are expected to play.

The Huskies have never played in the Carrier Dome, and haven't played in any dome since 1985, when they beat Houston in the Astrodome 29-12.

UW coach Tyrone Willingham has been in the Carrier Dome, a 38-12 loss with Notre Dame in 2003 that he has been loathe to talk about this week, joking (somewhat) on Monday that "I'm having trouble looking back.''

So I decided to ask another coach today who has been in the Carrier Dome what it is like ---- Arizona State's Dennis Erickson.

As coach at Miami frrom 89-94 Erickson took the Hurricanes in there twice, winning 16-10 in 1992 and 27-6 in 1994.

"We had to play our rear ends off both times,'' he said. "It's a hard place to play. Really noise. It's much more compact than the (Kingdome) was or the place here (the new dome in Glendale, Ariz.). It's a hard place to play. It's really hot in there, for whatever reason, and by my experience those fans are interesting. It will be a difficult place to play for Washington.''

Today was the first Pac-10 coaches teleconference of the season, where each conference coach is available to the media for a 10-minute span.

Here are some highlights from the first half of the session:

Oregon coach Mike Bellotti on Dennis Dixon: "Dennis has looked very good, done a great job in terms of physical condition, his decision-making has improved and I've been very, very impressed with his command of the offense.''

Jim Harbaugh of Stanford talked about the fact that former Auburn High standout Kellen Kiilsgaard is now playing fullback: "In the summer he wanted to be a safety and we played him at safety, but he just felt he was a better player going forward than he was going backward so we've since moved him back to the offensive side of the ball and he is currently playing fullback and doing very well. He's not in our two-deep at the time so that will be a consideration to bring him along at that position and possibly redshirt.''

Arizona coach Mike Stoops talked quite a bit about his excitement over his team's prospects for this season, saying that "we look for our offensive line to be much improved'' and that "we're a much deeper football team than we have ever been.''

Oregon State coach Mike Riley reiterated his plans to play both QBs in the first half of Thursday's game against Utah, going with sophomore Sean Canfield in the first quarter and JC transfer Lyle Moevao in the second. "Then we have left it as an open book after that. ... I'm locked into this deal here and I think it's the only right way to do it at this point. The reason that we have done it is they haven't separated themselves. What I would hope is that they would both be red hot.''

Riley also said he doesn't yet know if WR Sammie Stroughter will play this season. Stroughter returned to practice this week after announcing last week that he would sit out this season. "That was all his decision (to return),'' Riley said. "We're kind of going day-to-day.''

USC coach Pete Carroll was unusually circumspect talking about the team's running back position. Asked who would start, he said simply "We'll find out at game time. I don't know yet.''

There had been some speculation out there that former Husky safety C.J. Wallace might not survive the first cut with the Seattle Seahawks.

But our NFL reporter Danny O'Neil reports this morning that Wallace was not among the 12 players cut by the Seahawks today, meaning he will stay with the team for at least another week. Wallace has made some big plays in the team's exhibition games to date and there has been a lot of thought he will at least make the practice squad this year.

We had a chance this morning to talk with Syracuse coach Greg Robinson.

Here are a few highlights:

First, the weather report is for 72 degrees on Friday, much cooler than it could be, something that could help the Huskies make an easier adjustment to playing in the Carrier Dome.

Here's Robinson talking about defending Jake Locker: "We're not just going against Jake Locker. You defend their offense. Now, he's part of their offense and he has certain characteristics. He's an athletic guy, like last year, they ran Stanback quite a bit with the ball so I suspect they might do that with him. So we'lll study the ways they performed with Stanback and that's a lot of our information."

On the team's remade linebacker corps (three new starters there): "I expect them to play well, but this is the first time those three have gone out there together. So I can tell you all the things I'd like to see happen, but they have to go out and do it.''

On Syracuse QB Andrew Robinson, also making his first career start: "From the day he got here he's had a nice presence about himself. He's not pushy, but he's got a nice confidence about himself. He's been very intense about attention to detail. He has some real fine qualities about himself. ... I've always said you don't demand respect, you command respect, there's a difference. That's kind of how we see him.''

On the team's receiving corps: "Taj Smith, before he got hurt last year, he showed flashes of being an impact football player (12 catches in four games). Mike Williams as a true freshman last year was definitely someone that other teams had to be aware of. Rice Moss has played a lot off football for us and Lavar Lobdell was a highly-touted receiver coming out of high school here in town. It's a good group, but we've got to get the ball in their hands somehow.''

Thoughts on UW's defense: "It's not about them really as much as it is about us.''

A few quick links:

--- Sonny Shackelford and Zach Tuiasosopo were among NFL players cut on Monday, but Reggie Williams survived --- for now.

--- Here's our UW notebook for today which contains a lot of the same info as was on the blog Monday, but in different form.

--- We published some special Pac-10 preview stuff today that included this column by Bud Withers' on USC's dominance and this story by Bud on Pac-10 comissioner Tom Hansen. The story on Hansen should answer a lot of questions you have about the Pac-10's TV deals.

But not by much as he envisions a 24-23 UW win Friday night.

I got that prediction out of his publication Power Sweep which gives its readers some helpful guidance for whatever reason they might want said guidance.

I got a promo copy in the mail and thought his UW pick comments were interesting.

Power Sweep writes that "Syracuse is 8-16 in home openers (against the spread) but 28-8 ATS vs non-conf foes including 6-0 at home, and UW is 0-3-1 ATS on the road vs. non-conf. UW has a freshman QB making his first start across the country and in a dome. The Huskies are the stronger team but SU has the situational edge and the ST (special teams) edge. UW is a poor 0-4 ATS as an AF (away favorite) and has not been one in four years so you can't lay too many points.''

Take it for what it's worth.

UPDATE --- What I should have pointed out originially is that this pick is a little bit of a punt. Since Washington is currently favored by three, Steele is still picking the Orange to cover, but UW to win straight up.

As to the question of whether any of these line-related numbers mean anything, I just think certain trends are always interesting. I also always find picks from people who truly have only their pocket book at heart to be pretty enlightening, as well.

Was listening to Tyrone Willingham's weekly radio show when he dropped one of his biggest hints yet that the team may find ways to get some time for backup quarterback Carl Bonnell.

Asked a question about Bonnell, Willingham said "there are some things Carl will do before the year is over that may surprise some people. We're eager to see what they both can do (Bonnell and Jake Locker) as coaches.''

I asked Bonnell the other day if he knew of plans by the coaches for him to get some playing time and he said no (though maybe that's something he wouldn't want to share anyway).

Willingham has often said he is not a "two-quarterback coach,'' saying that he thinks it is particularly important for their to be one clear voice of leadership at that position. But maybe there are plans to figure out a way to get Bonnell a series or two here or there.

An intriguing thought, to be sure.

Talked to Cory Nicol a little while ago about why he left the team and he said it is strictly due to lingering problems with his groin.

"It's just not really good to play,''' he said.

Nicol suffered a groin injury in 2005 while playing at Orange Coast (Calif.) College and sat out the 2006 season while rehabbing.

He said that injury included tearing the groin and tearing the abductor muscle from the pubic bone and fracturing the pubic bone. He had surgery in Philadelphia that he said he hoped would clear up the problem.

He said he thought he was back to full health when training camp began at UW earlier this month.

But he said the injury began to creep back up after the first week of camp and only got worse.

"Every few days it was just almost too much,'' he said. "I went through it as long as I could.''

He said he made the decision that he could no longer play on Saturday and told Tyrone Willingham before practice. But he said it was a brief discussion and that he intends to have another meeting with the coach on Tuesday to more fully explain his decision. He said there is no plan to return to football, however.

He said he plans to stay enrolled as a student at UW and is likely done with football.

"Anywhere I would go, football is football and my groin is still the same and I don't know if it would allow me to play,'' he said.

Nicol said he had no problems with any other aspects of the football program and that his decision was strictly related to the injury.

Nicol said he thinks the initial injury never properly healed.

He said he thought he was okay because he can play basketball and lots of other sports but that football "is just different. You use a lot of different muscles playing football. I guess playing football is something my groin just doesn't want me to do.''

He said he was excited about the prospect of playing this season and that he realized he had a shot at being a significant contributor.

"It was looking pretty good but it is what it is,'' he said. "I just can't do it.''

Thought it might be interesting to break down the two-deep depth chart by class, doing so by their real eligibility (and not how UW is listing them) so here goes:

FIFTH-YEAR SENIORS

Russo
Williams
Garcia
Macklin
Berglund
Robert Lewis
Bonnell
Rankin
Daniels
Ellis
Reffett
Afoa
Trew
Roy Lewis
TOTAL --- 14

Note --- Garcia has a sixth-year of eligibility left if he wants it.

FOURTH-YEAR SENIORS (meaning, a redshirt year remaining if they get hurt but otherwise likely gone after this season):

Reece
Lobos
Gunheim
Rayford
Howell

TOTAL --- 5

JUNIORS

Bulyca
Gottlieb
Kirton
Kravitz
Forrester
Desmond Davis
White-Frisbee
Stevens
Wells
Harris
Ballman

TOTAL --- 11 (Stevens, Ballman and Wells still have a redshirt year available --- the rest are fourth-year juniors)

SOPHOMORES
Ossai
Homer
Butler
Savannah
Hasty
Perkins
Te'o-Neshiem
TOTAL ---- 7 (Homer and Butler still have a redshirt year remaining)

REDSHIRT FRESHMEN

Habben
Tolar
Locker
Goodwin
Matthews
Elisara
Mosley
TOTAL --- 7

TRUE FRESHMEN

Nate Williams
McDowell
TOTAL --- 2

COMMENT--- I included only the top two players at each position except for throwing in all three tight ends. A few more true frosh are likely to play, namely at least three running backs.

The upshot is this team is a little older than it is sometimes represented when taking in the entire two-deep. However, there are only seven starters who have no eligibility remaining beyond this season (barring injury) and only three on defense

The news on Cory Nicol is definitely a bit of a shock.

He seemed to be in a good position to earn playing time this season, if not start, with the cornerback depth being what it is. He had been hampered by a groin injury of late, something I think he had struggled with previously in his career, but it's unclear if that had anything to do with it.

UW coach Tyrone Willingham did not elaborate on why Nicol quit the team, but did say this when asked if he was surprised.

"Always that late a stage in the process you are surprised. The first thing you want to do is make sure that the young man is all right physically and mentally that everything is okay and there are no family issues involved. So he seems to be of sound state of mind and we move forward.''

Nicol's departure means the starters there are Roy Lewis and true freshman Vonzell McDowell with Matt Mosley and walk-on Desmond Davis listed as the backups.

It could mean that true freshman Marquis Persley moves into the mix there, as well.

Willingham said it remains iffy if Byron Davenport can play, saying he didn't practice again on Saturday while battling a hamstring injury.

Lewis said he was surprised that Nicol quit, saying he thought he was happy with his place on the team and having a good camp.

"It's terribly unfortunate,'' Lewis said. "I felt Cory was happy and that he had a home here. He definitely came in and made some plays and proved that he could play. He was definitely in a spot to contribute to the team immediately. I don't know the reasoning behind it. Everything seemed really good, his morale seemed really good. I came to practice one day (Saturday) and he just wasn't there. We don't know the details of it, we just know he's no longer with us.''

For those wondering if Jordan Murchison is in the mix, I would doubt it. He is still on the roster, but his official status hasn't changed and he has a court date Thursday on one of his pending cases.

In other depth chart news, Jared Ballman is listed as the starting punter and Ryan Perkins the kicker, though Willingham said those are both still subject to change.

Also, Ben Ossai and Cody Habben are listed as either/or at left tackle; all three of the tight ends are listed as either/or as well; Nate Williams is listed as the backup free safety; Brandon Johnson is listed as the kickoff returner with Louis Rankin the backup; and Anthony Russo is the punt returner with Rankin again the backup.

Here's a link to the official depth chart from GoHuskies.com.

UPDATE 12:30 P.M. --- KJR is broadcasting live from the season kickoff luncheon and I heard a couple of interesting comments.

First, Nate Williams said he is the backup to Roy Lewis in both the nickel and dime defenses, indicating that he could play a big role in pass defense this season, and likely more so now with Nicol gone.

Also, E.J. Savannah said Nicol's departure was a real surprise.

"Real weird,'' he said. "Just like 'wow.' He was going to be playing and they were probably going to put him on scholarship and everything.''

A quick note to let you know that Tyrone Willingham announced today that walk-on cornerback Cory Nicol has quit the team.

This could be a severe blow to the team's cornerback depth as he was contending for a starting role.

Vonzell McDowell, a true freshman, is listed as the starter opposite Roy Lewis at cornerback.

I'll have more on this in a few minutes but I'm having some computer trouble and at least want to let you know this.

More later.

We'll get a real one sometime tomorrow morning, but for now, here's my best guess at what the depth chart is.

OFFENSE
QB Jake Locker Fr. Carl Bonnell Sr.
RB Louis Rankin Sr. J.R. Hasty So. and/or Brandon Johnson Fr.
FB Paul Homer So. Luke Kravitz Jr.
WR Anthony Russo Sr. Corey Williams Sr. D'Andre Goodwin Fr.
WR Marcel Reece Sr. Quintin Daniels Sr. Cody Ellis Sr.
TE Michael Gottlieb Jr and/or Johnie Kirton Jr. and/or Robert Lewis Sr..
LT Cody Habben Fr. and/or Ben Ossai So.
LG Ryan Tolar Fr Jordan White-Frisbee Jr.
C Juan Garcia Sr. Ryan Bush Jr.
RG Casey Bulyca Jr. Morgan Rosborough So. and/or Matt Sedillo Fr.
RT Chad Macklin Sr. Erik Berglund Sr.
PK Jared Ballman Jr./Ryan Perkins So.

DEFENSE
DE Daniel Te'o-Nesheim Jr. De'Shon Matthews
DT Jordan Reffett Sr. Erick Lobos Sr.
DT Wilson Afoa Sr. Cameron Elisara Fr.
DE Greyson Gunheim Sr. Caesar Rayford Sr.
SLB Dan Howell Sr. Kyle Trew Sr.
MLB Donald Butler So. Trenton Tuiasiosopo Jr. Mason Foster Fr.
WLB E.J. Savannah So. Chris Stevens Jr.
CB Cory Nicol So. and/or Vonzell McDowell Fr.
CB Roy Lewis Sr. Nicol or McDowell
FS Jason Wells Jr. Jay Angotti So.
SS Mesphin Forrester Jr. Darin Harris Sr.
P Jared Ballman Jr./Ryan Perkins So.

COMMENTS: The big questions remain at left tackle, cornerback and both kicking spots. But I think there will be a lot of rotating at the tackle and cornerback spots --- as well as both the MLB and WLB spots that also remain in some contention based in part on Butler's health.

Tight end also, obviously, remains wide open. But that's another spot where all of the players are likely to see significant time. Who actually starts come Friday at some of those positions may be based as much on what play the team runs first --- or what defense it needs to be in --- as anything else. Same holds true at receiver --- if UW goes with three wides on its first play, then I figure Reece, Williams and Russo all go down as starters.

Still, getting the official starting designation is certainly meaningful to the players involved and also an indicator of who the coaches think has done the best job so far at those spots.

The most meaningful designantions this week could be the two kicking spots, as those are positions where rotating is less likely, though who knows with how open these positions appear to be. I also wouldn't be surprise if we don't get definitive word on those spots until the team is in Syracuse, or even gameday.

Rosters are expanded for non-conference away games and Tyrone Willingham said he expects to take 66-70 players, which means all of the kickers could make the trip (as well as some true frosh who may not necessarily be expected to play).

LOCKER RANKED No. 57: I also found this interesting story from Orlando Sentinel ranking every quarterback in Division-I football.

Locker's rated 57, which isn't necessarily surprising considering that he has yet to play. I was kind of surprised Oregon State's QB duo was ranked ahead of him, however, and really surprised to see Arizona's Willie Tuitama ranked No. 27. I also think Tuitama's a lot better than he has shown to date --- and avid readers of this space know I think Arizona has a chance to be really good this season --- but that seems a little high at the moment.

A lot of years at the Seattle Times we've published a special college football section.

We're not doing one this year for a variety of reasons. Instead, we put all the same elements usually found in the special section concering the Huskies into today's paper, so want to make sure you see them.

The center piece is a feature on Jake Locker. A lot has been written on Locker through the years and I tried to focus more on the football aspect of things in this story, particularly the fact he could be the first redshirt freshmen QB to start the first game of a season for the Huskies since the dawn of two-platoon football.

Also included in that package is this look at five keys to the season, an overview of UW's quarterback history, and a breakdown of UW's schedule.

Also included in that package is this look at the QB situation for each Pac-10 team this season, and a look at freshman QBs in Pac-10 history.

Lastly, here's a notebook leading off Tyrone Willingham's thoughts on preparing for Syracuse.

ALUNMI REPORT

--- Isaiah Stanback had a more modest second game with the Cowboys, catching one pass for five yards last night.

--- Marques Tuiasosopo might not have helped himself much last night, losing one fumble in his brief time in the game while Kellen Clemens was leading the Jets to a couple of scores.

--- I didn't see any stats for any of the three former Huskies playing with Tampa Bay --- Sean Douglas, Zach Tuiasosopo and Jerramy Stevens. Also not appearing in the box score was Sonny Shackelford with the Chargers, who I don't think has made a catch all pre-season. The first cut down, to 75 players, is Tuesday.

A few of you have asked for an updated depth chart. I'll try to get to that a little later. An official depth chart will be released Monday morning, as well.

Had our first briefing with UW coach Tyrone Willingham since Thursday a little whiile ago. Here are a few highlights:

--- Said J.R. Hasty is day-to-day with what apparently is an ankle injury (he didn't detail what it was). Hasty is in heavy competition for the backup RB spot and Willingham said this injury could impact Hasty's chances of getting that job. "Everything as you get closer affects it,'' Willingham said.

--- Said PK Erik Folk could be out for the Syracuse game with a lingering back injury. This is something of a surprise as we had been led to believe that Folk was beginning to recover from the back spasms that held him out earlier in camp. Willingham didn't go into detail about what is going on now, only confirming that it is still the back injury. But he said this means it is likely that Jared Ballman and Ryan Perkins will handle all of the kicking chores against Syracuse. In terms of which kicker will do what, however, Willingham said that is "still up in the air.''

--- CB Byron Davenport (hamstring), LB Donald Butler (knee), RB Brandon Yakaboski (concussion), WR Cody Ellis (hamstring) and DE Darrion Jones (ankle) also sat out Friday. That is particularly critical for Davenport, who was all but ruled out by defensive coordinator Kent Baer on Friday. Willingham agreed that it would now be hard for Davenport to see action against the Orange.
"We're getting close,'' to it being too late for Davenport to play against Syracuse, Willingham said. "He's missed a sizeable amount of time with conditioning and other things that could impact his ability to play.''

--- Willingham said he is likely to take 66-70 players to the game, a number that will likely include some true freshmen who may not necessarily be in line to play, such as No. 3 QB Ronnie Fouch.

--- For those who want to know who will be doing the game for ESPN, the play-by-play man is Sean McDonough with Chris Spielman, Colin Cowherd and Rob Stone assisting.

UPDATE 4:30 p.m. --- Back from practice and the injury situation looked much the same. Hasty was riding a stationary bike and appeared to be limping quite a bit when he was moving around. Folk was also moving pretty slowly, and Jones was still out.

Davenport appeared to be doing a little more but all we see are the warmups.
Still, he seemed a little more active running around. Ellis also appeared to be doing better.

On the issue of using the Dempsey Indoor to prepare for Syracuse, Willingham said today he doesn't plan to do that. Said the reason for not is that it constricts what can be done with the kicking game and that the noise can be replicated well enough staying outdoors. He said the heat may not be as big of an issue since he said a front is expected to come in next week that will make it a little cooler than it normally is this time of year.

Rick Neuheisel did use the Dempsey Indoor quite a bit but he had also pushed quite a bit for its building. It hasn't been used much since he left as Keith Gilbertson always seemed to think it was better to be outdoors if you were going to play outdoors and Willingham seems to think the same. I wrote a story about that a year or so ago that it was somewhat ironic that the football team barely uses the Indoor facility anymore when it was built mostly for football. But the baseball, track and softball teams all use it a lot, so it gets plenty of work.

First off, I want to make sure you saw my story today on freshman running back Brandon Johnson, who has had an interesting road to UW.

Also, here's a story out of Jets camp saying that Marques Tuiasosopo may get a few more snaps in their game tonight against the Giants. Sounds like he may need them to make the team.

And here's good news for Damon Huard out of Kansas City as he has been named the team's starting QB. Speaking of the Chiefs, anyone else enjoying watching Hard Knocks on HBO this year as much as I am?

--- On other matters, one of you said you'd heard/read that UW was off the next two days and wondered about the routine the rest of the week.

Whatever you saw/heard is incorrect as the Huskies are scheduled to practice this afternoon. They will take Sunday off (though likely having meetings, etc.) and will then practice Monday and Tuesday. The Huskies are leaving for Syracuse on Wednesday to get acclimated to the time change and will have a walk-though at the Carrier Dome on Thursday.

The coaches have talked a lot the past few days about the players having "heavy legs'' and all that due to training camp, something that is pretty typical, so the last few days before the first game are always fairly light with a lot more emphasis on learning the game plan then getting out and doing a lot of physical work.

--- Also, someone asked why myself and and others in the local media have been critical of Tyrone Willingham for his secrecy, yet it seems everyone at Notre Dame lauds Charlie Weis for being clever for not revealing the name of his starting QB. Why?

Answer: Not sure if it's exactly as black-and-white as that. I don't read everything written about Notre Dame so I don't know for sure, but I'd be surprised if some of the media there haven't criticized some of Weis' policies in these areas.

But you also can't strictly compare these situations in any way. The more valid comparison here is Willingham with other UW coaches, and with the market in general. UW has always been a pretty open program --- even when past coaches closed practices, they usually kept them open during the spring and early part of fall camp, which is one of the biggest gripes of many of us who cover the team. There's no gameplanning going on then, nothing that could be revealed that's going to cost the team a game --- not that I really think it matters anyway, as I have alluded to several times here by pointing out that the most open program in the country right now may be USC. I've written on here before that while most of us would like everything open, the way it was for years, I can understand why coaches would want to close things down somewhat during games weeks. But what really doesn't seem to make as much sense is keeping us out of most of spring (there were a few more practices open this year) and fall, especially early on.

Whenever I write about this people mention Don James closing practice in 1989 after a dispute with media over what he wanted reported about an injury. That overlooks the fact that he had practices open for 15 years of his tenure. For much of his time at UW, James' home phone number was printed in the media guide and you could call him whenever you wanted. Practices were completely open during the Neuheisel era, and while Gilbertson closed some things down, spring and fall camp was open.

And unlike Notre Dame, UW is in a market place where there are three other pro teams, including a wildly popular NFL team that is about as open as could be.

Anyway, didn't really mean to bring this up again, but since someone asked, thought I would address it one more time.

We'll have more from here later today.

The Huskies were in shells (helmets, shoulder pads, shorts) for their one practice today.

There appeared to be one new name added to the injury list --- RB J.R. Hasty, who appeared to pull himself out of running back drills with some kind of foot/ankle injury and then ride an exercise bike, instead. Didn't look too serious but everything matters now with the season so close, and with the backup RB spot still unsettled.

RB Brandon Yakaboski (concussion) was wearing red while DE Darrion Jones (foot/ankle) was out of action.

Also appearing still limited, at best, was CB Byron Davenport, who we were told is unlikely to play against Syracuse by defensive coordinator Kent Baer.

With Baer also saying that Cory Nicol has been a little banged up of late, sounds like there's a decent chance that true freshman Vonzell McDowell could be the starter at the other cornerback spot opposite Roy Lewis come a week from today.

Goes without saying that's not the optimum situation for a team that will face a steady stream of good passing attacks this season.

In one bit of slight positive news, Syracuse doesn't qualify in that regard, at least based on last year's stats, as the Orange ranking 103rd in the nation in passing last year at 157.1 yards per game. But the Orange is also ramping up its passing attack this season now that Andrew Robinson is taking over at QB.

We also had a brief visit with offensive coordinator Tim Lappano who shed some light on Thursday's scrimmage and some depth chart matters. Here are some of the highlights:

--- Lappano said the main goal was for the scrimmage to be a lot cleaner than was Saturday's, when there were a handful of critical penalties and three bad center snaps out of the shotgun. "We cleaned that up,'' he said of the snaps. "We didn't have any of that. The snaps were as good as they've been all year.'' He also said the penalties were "down a lot'' with a couple of holding calls and one motion.

--- Said both of the QBs threw the ball well and also cited third-teamer Ronnie Fouch, who had to work with the second-team offense against the No. 1 defense. "He played pretty well in a tough situation, so he's coming on,'' Lappano said. Jake Locker is still the No. 1, however, and there is no serious talk about trying to use two QBs.

--- One of his main concerns is dropped balls, especially from the tight ends, a position he said is still wide open. Lappano said the tight end "is the first read on 50 percent of our routes, so they've got to get open'' and catch the ball, he said. Johnie Kirton apparently had a nice catch for a TD but all three of the returners are still locked in a dual for that spot, Lappano said. Walt Winter is the No. 4 tight end right now as Chris Izbicki appears headed to a redshirt year.

--- Said he liked the play of many of the backup RBs and said it's still too early to say who will be the No. 2 back. Said he expected that J.R.Hasty, Brandon Johnson and Curtis Shaw could all get carries against Syracuse. Sounds as if Brandon Yakaboski is out of the mix right now as he has been suffering from a concussion. Hasty apparently had about a 25-yard run where he was hit hard by Mason Foster but still held onto the ball.

--- Johnson is earning his name as a returner and apparently returned a punt for a TD in the scrimmage as well as handling some kickoffs. But he also apparently is impressing as a short-yardage runner.

--- Speaking of short-yardage, sounds as if that role will go primarily to Luke Kravitz with Kirton no longer really being tried there.

--- Sounds as if the O-line is appearing to solidify itself. What we saw yesterday appears to be the starting group --- either Ben Ossai or Cody Habben at left tackle, with Juan Garcia at center, Ryan Tolar and Casey Bulyca at the two guard spots and Chad Mackin at right tackle. Sounds as if both Ossai and Habben will see time at left tackle.

--- Said he likes the play of walk-on WR Charles Hawkins and it's possible he could get a play or two at some point. But he's not yet in the regular rotation, though Lappano lauded his work ethic and said he's come a long way since last spring.

--- Cody Ellis sat out the scrimmage with a hamstring injury but the rest of the receivers apparently played well, including Anthony Russo who has recovered quickly enough that he seems certain to play against Syracuse. Sounds as if Alvin Logan is likely headed to a redshirt year.

UPDATE --- Here's a couple additions as I go through my notes:

--- Lappano said Johnson has not fumbled once this camp and noted that he's a physical back who is "a way better inside runner than we thought. He runs the ball up in there hard for a small guy.''

--- Said there were four drops in the scrimmage, one by a tight end, which he said is too many and something that has to be corrected.

--- His quote on the backup running back situation is that "it might be a little bit of tailback by committee. We'll maybe get them all a couple carries and see what they can do.''

---Of the tight ends, said Michael Gottlieb has been the most consistent but that none of them have really jumped out and won the job.

--- I wouldn't count on any of the RBs switching positions. Willingham said that the time for moving guys is pretty much over with, unless there is some urgent need somewhere due to injuries. I think most guys are where they are going to be, other than more simple moves like a linebacker going from inside to outside, etc.

--- Said he really liked the inside running of Kravitz, adding that "he crunched it up there quite a bit yesterday.''

A few of us had a chance to speak with UW defensive coordinator Kent Baer today about the state of that side of the ball.

The biggest news was his assertion that there is little chance that CB Byron Davenport will be able to play against Syracuse.

"I don't see any way he's going to be in there,'' Baer said. "I don't know how many practices he's had, not very many, and he's been out since then. That's just missing too much. You can sit on the sidelines all day and study and try to figure out what you are doing and think you do. But showing up and doing it live is a whole different ball game. So I don't see any way that's going to happen with him.''

Baer said that would leave the starting spot to either Cory Nicol or Vonzell McDowell, though he said Nicol has also had a minor injury of late though he said he should be fine for the Syracuse game.

Baer also said Mesphin Forrester is the definite starter at strong safety though UW coach Tyrone Willingham had hinted the other day there was still heavy competition at that spot.

"He's doing a good job,'' Baer said. "I don't think there's any question.''

Baer said the other starting jobs still in question are the obvious ones --- middle linebacker, where Donald Butler continues to be bothered by an injury, and weakside linebacker, where E.J. Savannah has the edge on Chris Stevens but where both will play a lot.

Baer, in fact, said one of his main concerns is thee youth at those two LB positions.

"We're so young and there's a whole lot to learn with that group,'' Baer said. "I think we are going to make some mistakes, like most young kids would, and that's a tough position. You're not going to go through 100 percent in a game (without mistakes). The more veteran you are, the more playng time you've had, you will. You love to have veteran guys, especially inside guys, because they bring so much to the table especially in leadership and understanding the game plan. ... But the good news is they are talented.''

Baer confirmed what we appeared to see yesterday, that Erick Lobos is moving into strong consideration to be a backup at defensive tackle, with Cameron Elisara and Jovon O'Connor also in that mix.

Baer said Lobos "has had a good camp. He seems a bit more active to me, seems to be having a bit more fun.''

Baer said he was mostly happy with the scrimmage on Thursday but said that the defense dropped too many balls, saying it was good that the team had its hands on so many but it needs to catch more.

He also said freshman Nate Williams is showing a lot of ability at strong safety but pointed out how young he is and that there's a lot to learn at that spot, as well.

I wrote about E.J. Savannah and the linebacker position for today's paper.

There was a little more I wanted to get in the story but couldn't due to space reasons.

Among the other things Savannah told me that didn't make it in the story are that he's put on about five pounds from last year --- from 223 to about 227-228 -- and has kept it on throughout camp.

"I notice it when I hit linemen,'' he said. "It's really helping me hold my ground.''

He also said his neck-stinger issues, which held him out in 2005, haven't been a problem at all. He's improved so much that he said he may be able to ditch the bulky neck roll he wore last season for a smaller one.

"I'll have a lot more mobility with my head moving around, looking to where the ball is,'' he said.

One of the interesting things in talking with Chris Tormey is that they really seem to be finding a backup to Dan Howell at strongside linebacker, having moved both Kyle Trew and walk-on Fred Wiggs to that spot in recent days. Redshirt freshman Matt Houston is the other scholarship player there.

Trew had been backing up at the WLB spot but was moved this week, maybe because they now know for sure that Savannah will be good to go.

The story also includes some info on Trenton Tuiasosopo, who is apparently having a good camp, and needed to have one with true freshman Mason Foster bursting on the scene at MLB, as well.

Also today is our story on Arizona State as part of our continuing Pac-10 preview.

ALUMNI REPORT

--- Reggie Williams caught just two passes for nine yards against Green Bay last night and took this crushing hit from Desmond Bishop after one of them. Bishop is a rookie from Cal and the same guy who had the interception in overtime against UW last year.

--- Damon Huard didn't play for the Chiefs last night but his chances at getting the team's starting QB job were helped by the poor performance of Brodie Croyle.

--- Dashon Goldson is definitely out this week with an elbow injury.

The Huskies have wrapped up their last major scrimmage of the fall and coach Tyrone Willingham called it "a good session. We worked hard but the execution was still not where I would like it to be in all areas.''

Willingham didn't go into a ton of specifics about what happened (as mentioned in the previous post, we were escorted out before it began) but here's some of what he said:

--- There was only one new injury to DE Darrion Jones, though he said he didn't think it was major, though still too early to say whether he'd miss the Syracuse game.

--- CB Byron Davenport and WR Cody Ellis did not play but apparently everyone else did, including MLB Donald Butler, who has been in and out of the lineup of late.

--- Said he particulaly liked the improvement of the "game organization and game flow'' meaning getting players in the right formations, the right plays called, etc. The team apparently played one full quarter in complete game-like conditions as a run-through of personnel groupings, etc.

--- Players he singled out were walk-on Fred Wiggs, who has been moved to strongside linebacker and in Willingham's words "did some nice things''; WR Marcel Reece, who he said made a couple of big plays; and walk-on WR Charles Hawkins, who he also said made a nice play.

--- Said players rotated in at many positions and warned us not to read much into who was wearing what color jersey, though I still think it probably indicated something.

--- Said the shotgun center snaps were better than last Saturday, when three went over the head of the QB. "That was just an occurrence of that particular game,'' he said.

--- Said Jared Ballman, Ryan Perkins and Erik Folk all handled some kicks, with Folk and Ballman apparently doing field goals and PATs and Perkins only PATs. Said only one FG was missed, though he didn't say by whom, but indicated he was overall pleased with the performance there.

--- Said all three QBs "did a really nice job'' and seemed most pleased that third-teamer Ronnie Fouch was able to handle the game management part of things so well.

--- Said Anthony Russo was able to handle punt return duties just fine, apparently breaking one for 30-40 yards that was called back by penalty.

--- Said Brandon Johnson may well emerge as the starting kickoff returner in part because he shows a good burst through the hole.

--- Was asked whether the scrimmage cleared up any of the job position battles that are still ongoing and said it probably did, but added the inevitable caveat that he has to look at the film first.

Hopefully we'll get a better view of what happened tomorrow after the coaches have done their film review.

UPDATE: I was able to transcribe a few Willingham quotes from the scrimmage later so I'll add them here.

--- On Brandon Johnson: "You need a guy that if he gets a cap, he just blows through it, and Brandon has a tendency to do that. He has a chance to maybe be that guy (starting kick returner) at the start of the season.''

--- On Ronnie Fouch: Willingham said he thought his mechanics looked good though he pointed out that some of his passes were dropped. But he sounded pleased with what Fouch has done in camp. Fouch is sure to travel as the No. 3 QB though I would assume they will try to redshirt him this year to keep him a year removed from Locker, if nothing else.

--- On the safety position: Willingham said Jason Wells is the leader at free safety but that Mesphin Forrester, while the leader at strong safety, still has competition from Darin Harris and Nate Williams. "I'm very interested in seeing much improved leadership and much improved play from all the guys at that position,'' he said.

--- On the kickers: He said all the PATs were made and only one FG missed. Said Folk made all of his PATs.

The Huskies are apparently undergoing a pretty serious scrimmage as I write this.

Serious enough that UW coach Tyrone Willingham made sure to have the media escorted out before it began. Usually, we are allowed to watch the first 25 minutes from the scheduled start of practice no matter what is taking place.

Today, they were about 15 minutes into that period and ready to kick off when Willingham called over and had us removed, with the kickoff not taking place until after all of us had left. It's the first time I remember him having us removed before the period of time that practice is scheduled to be open has elapsed.

The team was split into teams wearing white and purple.

The white team appeared to consist of the starters and the key backups. Most of the members of that team were ones you would expect, though a few notables were Brandon Johnson and Curtis Shaw as the RBs with the other two frosh with the purple team; Jared Ballman and Ryan Perkins as the kickers; Erick Lobos and Caesar Rayford as the two backup DL, with Cameron Elisara with the purple team. The latter is an interesting one as Elisara started the scrimmage on Saturday with Wilson Afoa out. Not sure what, if anything, it means. ADD --- J.R. Hasty was also on the white team along with Louis Rankin, just to clear that up.

The white O-line consisted of Ben Ossai, Casey Bulyca, Juan Garcia, Ryan Tolar, Cody Habben and Chad Macklin, indicating that Ossai and Habben were set to rotate at left tackle with the rest of the presumed starters in their usual places.

At QB, both Jake Locker and Carl Bonnell were in white but that's pretty typical this close to game week to have both of the top QBs working with the starting unit.

Also of note, the white DBs were Roy Lewis, Jason Wells, Mesphin Forrester, Cory Nicol, Vonzell McDowell and Nate Williams, indicating that Nicol and McDowell are ahead of Matt Mosley at the one corner spot, and that Williams is at least getting a long look at safety.

Brandon Johnson was back as the deep man for the white team for the kickoff before we were showed out.

The captains for the white team were Dan Howell, Garcia, Louis Rankin and Jordan Reffett.

The captains for the purple team were Joshua Gage, Ronnie Fouch, Jay Angotti and Matt Sedillo (Sedillo has been bothered by a sprained ankle of late).

Health-wise, everybody appeared to be in uniform, but CB Byron Davenport seemed to be moving slowly through warmups, and WR Cody Ellis was running alone during some of the warm-up period, trying to test out what is apparently a hamstring injury.

Willingham is scheduled to meet with us afterward so we'll have another report later.

A few of us talked with E.J. Savannah today, who cleared up the situation that had appeared to put his eligibility in some jeopardy.

Savannah said he was merely waiting for a grade to come through for a class from the spring, and until that grade came in he wasn't fully ready academically. It came in this week so he is back with the first team. I'll have some more thoughts later from Savannah.

UW coach Tyrone Willingham also met the media here a little while ago with the team to hit the field this afternoon for a scrimmage.

Not a ton personnel-wise to report. He said players who may be out include WR Cody Ellis and CB Byron Davenport, though he said all are also day-to-day and there's a chance they could see some activity.

True freshman DT Nick Wood, out so far with an arm injury "is close to being ready,'' Willingham said. I wouldn't expect Wood to play this year but at least beginning practice is a good sign.

Willingham also talked a bit about a few specific players.

He noted that DE Caesar Rayford has put on some weight and is having a good camp so far, saying "he does a wonderful job of pass rushing.'' I talked to Rayford in the spring and he told me he carried around a jar or peanut butter with him everywhere trying to put on some weight. He's officially listed at 242.

"He's really starting to come of age,'' Willingham said.

Willingham also talked a bit about true freshman safety Nate Williams, saying he remains in the mix for playing time this season. "He's done really well,'' Willingham said, saying it looks so far as if the move from running back to safety will be a good one for Williams.

Willingham said the team will take at least three true freshmen to Syracuse though he said he wouldn't name them yet. One obvious one is PK Erik Folk and another is Ronnie Fouch, who I would assume will make all the trips as the No. 3 QB even if he doesn't play this season.

LB Mason Foster also appears to be working his way into playing time, as may be Williams and fellow safety Victor Aiyewa and CB Vonzell McDowell and a couple of the running backs, especially Curtis Shaw and Brandon Johnson, the latter of whom is doing a lot of kick returning.

Willingham said Aiywea is still in the running for playing time at safety, along with Williams, saying "we're still looking at that position.''

Willingham said he anticipated today's scrimmage being more situational in nature than was the one on Saturday, when the Huskies played a regular half before going into situational drills.

The Huskies finished two-a-days Wednesday, and that was the topic of my story for today's paper which also has some notes about some positions still unsettled.

The Huskies will now practice just once a day as they begin preparation for the opener at Syracuse. Today is expected to be the team's last major scrimmage of the fall, one that figures to be important in determining how some of those unsettled positions will play out. It is closed to media and public, however.

The Huskies will practice Friday and Saturday, take Sunday off, then practice Monday and Tuesday, then fly to Syracuse on Wednesday, have a walk-through there next Thursday, and then play a game.

So the upshot is, UW has just five real practices left until it plays a game.

Speaking of Syracuse, here's the daily report on the Orange. You may notice the name of backup QB Cameron Dantley there --- he's the son longtime NBA star Adrian Dantley.

ALUMNI REPORT--- Damon Huard is in a big fight for the QB job at Kansas City with Brodie Croyle, but unfortunately it sounds as if he may not play in tonight's exhibition game.

--- Here's yet another look at how Reggie Williams may or may not fit in to the receiver situation at Jacksonville. The Jags will play on national TV tonight against Green Bay.

--- Dane Looker is cleared to return to practice in St. Louis.

--- Joe Toledo is still on the physically unable to perform list in Miami.

AROUND THE PAC-10
We'll try to link some more stories around the Pac-10 as the season hits full stride. Here are a few interesting ones we found today:

--- First is this column from our Bud Withers on the future of Bill Doba at Washington State.

--- There's also my story on Arizona as part of our Pac-10 preview.

--- Oregon State is going to go with two QBs in its opener and could go that route for a quite a while, according to head coach Mike Riley.

--- USC may have entered the season with 10 high school All-Americans at tailback, but suddenly it is down to just three healthy ones.

--- Here's an interesting column from Greg Hansen in Tucson on some interesting clauses in the contracts of some conference coaches.

PROGRAMMING NOTE (Added 9:30 a.m.) --- Meant to write earlier that for those of you who asked for an updated depth chart, I think I'll wait until Friday. We may know a few more things then about where some things stand following today's scrimmage. If not, I'll do it then anyway. An official depth should be released Monday.

The big news out of Tyrone Willingham's media briefing today is that linebacker E.J. Savannah is again fully eligible to play and is again the starter at weakside linebacker.

Savannah had been the backup at that position since the beginning of camp due to what apparently was some sort of academic issue. But whatever it is, it's cleared up now, Willingham said, saying that Savannah "should be fine'' for the opener and declaring that he is again the starter.

In other personnel news:

--- Byron Davenport again sat out practice but Willingham said it's still not too late for him to get back in the lineup for Syracuse.

--- Cody Ellis was again "very limited'' with an unknown injury.

--- Willingham acknowledged there is some sort of punishment being meted out to backup center Ryan Bush, who was reportedly running stairs during Tuesday's practice. Asked if Bush was not practicing because of injury Willingham said "different issue'' without elaborating.

--- Anthony Russo "fully participated'' in practice and should be ready for Syracuse, Willingham said. Russo is wearing a splint to protect his surgically repaired broken pinky, but otherwise is fine, Willingham said.

--- Brandon Yakaboski has been out with an undisclosed injury.

Willingham also elaborated on some position situations:

--- He said the second starting CB spot remains wide open.

--- Said Russo's return goes a long way toward solidifying the punt return spot, calling him "the odds-on favorite'' to handle the punt returns.

--- Said the kickoff return job remains open but that it is unlikely CB Roy Lewis will handle it again, as he did last year. Some of the younger players (Brandon Johnson in particular) figure in that position.

--- Said all the kicking positions are open but clarified that the punting job is down to Jared Ballman and Ryan Perkins, the kickoff job to Erik Folk and Ballman, and the PAT/FG job to Perkins and Ballman. "There are some nice combinations in place there,'' he said.

Today is the last of UW's two-a-days with one more practice this afternoon. We'll head out there and report back if there is anything of note.

AFTERNOON UPDATE:

Little to report from practice. Donald Butler wasn't doing anything in the part we saw and his knee was still wrapped so hard to tell where he really is. Otherwise, everyone seemed ready and accounted for, including Ryan Bush, who was taking part in all the regular team activities unlike Tuesday, when he was running stairs.

Davenport also still seemed slowed. But Russo was running around catching passes like before he was hurt, so he appears good to go.

Also, Yakaboski appeared to be doing some stuff with the RBs, so whatever the injury is that held him out of the full-contact practice in the morning (just helmets, shoulder pads and shorts this afternoon) didn't seem overly serious.

Also, one interesting note from the earlier session I forgot is Willingham's assertion that the backup RB job is still undecided. Sounds as if J.R. Hasty is beginning to feel the heat there.

There's little access to the team today. Tyrone Willingham will hold a press briefing this afternoon, and that's it, so there won't be a whole lot of news on the blog.

Not that there's nothing to discuss as I return to full-time duty here after a few days off. I see Bud Withers' note on Kent Baer and turnovers elicited a lively discussion.

I wrote about that same topic a week ago in a little more depth, including Baer's thoughts that practicing to force turnovers does only so much good.

As I wrote in that story, UW may get more this season simply due to the odds --- consider that UW's opponents fumbled the ball 19 times last season yet the Huskies recovered only four. A few better bounces of the ball and the Huskies could just double that total this season. And how much difference could that make in the season?

Bud also wrote today about Johnie Kirton and Cory Nicol, the latter topic hopefully fulfilling the request of a reader who asked here a few days ago for more information on him.

Bud also filed this camp glance which includes the news on Willingham's tightening of the info he will release on injuries. Obviously that makes our jobs a lot harder as reporters, so it's just as obviously nothing I'm thrilled to hear.

But I also think there's a greater issue here that can't be completely ignored. UW is a huge public institution charging hefty prices to see its most visible product --- its football team --- and I think there is a certain right-to-know that the public has about the product that will be fielded each week. But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe fans only care what happens as long as the team wins.

We also continued our series on the Pac-10 today with this look at Stanford.

Meanwhile, here's the latest from Syracuse, including an item about all the injuries and illnesses that have hit the team.

I didn't find much new on UW alums today, but there is some interesting news around the Pac-10:

--- Oregon State star WR Sammie Stroughter is taking a leave of absence giving the Beavers yet another personnel hit since the season began. I'm beginning to wonder about my pick of the Beavers as a top five conference team this season.

--- There's also this from Oregon where Phil Knight has donated $100 million to the athletic department. It's mostly for a new basketball arena, but hard to believe it won't impact the entire department in some way. Not that it would be realistic to ask for something similar, but that's the kind of thing UW is going to need from someone (or some corporation or business, maybe) to get its Husky Stadium renovation off the ground.

--- I'd have to do some heavy thinking (which isn't really my style, anyway) to come up with a definitive list of top five games in Husky history. I just figured those two Orange Bowl games would be on a lot of people's lists when I threw that out there Tuesday. But I would think that the 1961, 78 and 92 Rose Bowls would all be contenders as well, along with the 91 Nebraska game, the 2000 Miami game, the 92 Nebraska game, the 90 USC game, the 77 USC game, the 84 Michigan game, and maybe the 81 USC game.

More today from Bud Withers, who's subbing for Bob Condotta:

One aspect of his defense that UW coordinator Kent Baer would like to see improve is that of takeaways. But he's not sure exactly how to go about it. Baer doesn't buy the theory that it's something easily practiced.

Referring to Mike Holmgren's late defensive guru Fritz Shurmur, Baer said, "I got to spend some time with him at clinics and read his book. He said he was always amazed at how defensive coordinators try to come up with drills [for takeaways]. The bottom line is, they just happen."

But Baer concedes, "When you start creating turnovers, it's like wildfire. It happens even more."

Washington created only 14 takeaways last year and was eighth in turnover margin in the Pac-10, committing 22 turnovers. The Huskies recovered only four opponent fumbles.

"I've been on teams where they had a whole lot of turnovers and scored a whole lot of points," Baer said. "And I've been on teams where we emphasized it just as much and didn't get them."

In other news:

While UW coach Tyrone Willingham let float the hint that Washington could use both quarterbacks, Jake Locker and Carl Bonnell, while games are in question, it's clear where his sentiment lies.

"I think leadership is best when you have a real vision of that leader," Willingham said. "I think it would be very difficult for us to have two head coaches. I would think it would be very difficult to have two quarterbacks extend their leadership on a football team."

I'm still away for one more day, but couldn't resist pulling out the computer and happened to see that the Miami Hurricanes are leaving the Orange Bowl after this season, which likely means the end to that stadium's days as a football facility.

This struck me oddly sad as the Orange Bowl always seemed such a glamorous place to me as a kid --- the first Super Bowl I remember watching is Super Bowl V which was played there featuring Dallas and Baltimore.

It was something of a personal highlight when I got to finally cover a game there when the Huskies played Miami in 2001.

So much of the night, all I could think about was all the football history that had taken place there, including the Joe Namath guarantee game, Lynn Swann's catch in Super Bowl X, that incredible Miami-San Diego playoff game in 1982, and all those Orange Bowl games, including UW's win over Oklahoma in 1985.

When that game ended and we headed to the locker room, amidst the chaos of a 65-7 loss and an overly rowdy crowd, I remember trying to figure out if this was the same locker room Namath headed into with his index finger held high, which remains one of the most indelible images in football history (I think it was).

It could be argued that two of Washington's five or so most memorable wins happened there --- that Orange Bowl and the Whammy in Miami in 1994 --- so I figured UW fans might want to make a nod to the stadium's probable passing as a revelant sports facility.

Okay, enough with the nostalgia.

Here's the story Bud Withers wrote today in my absence, leading off with Washington's attempts to get ready for the expected heat in Syracuse.

I've also been remiss in not linking our Pac-10 previews. Here's today's entry on Cal.

Here are previous entries on UCLA and USC. Stories on the rest of the teams will run later in the week.

Bob Condotta's taking a couple of days off. The following note is from Times reporter Bud Withers:

After a light Sunday, the Huskies returned to the field for two practices today, coaches lamenting that the weather isn't helping them get a team ready for what could be warm September games.

"We always want it a little bit hotter," said offensive coordinator Tim Lappano. "It makes (players) fight through it. It tests you more mentally, and coaches like to see that."

Lappano has come to grips with the Seattle weather, maintaining that even on warmer days, the "air conditioner comes in the afternoon" â€" breezes that cool the air.

UW head coach Tyrone Willingham said he handed out no gold jersey â€" emblematic of standout performance â€" after the Saturday scrimmage.

Syracuse, the Huskies' opening opponent in New York in Aug. 31, lost a potential standout over the weekend when middle linebacker Jermaine Pierce was ruled out of football with a blood-clotting issue. Pierce, of Norristown, Pa., had attended prep school and was considered the Orange's best recruit.

Huskies defensive coordinator Kent Baer says he thinks linebacker Mason Foster â€" who has gotten heavy work lately with Donald Butler sitting out some with knee problems â€" "is going to be a tremendous football player someday."

Baer said Foster, of Seaside, Calif., had a productive scrimmage Saturday.
"He can run, and he's fairly physical," Baer said, before adding, "At that position, you've got a lot to learn."

One of the most competitive positions on the UW team remains at left tackle, where returning starter Ben Ossai is battling to hold off Cody Habben of Skyline High. The starter could be determined in a scrimmage Thursday.

The Huskies return to work today with two practices after taking Sunday off (they held meetings and such but didn't hit the field).

This is one of just two two-a-days left --- the final one is Wednesday. The Huskies are likely to hold a last scrimmage on Thursday and then, believe it or not, begin gameweek preparation for Syracuse, which obviously has a slightly different feel to it with it being a Friday night game three time zones away. UW will be traveling to Syracuse a week from Wednesday, meaning their pre-season work here in Seattle will be done in eight days.

So the season is getting close.

Someone asked how the punters looked and whether any of them stood out above the others. Not really. Jared Ballman and Ryan Perkins were better than walk-on Kiel Rasp, but I didn't sense much of a difference between Ballman and Perkins. Perkins had the best-looking punt, one that boomed high into the air and went for about 45 yards or so. That's the one Louis Rankin muffed (not sure we'll really see him much as a returner this year), and I didn't get exactly what yard line he was at when he did that, so I don't have the exact distance of the punt better than that.

Ballman had a punt that was longer, going for 49 yards, but it was one that went 38-40 yards and then got a good roll. Neither of them, frankly, looked like they did anything to win the position.

Someone else commented on the receivers and that Corey Williams will end up as a starter. Personally, I think designating the five seniors as starters or backups this year will be somewhat a matter of semantics. Those guys will rotate quite a bit, and who starts which game could often be due merely to what play the team runs first. But I would agree that Williams is emerging as a go-to receiver, and right now, if I had to guess who would catch the most passes this season, I'd think it would be him, Marcel Reece and Anthony Russo.

Finally, on the kickers, the Huskies no doubt have to hope someone steps forward to claim that job, and then performs consistently, so as not to be reminded of Michael Braunstein, who as one reader noted, appeared to have a good day for Ohio the other day. I think we've said all there is to say about why Braunstein is gone so I'm done with that aspect of it. But it'll certainly be an interesting subplot in the eyes of some this season.

Also, I see that Scout.com had an update on Devin Aguilar and Anthony Boyles. In essence, both are still studying to retake the ACT Sept. 15, as has been previously reported. Aguilar, however, is in Seattle and was apparently at the scrimmage on Saturday. As has been the thought all along, there's a much better chance that Aguilar makes it in this year than Boyles, who seems to have a lot more ground to make up on his test.

ALUMNI UPDATE

--- Here's a look at the situation facing Reggie Williams after he barely played the other night. I had this bizarre thought the other night that it's possible Isaiah Stanback will have a better NFL career as a receiver than Williams.

--- Sounds as if Marques Tuiasosopo will have a lot of trouble making the Jets' roster. Anybody else watch David Greene the other night and think maybe the local team ought to bring Tuiasosopo home if the Jets don't want him?

--- Dashon Goldson is out for a week or so with a strained ligament in his elbow.

--- Stanley Daniels was cut the other day by the Jets.

A BRIEF PROGAMMING NOTE: I'm actually out of town on a family commitment for the next two days and won't be at Husky practice (I also prefer to look at it as doing my civic duty by being off I-5 for a couple mornings). But you can still check the blog for any major breaking news that might occur from Montlake as Bud Withers will be checking in out there and will file reports as needed.

Hard to believe there's just 12 days until they finally play a game, huh?

Actually, for those of us in Seattle it's really beginning to feel like football season.

Saturday's scrimmage not only whetted the appetite but gave us a clearer view of the Huskies as they enter the home stretch of camp.

That said, here's how the depth chart appears to look right now. I'm leaving in injured guys who had previously earned spots (Afoa, Russo, etc.) and we'll talk about those positions that appear most unsettled below.

OFFENSE
QB Jake Locker Fr. Carl Bonnell Sr.
RB Louis Rankin Sr. J.R. Hasty So.
FB Paul Homer So. Luke Kravitz Jr.
WR Anthony Russo Sr. Corey Williams Sr. D'Andre Goodwin Fr.
WR Marcel Reece Sr. Quintin Daniels Sr. Cody Ellis Sr.
TE Michael Gottlieb Jr and/or Johnie Kirton Jr. and/or Robert Lewis Sr..
LT Cody Habben Fr. Ben Ossai So.
LG Ryan Tolar Fr Jordan White-Frisbee Jr.
C Juan Garcia Sr. Ryan Bush Jr.
RG Casey Bulyca Jr. Morgan Rosborough So. and/or Matt Sedillo Fr.
RT Chad Macklin Sr. Erik Berglund Sr.
PK Erik Folk Fr./Ryan Perkins So.

DEFENSE
DE Daniel Te'o-Nesheim Jr. Darrion Jones Jr. and/or De'Shon Matthews
DT Jordan Reffett Sr. Derek Kosub Fr. and/or Jovon O'Connor Jr.
DT Wilson Afoa Sr. Cameron Elisara Fr.
DE Greyson Gunheim Sr. Caesar Rayford Sr.
OLB Dan Howell Sr. Matt Houston Fr.
ILB Donald Butler So. Trenton Tuiasiosopo Jr. Mason Foster Fr.
ILB Chris Stevens Jr. E.J.Savannah So.
CB Cory Nicol So. Matt Mosley Fr. Byron Davenport Jr.
CB Roy Lewis Sr. Desmond Davis Jr. and/or Vonzell McDowell Fr.
FS Jason Wells Jr. Jay Angotti So.
SS Mesphin Forrester Jr. Darin Harris Sr.
P Jared Ballman Jr./Ryan Perkins So.

COMMENTS: I'm struck by the fact that there's really been little change in most areas other than the offensive line. Most of the rest of the changes are due to injuries.

The big questions remaining are at LT where Habben and Ossai are battling it out --- I figure a rotation could be in the offing there; and cornerback, where there could also be a lot of experimentation until an answer is found, and where much also depends on the health of Davenport; and both kicker spots, which seem to still be wide open although the sense I get is that the PK job will be Folk's as soon as he's healthy since he seems to have the strongest leg.

A couple of other interesting positions are:

--- Middle linebacker, where it's beginning to be worth wondering how serious Donald Butler's knee injury is. Everyone has downplayed it, but it's two weeks into camp and he didn't go through the scrimmage and he's apparently been in-and-out of the lineup. You wonder if that's why Mason Foster is getting such a good look there if they think they may need some depth;

--- Backup running back, where J.R. Hasty again didn't do much in a scrimmage situation while some of the freshmen did. Coaches have indicated Hasty has the edge due to his experience, which is particularly crucial in handling blocking assignments in the passing game.

--- Tight end. I really can't tell if anyone has the lead there. They all seemed to play about the same amount Saturday, but Tim Lappano also said they took out much of the offense that revolved around that position. Unless someone steps forward, that may remain a real situational position.

--- Backup defensive line. De'Shon Matthews obviously made a huge run at more time with his play Saturday. Darrion Jones also had some nice moments. Cameron Elisara filled in for Afoa making it obvious he's the No. 3 tackle right now which means he's sure to get a lot of time.

--- Here's a story I wrote today on Jordan Reffett focusing on his status as the only player on the team who is living the life of a true family man, with a wife, a kid and a house. He truly seems worthy of the most inspirational player award he was given last season.

--- Here also is the scrimmage report that also includes a note with tragic news on Matt Lingley, who played for the Huskies for a few years (2000-2002) and was killed in an auto accident on Friday.

--- Here's a good story on the really nice Cowboys debut turned in by Isaiah Stanback, who had two catches, including a touchdown.

Sorry for the disjointed presentation of this today but the scrimmage ran a little late for my early deadlines and I didn't have much time to get stuff up here initially while dealing with the stories for the paper.

Here are some additional notes and quotes

First, here are some thoughts from offensive coordinator Tim Lappano.

On Jake Locker: "I thought he really settled in nicely in the second quarter. He showed a lot of athleticism, made a lot of good decisions, threw the ball pretty accurate. Started out a little bit rugged but I think everyone was a little nervous in there including our centers for whatever reason. But I thought he settled in pretty well, threw the ball well, had a couple nice scrambles. We didn't want to run him much today. To me he looked fast out there. We looked like we were on practice number 14 or 15, I thought we looked sluggish from my view up there (in the coaches box) but he looked pretty fast. Thought he looked real quick.''

On the offensive line: "Obviously we struggled. We got three or four holding calls, two really critical holding calls when we were moving the ball against our one defense. We can't have sloppy hands. That was the first time we've had officials in and I'm glad we had them and we're probably going to need them next week, too.''

On the three bad shotgun snaps: "There's no excuse for that. We come out every day and practice those snaps and then we do that in a game situation, you can't win games like that so we have to get those snaps taken care of. There's no excuses for that. That kills you.''

On the freshman running backs: "I thought they all had their moments. I thought Willie Griffin got downhill a couple times during the regular part of it, a couple of nice runs where he showed nice vision inside and ran pretty physical, broke a couple of tackles. Curtis Shaw showed some speed and had some nice runs. Brandon Johnson hit a couple of holes nice. You could tell he had some camp legs because he couldn't get his feet up a couple of times when he had a chance to really do some damage. You could tell he didn't have his legs back. And Brandon Yakaboski I thought ran really physical. He slammed it in there a couple of times and ran hard. They all showed glimpses they could be pretty good backs in the future here.''

On whether J.R. Hasty is still the backup running back: "We'll probably make that decision after we look at this and grade this film tonight. There are a lot of plays to look at and grade. This will be pretty critical for all that to help us sort that out.''

On the fact the tight ends didn't do much: "There were some things we've been working on we didn't put out there so a lot of that involves them and the quarterbacks. They won't normally be that quiet but we were limited in what we did today.''

On Louis Rankin: "I thought he did a pretty good job, ran in there pretty good and was running pretty physical and I think he knows he needs to do that to be effective.''

On whether Chris Izbicki may play this year: "That would be hard. I think we have a lot of depth there and that would be hard for him. But he's working hard, he plays hard, he's competitive and we'll see what happens. But I don't know if we'll take four (tight ends). We always take three.''

On whether the O-line that started the scrimmage is emerging as the starting O-line: "I'd say pretty much so. I think the majority of that O-line will be the starters against Syracuse. There's still some evaluation that that left tackle spot. We'll see. But that could be the starting group. Again, we'll look at the film to see how those guys grade out. That will be pretty critical. This was good for us to get grades on those guys and really analyze it.''

More on the passing game: "We had a lot of dropped balls today. I thought Carl (Bonnell) threw the ball well too. They both missed a few but they also both made some nice throws that weren't caught. That's fatigue. They are tired, so.''

SOME OTHER OBSERVATIONS:

--- As several of you pointed out, DE De'Shon Matthews had a nice day with at least one sack, a few more hurries and a forced fumble when he hit Griffin hard in the situational stuff that followed the formal scrimmage. "He's just steadily coming,'' Willingham said, though he pointed out that Matthews is "one of our long-armed guys'' who needs to continue to put on weight. He is listed at 6-3, 245 pounds.

--- As Lappano mentioned above, the playbook was a little vanilla with a lot of basic plays. I wouldn't judge the offensive philosophy until they play a game or two and you see how things unfold. Scrimmages are not the time to unveil a lot of that stuff. We've seen some much more imaginative stuff, particularly in running plays involving the quarterbacks, just in snippets of practice that we get to watch than was out there today.

--- Overall, I would say the D-line did get the upper hand on the offensive line. But these things are always a little hard to judge. The defense knows the plays well while a lot of the offense was kept underwraps. Also, the defense doesn't blitz much or any of that, so it's all fairly basic. But when there was a mano a mano moment late in the scrimmage, on a third-and-one with the one offense against the one defense, the defense stuffed it for no gain.

--- Rankin fumbled one punt and the return spots still seem a little unclear. Roy Lewis wasn't used at all with Brandon Johnson getting most of the kickoff return touches, returning one about 30 yards. I think Russo will be in the mix for the punt return job and it seemed obvious today there is no real clear runner-up at the moment. Johnson, however, did seem to show a lot of potential as a kickoff returner.

--- Just based on what we saw today, I'd say true freshmen who have good chances of playing this season include two or three of the RBs, LB Mason Foster, CB Vonzell McDowell and S Nate Williams.

--- Cameron Elisara started on the D-line with Wilson Afoa out. Trenton Tuiasosopo started at MLB with Donald Butler out, and Cory Nicol was the other starting cornerback.

--- Michael Gottlieb was the tight end on the first play but all three of the regular TEs played significantly. I think that's a position that will rotate quite a bit based on situations this year.

All for now but fire away with questions or comments and I'll try to get to them later.

Washington's open scrimmage has just wrapped up. Here are a few notes and observations:

--- There appeared to be no new major injuries, though a number of players sat out including WR Anthony Russo, CB Byron Davenport, DT Wilson Afoa, LB Donald Butler, DE Caesar Rayford, OL Matt Sedillo and WR Cody Ellis. Not sure of the injury involved with some of the new names on the list. Also true frosh DL Tyrone Duncan didn't suit up with his shoulder wrapped. UW coach Tyrone Willingham said later that none of the new injuries were serious and would hold players out of the Syracuse game.

--- In the formal scrimmage portion, the Purple team (the one offense and two defense) beat the Gold team (two offense, one defense) 14-12. The big plays were a 57-yard TD pass from Jake Locker to Marcel Reece, a 7-yard TD run by Locker and a 39-yard TD pass from Carl Bonnell to Charles Hawkins. They then added an OT session for whatever reason Purple team turned the ball over on a Locker pass that was interception by Dan Howell with the Gold then kicking a field goal by Ryan Perkins. Worth noting that Locker's pass appeared to go through the hands of D'Andre Goodwin and right to a waiting Howell.

--- There was a lot of sloppiness early, including three bad shotgun snaps, including one that went for a safety. Only one was by starting center Juan Garcia, however, with the other two by backup Ryan Bush. He was replaced by walk-on Greg Christine after the second bad snap. "There's no excuse for that,'' said offensive coordinator Tim Lappano. "We'll get that taken care of.''

--- The kicking games were spotty, as well, with Jared Ballman and Ryan Perkins each going 1-2. Ballman hit from 24 and missed from 39, while Perkins missed from 41 and hit from 39.

--- The punting was also spotty and hard to tell who is the leader there. Perkins had one high punt that went for about 50 yards while most of Ballman's were shorter. Willingham sounded non-commital later when asked about the position.

--- In some real unofficial stats, I had Locker at 10-18 for 134 yards, one TD and one interception while Carl Bonnell was 8-17 for 145 yards. Louis Rankin had five carries for nine yards as the running game struggled at times.

--- However, Locker had 25 yards on four carries, and a lot of that part of the offense was kept under wraps. Also, Rankin had a 23-yard TD run and a 2-yard TD run in the situational stuff that happened after the formal scrimmage and coaches sounded pleased with his play. Rankin would surely look better if all of the spread option running game stuff were in there.

--- After some shakiness early, Locker completed seven of his last nine passes, including the 57-yard TD to Reece. This is now the second time in scrimmages we've seen him struggle early then rally the team late, once again showing some of those Marques Tuiasosopo-type intangibles.

--- Curtis Shaw was the most impressive of the young RBs with 28 yards on four carries. He did, however, have a fumble in the situational stuff that happened later. Willie Griffin also had some nice runs with 32 yards on six carries.

--- I had J.R. Hasty with 12 carries for five yards and it's possible he'll have to fight for the backup job. Lappano said afterward that a look at the film would determine who is the backup right now, which seemed a little more noncommital toward Hasty than previously.

UPDATE 6:05 --- Willingham said almost all the players who sat out probably could have played today except maybe Russo and Afoa. He said Duncan is out only a few days or so with an injury that occured yesterday.

--- His opening quote: "Overall I thought it was good. We did a decent job in a lot of places. Some of the confusion was my doing.''

--- On the players who sat out, he said "We're taking some precautions with our football team and thought it was the rigiht time to not play them.''

--- The starting offensive line was, left to right, Cody Habben, Ryan Tolar, Juan Garcia, Casey Bulyca and Chad Macklin. Lappano said that could be the starting group come the Syracuse game. When the team came back on the field after the first half, Ben Ossai took Habben's place at left tackle with the first unit. Lappano indicated that it is the one spot where there is still a lot of competition, though he said everything will be evaluated greatly based on the film of today.

--- Ossai had some rough moments early, getting beaten badly twice on outside rushes.

--- As I go through stuff and complete the stories for the paper I'll add a little more stuff so keep checking back.

MORE UPDATE

--- The second-team offensive line was, left to right, Ossai, Jordan White-Frisbee, Ryan Bush, Morgan Rosborough and Erik Berglund.

--- With Davenport out, the starting cornerback opposite Roy Lewis was walk-on Cory Nicol. He appeared to be beaten on the long TD to Reece, though it was a play-action and the safety on the play was also out of position. That appeared to be true freshman Nate Williams.

--- True freshman Mason Foster got a lot of action at MLB with Butler out and appears to be on the way to having a role with this team.

--- Lappano said true freshman Chris Izbicki is a likely redshirt candidate, barring injury, saying it would be hard to take more than three tight ends.

--- Yes, there was a fun play where Rankin threw a 13-yard pass on a halfback option to Locker. It could easily have gone for more but Locker was off limits to contact and was down at a mere touch.

Not much to report out here today.

Tyrone Willingham met briefly with the media before practice in a session that was scheduled before it was announced that today's practice would be open to the public. Since this practice is open, he will also meet with us afterward when there will be a lot more to say.

I wrote kind of a quick overview of the team, position by position, for today's paper. You can find that here.

I'll have more after the practice if not before.

Although there is very little to update.

The Huskies were in shoulder pads and shorts, so there wasn't much activity in the portion we saw. Everybody looked able and accounted for.

Anthony Russo was again running routes and catching passes in the early warmups and looked good.

FB Paul Homer wore the gold jersey, as he had in the earlier practice.

OT Chad Macklin appears back to full strength, telling me earlier in the day his knee got "a little squished'' during a short-yardage drill the other day, so he took it easy for a couple of days. But he said he's good to go now.

Tyrone Willingham said a few players may not participate in the Saturday scrimmage, including Byron Davenport, Wilson Afoa and Russo.

As I wrote earlier, tomorrow will tell a lot from a personnel standpoint. I wouldn't expect to see the entire playbook or anything, although it hasn't been a secret since the day Jake Locker committed that the Huskies were going to use him as a runner quite a bit, so even if you don't see that much tomorrow, you're probably going to see that a lot come the season.

The Huskies hit the field this morning for a practice that coach Tyrone Willingham said "was good. ... Maybe not quite as efficient as I'd like but the energy was good.''

And in what is always the best news it appears that the Huskies made it through unscathed.

In fact, UW is on track to getting one of its injured players back as CB Byron Davenport went through most of the drills for the first time since injuring his hamstring more than week ago.

Davenport said he's still taking it a little easy, not going into a full burst, but that he feels he's on track to be full go by the opener at Syracuse.

Willingham elaborated a bit on the format for the open practice tomorrow, saying it will involve a lot of scrimmaging. Sounds as if the team will play a normal half of football, then take a brief "halftime'' break and then return for a half of situational scrimmaging (two-minute drill, etc.).

But there will be officials, and a clock, so it should be pretty interesting to those who want to come out.

Willingham said he will be one of the officials, in large part to make sure that there the quarterbacks don't get into any undue danger --- they will still be off-limits to contact.

As for the question of whether the Huskies will limit the playbook with the practice being open, Willingham joked that he assumes that "it's all Huskies'' who will be in attendance and that they will take care of those who look like they aren't Huskies. I'd read it as if the playbook will be scaled down a bit. But it will still be interesting to get a good gauge of personnel.

Willingham also talked a little bit about the backup defensive linemen. UW's front four is set, but the backups are almost all inexperienced players and Willingham admitted that's a bit of a concern. "We're still not there yet,'' he said of the backups. "We're not as physical or as knowledgable as we'd like to be.''

I wrote about UW's senior receiving corps for today, partiuclarly the four seniors left from the Class of 2003, a group that has always gotten a lot of attention. Fairly or unfairly, that group will always be known for being part of the "seven-receiver class'' a phrase I see and read all the time when talking about the Class of 2003.

Also today is our camp glance, including a little Q-and-A with Cody Ellis with the fun news that he and roommate Anthony Russo have watched the movie Anchorman three straight nights.

IN OTHER NEWS:

--- Isaiah Stanback beat Champ Bailey for a deep pass in Dallas' practice yesterday and is expected to play in Saturday's game.

--- The East Valley Tribune, a paper in the Phoenix area, has this preview of the Huskies.
Nothing you don't already know but it is always interesting to get an outsider's perspective.

--- Matt Hayes of The Sporting News thinks that UCLA could win the national title this season.

--- It was mentioned on here yesterday that Jonathan Stewart was hurt again at Oregon. Sounds now like he's okay.

--- Here's everything you might want to know about Syracuse, including details of the team's scrimmage the other day.

--- As for the counter not working, I have no idea --- we're still having a few glitches in all of our blogs --- but I'll pass that on.

Sounds like a pretty clean practice for the Huskies Thursday as Tyrone Willingham met with us and said there was little new on the injury front --- which this time of year often tends to be the main topic of news.

CB Byron Davenport (hamstring) is still out, but the good news was that WR Anthony Russo is progressing quickly, as detailed in the earlier post.

"He's doing well,'' Willingham said. "He's moving pretty quick.''

PK Erik Folk is beginning to do more, but Willingham said the kicking jobs are still up in the air. If the team played a game today, he said Jared Ballman would probably do the kicking. But Willingham said he'd like not to have one player handle both kicking and punting (Ballman is also in the race to be the punter).

"I like to have two different guys,'' he said. "The leg actions are different and sometimes it's difficult to change.''

Willingham said that's a job that could go down to the last minute, even to gameday. Teams are allowed to take more players to non-conference games, and the Huskies could take multiple kickers and decide once there.

Willingham also said that true freshman RB Curtis Shaw missed some of practice due to an injury, though he said he couldn't detail what the injury was.

I also asked Willingham about Chris Izbicki since that was a question posed here earlier. He said Izbicki is like a lot of the other freshmen in suffering "information overload'' and having their game slow down considerably while learning the playbook. But he also said there's plenty of opportunity at tight end. "We're still looking for that dominant tight end,'' he said.

PRACTICE OPEN SATURDAY --- Another reminder that Saturday's 2:30 p.m. practice is open to all.

I talked to Anthony Russo this morning and he told me he was making quick progress on his recovery from a broken pinky and would "definitely'' be playing in the opener against Syracuse.

Just how quick he seems to be progressing was evident in the opening stages of the afternoon practice as Russo was in full uniform and running through plays and catching passes.

His hand is still heavily wrapped and the stitches don't come out for a few more days, but he said he plans to get back to full activity as quickly as possible.

"I'm drinking a lot of milk trying to get the bones strong,'' he said.

He said he took the wrap off his hand Wednesday so he could catch a few passes.

"Me being stubborn I tested it and took it off and caught one or two easy ones,'' he said. "It didn't hurt at all.''

As for the rest of what we saw, Chad Macklin was back with the first offensive line, which looked like this from left to right --- Cody Habben, Ryan Tolar, Juan Garcia, Casey Bulyca and Macklin.

The second line looked like this --- Ben Ossai, Morgan Rosborough, Gregory Christine, Matt Sedillo and Erik Berglund. I also saw Jordan White-Frisbee sub in for Rosborough and Ryan Bush for Christine, meaning those players could be 2A and 2B at those spots, as coach Tyrone Willingham said the other day in reference to JWF.

DT Wilson Afoa was still in red nursing his shoulder injury.

The four players in gold were FB Paul Homer, DE Daniel Te'o-Nesheim, CB Roy Lewis and FS Jason Wells.

Check back for more later from Willingham's post-practice briefing.

Here are a few notes from UW coach Tyrone Willingham's session with the media this afternoon:

--- OT Chad Macklin, who we noted didn't take part in what we saw of Wednesday's practice, was sitting out with a slight knee injury suffered when he banged knees with another player, Willingham said. It doesn't sound serious.

--- Willingham said Casey Bulyca is making a push to reclaim a starting guard spot, which jibes with what we saw on Wednesday. Matt Sedillo was not in the two-deeps Wednesday because he is nursing "a little injury,'' Willingham said. He said Sedillo is still right in the mix for a spot in the rotation.

--- DT Wilson Afoa remains out with a shoulder injury but could be back soon.

--- Willingham confirmed that true freshman LB Mason Foster is making a run at playing time this season. Foster ran with the No. 1 dime defense during practice Wednesday, apparently taking the place of Donald Butler, who remains in-and-out of the lineup with a knee injury. Willingham said he didn't want to call Foster's play "surprising'' but that "his play has been very promising'' both in his knowledge and execution of the system.

--- Willingham said Saturday's open practice will include some scrimmaging.

--- Willingham also said that walk-on DB Jared Fagan of Eastlake has left the team. That's two defections so far, both walk-ons. It's unlikely anyone will be added until school starts.

BTW --- Here's the official roster for Central Washington University, released today, showing a few ex-Huskies, including Chris Hemphill, Durrell Moss, Charles Smith, Jared Bronson and Chris Rohrbach.

Husky cornerback Jordan Murchison plead not guilty this morning in King County Court to a charge of felony second-degree assault.

He will have a pre-trail hearing Aug. 30.

This is the court date Murchison had missed earlier this summer that resulted in a warrant being issued for his arrest. He turned himself in last week.

He has been indefinitely suspended from the team and it is unclear if or when he may return. UW coach Tyrone Willingham indicated this week that he would wait until the legal process plays out before deciding Murchison's status with the team, though he also said he reserved the right to change his mind.

Here's a story with background on Murchison's situation.

UPDATE --- Could probably be pointed out, as well, that his pre-trial hearing of Aug. 30 is the day before UW plays at Syracuse --- and a day after the Huskies will leave. So he can probably be ruled out of that game. And as the story above indicates, Murchison also has a September court date on his other case.

I wrote about long snapper Danny Morovick and the oddity that both of the long snappers in the UW-Syracuse game are from Mission Viejo, Calif., and Saddleback CC. Though, as I point out, they don't really know each other since they were never there at the same time and went to different schools.

Included in the story is some info on the team's kicking situation, which might answer the questions of poster Cheeves who wanted to know about the specialist.

All the kicking jobs appear still up for grabs. But in talking with special teams coach Bob Simmons Wednesday, he made a point of praising the strong leg of Erik Folk even in the limited time he's had to show his stuff so far. That leads me to think he's got a really good shot at the PK jobs if he can get healthy.

Of the other two competing for the PK job, Simmons said Jared Ballman has shown more distance than Ryan Perkins so sounds like Ballman could be the guy if Folk doesn't get healthy.

The punting job seems a little more up in the air, with Ballman, Perkins and walk-on Kiel Rasp all competing there.

Said Simmons: "Ballman is better than he was in the spring. Perkins has really fought to come back and done a nice job. And Rasp has a lot of potential. It's just a matter of him learning the drop.''

As for the returners, I think a lot still depends on what they decide on Roy Lewis. Sounds as if they'd like to not use him this year but they need to feel confident in other options (D'Andre Goodwin, Curtis Shaw are among those trying out). Anthony Russo was also in that mix but is obviously now sidelined. I think a lot is still uncertain there.

As mentioned in the story, Carl Bonnell is again the holder.

OTHER NOTES:

--- Someone asked about Cameron Elisara. He's definitely in the mix to get in the rotation on the D-line. It's unlikely he'll start since those are pretty set positions with vets. But he's doing well and is certain to play a lot this season I would think. As for Chris Izbicki, too early to say for sure, but given that there are three experienced guys at TE he could be in line for a redshirt season. No matter how highly-recruited guys are, it's still hard to come right in and win a job, especially ones that involve a lot of blocking.

--- ESPN's Ivan Maisel predicts UW will play Wyoming in the Armed Forces Bowl. So get ready for New Year's Eve in Fort Worth, Texas (maybe that means we could all at least take in the Cotton Bowl the next day just for fun).

--- Here's a really good resource for all your Syracuse football needs. Donnie Webb does a nice job with his blog and all here. Also sounds as if Syracuse may have found a new running back.

--- Here's the latest on Isaiah Stanback.

--- Here's a good feature on Olin Kreutz that includes a long list of Hawaii players in the NFL, which makes it clear why so many schools try hard to recruit over there.

--- Finally, I haven't done much linking to other stories around the conference, but I may do that now that the season is nearing. Here's an interesting look at Oregon State's WR situation with Sammie Stroughter still mysteriously AWOL.

--- Actually, there's also this from the LA Daily News that USC RB Emmanuel Moody will transfer, possibly to Oklahoma State. The dangers of bringing in 10 high school All-American RBs.

The Huskies began their afternoon workout with a little two-minute drill that gave an indication of where a few positions may stand personnel-wise.

The No. 1 offensive line consisted of, from left to right, Ben Ossai, Ryan Tolar, Juan Garcia, Casey Bulyca and Cody Habben.

The odd name out there is Chad Macklin. Macklin was there and appeared to be available as he was standing behind the coaches, but he didn't run with the first group. Could just be a training camp experiment.

But that seems to indicate that Ossai, Habben and Macklin are the top three tackles, and that Bulyca has re-emerged as a starter ahead of Matt Sedillo.

Interestingly, Sedillo wasn't with the second group, either, as that consisted of, from left to right, Erik Berglund, Morgan Rosborough, Ryan Bush, Jordan White-Frisbee and Ossai.

Also of note was that J. R. Hasty was the No. 2 running back.

The defense ran a dime, meaning six defensive backs. The six were Roy Lewis, Mesphin Forrester, Jason Wells, Vonzell McDowell, Cory Nicol and Matt Mosley.

Byron Davenport didn't run with either group as he appears to still be limited with his hamstring injury. He did stretching off to the side of the rest of the team talking with trainers most of the time and even jogging appeared a little slow.

The most intruiging thing on the defense was seeing true freshman Mason Foster running with the linebackers. Again, this was a dime defense and Donald Butler has been bothered by a knee injury so I'm not sure I'd read much more into it other than that Foster is likely to have had some good practices of late.

Speaking of JWF, Tyrone Willingham said earlier in the day that he was running "two, two-and-a-half'' at left guard. Asked how he is doing in cutting weight, Willingham said that all the demoted guys have been doing a good job of getting in shape since camp began.

"But that's not an easy thing to do,'' he said.

That Bulyca appears to be back with the first team seems further proof he is making progress in that regard.

Other than whatever may have been going on with Macklin --- which might not have been an injury --- there didn't appear to be any new injuries. We don't get access to Willingham again until tomorrow.

FSN HUSKIES PREVIEW TONIGHT: FSN will debut its half-hour preview show on the Huskies tonight at 8:30 p.m. It will also be shown seven other times over the next two weeks so check listings if you want to see it.

Talked briefly to Dominique Blackman, a quarterback from Carson High School who recently committed to Washington, who confirmed reports that he has been temporarily suspended from the team.

But Blackman said he expects to soon be a member of the team again and to be playing for Carson this season.

"I'm learning from this,'' he said, calling it a case of being "in the wrong place at the right time'' --- no details were offered --- and that he understands that "I'm supposed to be a leader of the team.''

He said he doesn't expect this situation to impact his future with the Huskies, saying he has talked to some of UW's coaches and that he "owned up'' to what had happened.

The 6-5, 230-pound Blackman is rated as the No. 14 quarterback in the nation in the class of 2008 by Scout.com and said he chose UW after also seriously considering Arizona and LSU. He threw for 14 TDs and ran for eight last year.

UW coaches cannot comment on Blackman until he signs a letter-of-intent.

IN OTHER NOTES:

--- Not much to report from UW today. The Huskies apparently had a pretty physical practice this morning but coach Tyrone Willingham said he didn't think there were any new significant injuries. CB Byron Davenport remains sidelined and DT Wilson Afoa (shoulder) was also out, though he is expected back soon. Willingham also said that LB Donald Butler has been "in and out'' of the lineup while recovering from off-season knee surgery.

--- There were four players in gold today --- WR Corey Williams (an almost daily winner), DE Daniel Te'o-Nesheim, CB Roy Lewis and S Jason Wells.

--- Willingham singled out walk-on WR Sho Yoshinaga for his effort to date. Not so much that he's likely to see much playing time but just for the all-around play be brings every day to practice.

I wrote about Washington's quest to try to get more turnovers this season as my main story today.

It's not accurate to say it's a "renewed emphasis'' or anything like that since every team I've ever been around has done all it can to get turnovers, including this one. But I found it an interesting topic given who much trouble UW had getting turnovers last season --- as I pointed out, UW gained just 14 TOs, which ranked last in the Pac-10 behind even Stanford.

Most amazing to me was UW's fumbles recovered --- the Huskies got just four last season, fewer than all but one other team in the country. Amazingly, UW's opponents fumbled 19 times (with the Huskies officially credited with forcing 13) so in some cases, the ball probably just didn't bounce UW's way.

Get that number going in the other direction just a little and it could mean really good things for UW this season.

Making all this even more interesting is that UW defensive coordinator Kent Baer oversaw the Notre Dame defense that in 2002 recovered 33 turnovers, a key reason that team went 10-3. As Baer said in the story, he's not coaching much different . It all seems to indicate that as with most things in football, there's not just one easy answer. It takes coaching, players and a little luck all together.

ALUMNI REPORT
Not much out there today, but I did find a couple of things:

--- This story says Isaiah Stanback still has a lot to learn about playing receiver. Shouldn't really be a surprise, howevere, given he hasn't played the position since 2003.

--- Dane Looker is out a week or so with a back injury.

--- This Q-and-A on the Jaguars contains some decent analysis on Reggie Williams' situation.

--- Benji Olson is still slowed by a bad back.

The Huskies are set for two practices today so check back later for more from Montlake.

The Huskies conducted what was apparently one of their most intense sessions of the camp this afternoon, likely including a lot of scrimmaging.

The Huskies were on the field for about two-and-a-half hours, and UW coach Tyrone Willingham called it "a good session for us.''

Even better, sounds as if there were no new significant injuries.

Several players are still out, however, including DT Wilson Afoa and CB Byron Davenport.

Davenport has now been limited to only conditioning work for a week while nursing a hamstring injury and Willingham said it could be starting to affect his potential readiness for the season.

"Obviously he needs the work,'' Willingham said. "Having him miss practice is not a good thing for him or the team.''

In the good news department, PK Erik Folk appears to be recovering from the back spasms that held him out for a while. Willingham said he handled some kickoffs again today and appears to be able to do a little more each day.

Willingham also confirmed that walk-on RB Brandon Mezistrano of Newport High in Bellevue has elected to leave the team.

Nothing real earth-shattering out here today from UW coach Tyrone Willingham's daily press briefing.

He said DT Wilson Afoa is "day-to-day'' after sitting out Monday's practice but would not detail what the injury is.

On other personnel notes, he said a resolution to E.J. Savannah's situation could come at any time, but that it also could linger into the season and cost him some games, so still hard to read that one; and he said CB Byron Davenport is getting better every day but that he is beginning to miss enough time that it's putting into question how ready he will be for the season considering he's learning a new defense and still shaking the rust off not playing for a year-and-a-half;

He also said that there is likely to be nothing new on CB Jordan Murchison until after all the court dates play out. Since Murchison already has scheduled court dates into September, and likely more after that, sounds as if he may not be returning any time soon, though Willingham said he reserves the right to change his mind on that one at any time.

A lot of you have asked questions about which true freshmen may play this season, and some of us asked Willingham about some of them today. But he gave no definitive answers about any of them. He said the four RBs are all still in the learning stage, especially in picking up blocking, and it's still too early to tell which one or two may adapt best to that. Of the three frosh safeties (Victor Aiyewa, Nate Williams, Quinton Richardson) he pointed out how much there is to learn at that spot and indicated none of them have jumped out above any of the others in grasping the defense just yet.

He mentioned that all of the freshmen have hit the "mental wall'' of having "information overload.''

The Huskies are likely having one or two more scrimmages this week (including possibly doing some during Saturday's open practice) and I think those will go a long way toward determining which frosh will play this year.

UW has one practice set for this afternoon so we'll check in again after that.

PRACTICE UPDATE (4 p.m.): Not much to see during the first 25 minutes of practice (I know I've been writing that a lot lately, but unfortunately it's rather true).

Afoa was again wearing Red, but he was the only player (though Anthony Russo is also still out). But everyone else was in uniform, meaning guys like Davenport were at least trying to give it a go. EDIT: Just to be clear on Afoa, I see it's reported elsewhere that he hurt his shoulder and that's certainly what it looks like judging from how we saw him do running drills during warmups.

WR Corey Williams was again wearing the gold jersey, his third straight day with that honor.

There were a few recruits there, most notably Justin Glenn, the RB/DB from Kamiak who committed to UW a little while ago.

One of the more interesting sights was watching Willingham throwing back snaps to walk-on punter Kiel Rasp on the track while most of the rest of the team did warmups on the field.

And there apparently has been one defection among the walk-ons as WR Brandon Mezistrano was not at practice.

A few quick items for Tuesday morning:

First is our story today updating the situation on the offensive line. As I wrote the other day, I think the longer this goes on, the more likely it is that some of these guys play significant, if not starting, roles this season.

One thing that didn't make it in the story (cut for space reasons) was this quote from UW coach Tyrone Willingham talking about why he was amenable to making some changes up front in the first place:

"I do not believe we had an all-conference linemen last year,'' Willingham said. "So we have to have everybody on the line perform at a much higher level. Our expectations as players and as coaches is much higher than what we had last year.''

Also here today is our daily camp glance. Cut out of this story (guess I have to start writing shorter) was this quote from Jake Locker about the milk drinking:

"I'm really enjoying it,'' Locker said. "Coach says it puts stuff back into our bodies that we need. It seems to be working.''

LEADING OFF OUR ALUMNI REPORT is this story from the San Francisco Chronicle that includes some glowing mention of Dashon Goldson's play in last night's 49ers game. Paraphrasing, the story details a couple of Goldson's plays and said they show why he will "be a keeper'' come the regular season.

--- Isaiah Stanback is starting to impress in Dallas, where he downed a punt at the 1-yard line and also caught a TD pass in practice Monday.

--- Big day for Stanley Daniels Monday as he was signed by the New York Jets, then got in a brief scuffle during practice.

--- He's not quite an alum, and a lot of you won't care about Craig Chambers I realize, but this story indicates you may not hear much about him anytime soon, either, as he is apparently battling some shoulder problems with kind of a mysterious quote from head coach Bobby Hauck (the former UW assistant) saying that Chambers is "working through some medical stuff, too.'' Not sure if those are one in the same or not.

--- Finally, this has nothing to do with alumni, but is more evidence of UW's tough schedule this season. ESPN's first Heisman Watch is out and the Huskies will face four of the top eight on the list.

Tyrone Willingham's media briefing today was highlighted by the news that this Saturday's practice --- which is likely to include some significant scrimmaging --- will be open to the public.

The practice will begin at 2:30 p.m.

Willingham said he is opening up the workout simply to allow the fans a chance to see the Huskies go through a practice. It is the first time a fall practice/scrimmage has been open to the public since Willingham became coach.

There was no other major news today.

Willingham said the morning practice was "a little sluggish'' but that he kind of expected it considering the team had Sunday off.

There is little new on health issues though he said PK Erik Folk was able to handle a kickoff today, his first of the season while battling back spasms. Willingham said if the season began today, however, that Jared Ballman would likely be the place kicker (the punting job is more uncertain, he s aid).

CB Byron Davenport remains sidelined with a hamstring injury.

Willingham also talked a bit about the freshmen class. He said safety Nate Williams has a chance to play this season, saying "he's headed in that direction'' and that TE Chris Izbicki could also see the field this season at some point. "He does some things very well,'' Willingham said.

Apparently further away from playing is Quinton Richardson, who was the subject of one question on the blog earlier. Richardson is playing at strong safety but Willingham said "he's probably not at that stage yet'' of getting on the field.

Willingham said it was too early to tell which of the four freshmen RBs will see the field this season though he again seemed to single out Curtis Shaw and Brandon Yakaboski.

The team hits the field for another practice at 4 p.m. There is no access after that workout but we may check in here with some quick observations.

AFTERNOON UPDATE: So I can keep this headline with the news about the open practice on top, I'll just add a few afternoon practice notes here.

DT Wilson Afoa was wearing red with an unknown injury. Willingham did not mention it during his meeting with us earlier. Also OL Sir Aaron Mason was slowed with what is apparently a hip injury. Davenport was in uniform but didn't seem at full speed and Russo is obviously still out, though he was on the field and running routes during warmups. Everyone else appeared to be good to go.

A few of us met with UW offensive coordinator Tim Lappano today for a kind of "state of the offense'' interview. Here's a bit of what he had to say:

--- Lappano said the offensive line remains the same, with the three new starters still running with the first unit, and that there is about one more week left to experiment with it before settling on a first group. He said he expects the team to rotate more with the line this season, saying seven or so could play regularly. Judging by his comments, I figure the seven to be center Juan Garcia (set as a starter there), right tackle Chad Macklin (also set there) along with Ryan Tolar, Matt Sedillo and Casey Bulyca at guard and Cody Habben and Ben Ossai at tackle. Lappano said Bulyca has really come on the last few days. Bulyca, one of the three former starters demoted, said today he weighs about 345 while the coaches wanted him at about 340. Sounds as if some of the other guards aren't in the mix quite as much right now.

--- Lappano said the quarterbacks have improved greatly since the first day, an open practice when accuracy was a problem for all the QBs but especially Jake Locker. Lappano said he thinks the conditioning test earlier that day wore out the legs of the QBs that day, and that since then. the accuracy has been much better.

--- Said he really likes the fullback position with Paul Homer and Luke Kravitz, each weighing roughly 250 pounds and showing a good grasp of the offense.

--- Said the true freshmen running backs are hitting a little of a wall in terms of learning the playbook and right now are far behind the team's two returners, Louis Rankin and J.R. Hasty, at that spot. Lappano praised the play of Hasty saying "his effort has really been good.'' Rankin has been one of the stars of camp, apparently winning the team's pre-season conditioning test on the first day --- Locker was No. 2.

--- Repeated what Tyrone Willingham said the other day about Corey Williams, saying Williams is having the best camp of his career. Said he thinks there's a chance Anthony Russo may be able to play against Syracuse but if not, he thinks the depth is just fine at that spot. However, Marcel Reece has been battling some cramps in his legs the last few days, something that will apparently be looked into further. Lappano said he's impressed by the way Reece has tried to play through the injury, something he said Reece might not have done last season.

--- Said all three of the tight ends are playing pretty well though he'd still like to see more consistency there. Said Johnie Kirton had some particularly good moments in the scrimmage Saturday but that no one has yet to really stake out a spot there. Said he thinks all three will play a lot this season, but likely only those three, apparently an indication that Chris Izbicki is still in the learninig stages, as would be expected of a true freshman.

A few answers to your questions and other notes for a Monday morning:

--- The Tampa Bay Bucaneers signed former Husky Zach Tuiasosopo today. Could be a good fit as Jon Gruden is known to be a big fan of Marques Tuiasosopo, meaning maybe he has a good feel for Zach as well. That makes three ex-Huskies on the Tampa Bay roster --- Jerramy Stevens, Sean Douglas and Zach Tuiasosopo.

--- One of you asked why there was no mention of Marcel Reece in my week one overview. I'd read nothing into it. I was mostly trying to point out players that made some news during the week. That Reece didn't doesn't mean anything. Since we don't get to see much it's hard for us to form our own opinions of things. And often, coaches only mentions players that we ask about, and it's hard to ask about all 100 guys all the time. I'm assuming Reece is doing just fine.

--- On Ronnie Fouch. The team will definitely try to redshirt him this season, but as the No. 3 QB he will travel to all games and be ready to go just in case. He'll basically be on call all year but I would think the coaches will try not to use him unless there is an injury to one of the other two QBs early in the year. In that case, they may decide they need him to be ready in case of any more injuries and might try to find a way to play him. One thing to remember about redshirts --- there's no time when a decision has to be made. The player either plays or he doesn't. It's not like the team has to officially declare anything at any time. So in the case of players like Fouch, they'll likely go in with the idea of redshirting him but also having him available to play at a moment's notice if needed.

--- Quinton Richardson is playing safety at the moment but he's a good one to ask about this week to see what his progress is, so I'll try to do that.

--- I don't sense any change in the fullback spot. It's Paul Homer and Luke Kravitz and both will play quite a bit this year. Walk-on Tobias Togi of Evergreen High is also playing fullback.

--- The Huskies practiced in full pads this morning and will go in lighter gear this afternoon. WR Corey Williams was again wearing the Gold Jersey. We won't hear from Tyrone Willingham until closer to 3 p.m. today so there may not be much new news until then.

Monday marks the beginning of the second week of UW's fall camp. Here's a position-by-position look at where things stand.

QUARTERBACK: UW coach Tyrone Willingham sounds more enthusiastic about this position than ever. Jake Locker continues to run No. 1 but Carl Bonnell has come to camp in better shape than ever and continues to push Locker, and true freshman Ronnie Fouch appears as ready as a guy in his position can be. UW is scheduled to hold a scrimmage open to the media next Saturday when we'll get our first real look at whether Locker really has improved his accuracy from last spring.

RUNNING BACK: Louis Rankin has earned raves from coaches for his conditioning and play and is a solid No. 1. And the depth appears better than in years with four incoming freshmen, several of whom figure to play. Speedy Curtis Shaw appears to be the No. 3 back after Rankin and J.R. Hasty while Brandon Yakaboski has been one of the surprises of camp and may earn PT this season. Again, scrimmage play figures to tell a lot about which freshmen will really get on the field.

RECEIVER: One of the big disappointments of the first week was the pinky injury to Anthony Russo that is likely to hold him out a few more weeks. Good news is that Corey Williams appears to be having a strong camp, picking up where he left off in the spring, and may finally be ready to fulfill the potential he flashed as a freshman in 2003. True freshman Alvin Logan is also opening up some eyes and may be capable of providing depth if needed this season. The tight end position appears to remain up for grabs among the three returners --- Michael Gottlieb, Johnie Kirton and Robert Lewis, with all three expected to play substantially this season.

OFFENSIVE LINE: This unit has been one of the big stories of camp with the lineup shakeup. The longer that goes on, the greater possibility a few of those could be permanent (one caveat to this report is that we didn't get to see Saturday's scrimmage and it's unknown whether the new-look O-line ran as the No. 1). Undoubtedly, some of those new players are earning the chance to play a lot this season and I don't think there's any question we'll see more rotating this season, especially at those three positions. What we know for sure is that Juan Garcia at center and Chad Macklin at right tackle are set at those two spots.

DEFENSIVE LINE: So far so good with what could be one of the real team strengths this year. The four starters seemed set heading into camp and it sounds as if all arrived in good shape and are playing well so far. This position seems more stable than it has been in years, and with some quality depth as well.

LINEBACKER: E.J. Savannah's eligibility issues, whatever they are, are the big story here. Sounds as if he will probably be ready to go by the season, but until then, Chris Stevens is running as the starter at WLB along with Dan Howell and Donald Butler at the other two spots. Butler missed a day due to swelling in the knee on which he had off-season surgery --- something nobody knew about outside the team until it was revealed --- but all involved insist that's not a serious issue.

SECONDARY: The other big story of the camp to date with Jordon Murchison's legal problems and Byron Davenport's hamstring injury hurting the depth. UW needs to get Davenport healthy and ready to go. The next two weeks will also be critical for prepping some of the younger players who are almost certainly going to have to get some time. The intruiging story here is walk-on Cory Nicol who sounds as if he is competing for legitimate playing time. Despite the depth problems at CB, Willingham says the Huskies aren't likely to make any position switches and will try to make do with what they have here.

KICKERS: One of the other disappointments has been the inability of Erik Folk to kick due to a recent back injury. Kicking obviously doesn't require the kind of learning as other positions do for a true freshman, but the longer he's out, the more likely someone else is going to win this job. The scrimmage Saturday will tell us a lot. Jared Ballman appears to be getting steadier at punter but that position is still open for competition, as well, as Ryan Perkins (who is also in the running at kicker) is beginning to shake off the rust after missing last year due to injury. Walk-ons Kiel Rasp (punter) and Cory Rutkowski (kicker) are also making an impact here.

Couple more interesting stories out there today.

First is ESPN's look at the 2008 NFL Draft with player ratings from Scouts Inc. (which is not to be confused with Scout.com, the owner of numerous college-related web sites).

The early prognosis for UW isn't too promising in terms of potential draftees (much of this is in ESPN's Insider package and you may not be able to access all of it).

The only Husky considered a likely draftee at the moment is DE Greyson Gunehim, who is ranked 199th overall and called a "Day two prospect.'' The scouting report on Gunheim conntinues to say that he "can solidify his spot in the later rounds with a bounce-back performance in 2007.''

The only other Huskies rated --- though not considered draftees at the moment --- are center Juan Garcia (26th at his position), LB Dan Howell (43rd at his position), RB Louis Rankin (also 43rd) and CB Roy Lewis (52). Only players who are eligible for the 2008 Draft were ranked but worth noting that Garcia is almost certainly coming back to UW in 2008 as he was recently awarded a sixth year of collegiate eligibility.

For what it's worth, USC had nine players listed among the top 201.

SYRACUSE NAMES A QB: Also today is news out of Syracuse that the Orange have settled on a quarterback with sophomore Andrew Robinson getting the call, as had long been expected by those who closely follow the team.

While we've all written plenty about the possibility of UW entering the season with a QB who has never taken a snap before, Syracuse will be in much the same boat. Robinson is the only QB on Syracuse's roster who has ever taken a snap in a game, but he hasn't taken many.

As the story indicates, he has played sparingly, going 3-8 for 20 yards passing last season while also rushing nine times for a net 28 yards (gaining 45 yards while losing 17, indicating he has some decent running ability).

Robinson, however, is considered the QB of the future for Syracuse and he was impressive in a late-season outing against Rutgers, entering the game in the final quarter and quickly leading a 10-play 80-yard drive --- though worth noting that was garbage time as Rutgers won 38-7.

Also of note in that story is the news that Syracuse RB Curtis Brinkley is expected to be ready for UW after off-season knee surgery. Brinkley was the team's second-leading rusher last season (139 carries for 571 yards) though he had some trouble with fumbles early in the season that saw him lose playing time to highly-touted freshman Delonte Carter. Carter, however, suffered a hip injury in the spring that will cost him the season.

Check back later as I plan to post an overview of where each position on UW's team stands after one week of fall camp.

The Huskies aren't scheduled to do anything official today and there is no media availability, so there doesn't figure to be any news coming out of Montlake.

There was a little yesterday, however, with the revelation that the names will be returning to the jerseys. I wrote about it on the blog and also in this story that ran in the paper and on-line. No doubt this is a big hit with the players, and sounds like with the fans, as well.

For those who asked about Rick Neuheisel bringing back the gold helmets, it was indeed one of the first things he did as Husky coach. He was introduced at halftime of a home basketball game a few days after his hiring in 1999 and came onto midcourt holding a gold helmet high in the air to much cheering.

Here's the rest of our coverage today, including a little Q-and-A with Cameron Elisara, something new we are trying this year.

IN OTHER NEWS:

--- Isaiah Stanback finally got on the practice field in Dallas, and he apparently did enough to impress owner Jerry Jones --- not a bad guy to have on your side down there, obviously.

--- Reggie Williams caught one pass for 29 yards in Jacksonville's exhibition opener last night. As detailed earlier this week, this is a critical time for Williams as the team has begun to sour on him and he needs to show something this fall to make the team.

--- Speaking of the Jags, here's a feature on Khalif Barnes, who had some bad pub over the off-season for a DUI arrest and a film of it that became public. Sounds like he's saying all the right things, at least, about turning a new page.

--- This is a week or so old, but here's an interesting feature on Dane Looker and his prolific autograph signing habits. Looker was undoubtedly one of the classiest players I've ever covered at UW. I remember after writing a story about him one day hearing my name called in the tunnel of Husky Stadium and turning around and it was Looker wanting to thank me --- it wasn't even much of a story, but he just understood how everything seemed to work in the business of college football, and this story indicates he hasn't changed.

--- This is also a week or so old, but here's a really good story on former Husky deep snapper Bryan Pittman who is now with the Houston Texans. (You're forgiven if you've forgotten Pittman as he played only one year in 1997 as a walk-on before leaving. But he now proudly calls UW his alma mater). The story details how Pittman's brother is headed to Iraq, a decision he made after their story committed suicide a year or so ago. Bryan Pittman played high school ball at Thomas Jefferson High in Federal Way.

UW's uniforms will indeed carry names on the backs this season, coach Tyrone Willingham said today.

Players will be wearing the new jerseys at the team's annual Picture Day at Husky Stadium later this afternoon.

Willingham took the names off the jerseys before his first season at UW in 2005 saying he wanted to make sure his players understood the concept of "team before self.''

He said today he thinks that message has begun to sink in.

"I think we keep growing, we keep maturing, and that's an important element,'' he said. "It is important that we understand that one of the keys to being successful is putting the team before self and when that concept is fully embraced you have a better chance to have success.''

Willingham, however, said he was also making a bow to fans who had complained that it was harder to track the players on the field without the names on the backs of the jerseys.

In particular, Willingham said it's been harder at UW to avoid having two players using the same number, which he said he realizes is confusing for fans.

"It's about helping our fans, that's one, and I couldn't eliminate double numbers, that's two,'' Willingham said.

"I just know if you are sitting in any stadium in America and you've got double numbers, especially at certain positions, how can you tell who is who? I respect that, that's a legitimate concern I've had from day one.''

Willingham said one reason UW has had so many double numbers of late is that certain players simply want to wear a certain number and the coaches try to heed those requests.

"My guys like certain numbers,'' he said. "I'm not superstitious, but part of my job is making sure that I'm aware of other people's superstitions, so you try to help where you can.''

Husky players greeted the news with enthusiasm.

"The players are all pretty excited to have our names on the back of our jerseys this season,'' quarterback Carl Bonnell said in quotes relayed through the school's sports information department. "It gives us all a little bit of a more personal identity and it makes us feel that more strongly, at least individually, about our place at this great university. I know the fans are going to appreciate it. There are so many double numbers, it will certainly be a lot easier for them to identify and relate more closely with the players."

Added cornerback Roy Lewis: "We love it. We all grew up watching the great Huskies with their names on their jerseys and now we feel that, as players, we need to live up to the standards set by those guys before us. We all recognize that people identify us as University of Washington football players. Now, it will be easier for the fans to connect with us more personally."

IN OTHER MATTERS, the Huskies apparently held a fairly major full-scale scrimmage this morning (it was closed so we didn't get to see any of it).

Good news is that UW appeared to get through it without any significant injuries.

Willingham said the only new injury was to walk-on center/long snapper Robert Lukevich who has had a history of knee trouble.

Willingham said Anthony Russo's pinky surgery Friday went well, saying "everything we hear is very positive'' though there is still no set prognosis on his return other than the initial four weeks.

CB Byron Davenport is "moving around better,'' Willingham said, but is still not doing anything yet.

Willingham said UW's quarterbacks "appear to get a little bit better'' every day, apparently shaking off the rust he felt was a problem early in camp.

Earning the gold jersey today was WR Corey Williams, whom Willingham said "has put together some pretty good days.'' That's especially important with Russo's injury.

The Huskies now head Picture Day after having lunch with their families, something that is a change from recent years as Willingham said he wanted to find a way to get player's relatives more involved in the day. Players and their families will have time alone at Husky Stadium for pictures before the public is allowed in.

The Huskies will be off on Sunday, so there won't be much more news until Monday, but keep checking as we may throw a couple of other things out here over the weekend.

Those of you wishing for a return of names on the backs of Washington's jerseys appear to be in luck.

As we watch players file into the lunch room here on their way to a quick bite before hitting the field at Husky Stadium for Picture Day, there are most definitely names on the backs of the jerseys.

I just saw one that said "Hasty.''

We'll find out more on this from Tyrone Willingham when he meets the media here in a few minutes.

Willingham had hinted that the names would be returning earlier this year saying that he thought many of the lessons of "team before self'' that he has been preaching were beginning to sink in. Willingham had the names taken off the jerseys when he arrived in 2005 saying he thought it would help foster a better feeling of teamwork and decrease individuality.

With NFL pre-season games in full swing, I'll try to keep you as up-to-date as I can on what some former Huskies are doing.

Here's a few links for today:

--- Sounds like bad news for Marques Tuiasosopo in New York as former Oregon QB Kellen Clemens played so well last night that he appears to have locked up the backup job for the Jets. This story even indicates that Tuiasosopo may not make the team.

--- Sean Douglas did some punting and kicking for Tampa Bay last night (details are way at the bottom of this story but he apparently handled three kickoffs and two punts).

--- Isaiah Stanback is finally practicing with the Cowboys.

--- Rich Alexis had 12 yards on five carries for the Rams last night while Dane Looker caught one pass for nine yards.

Back from the beginning of UW's afternoon practice as the team practiced without pads after going full-contact in the morning.

There were a handful of recruits in attendance including all four of the hot prospects from Lakes High --- DE Kavario Middleton, WR Jermaine Kearse, QB Calvin Schmidtke and WR Koreye Dixon. Also on hand was OL Alameda Ta'amu of Rainier Beach.

UW coach Tyrone Willingham warmly greeted Middleton with a handshake and a quick hug, while offensive coordinator Tim Lappano ran over to the Lakes foursome and said "two-minute offense, man, get your gear on and go. We need you!''

As you can see here, Scout.com rates Middleton and Ta'amu as two of the UW's top recruiting targets.

UW worked on punting in the portion of practice we saw, and the order of the punters was Jared Ballman, Ryan Perkins and walk-on Kiel Rasp. Ballman seemed to have the best day, booming a couple and also downing one inside the 5-yard-line to the delight of Willingham, who clapped enthusiastically.

The order the punt returners was D'Andre Goodwin, Cody Ellis, Louis Rankin, Tony Chidiac and Vonzell McDowell. Since it was not live, all the returners did was catch the ball and head upfield so there wasn't much to judge there.

On the injury front, CB Byron Davenport appeared to still be limited, mostly standing to the side as the rest of the corners went through pre-practice drills. LB Donald Butler also appeared to still be favoring his knee, which was wrapped.

Washington's first practice of the day is over --- this is the first two-a-day of the season for the Huskies --- as is Tyrone Willingham's daily meeting with the press.

Good news is that UW appears to have made it through its first two full-contact practices without any major new injuries. Willingham said there were a few minor injuries, mentioning a foot injury to Juan Garcia, but said none of them are a big deal.

Blog poster Jordan will be happy to know I did indeed ask Willingham today about using Roy Lewis as a returner and Willingham said he is rethinking it to see "if that is the smart thing to do for the team.''

With the depth at CB being what it is and the Huskies now having a lot of other potential options at returner, Lewis' days as a kick returner may be numbered. Willingham has mentioned the likes of D'Andre Goodwin, Curtis Shaw and Vonzell McDowell as possible returners, though there is still a lot of time to sort that out.

Willingham talked a bit about the RB competition and said again that Louis Rankin is the unquestioned starter, saying Rankin "may even be better than he was a year ago. He's more disciplined in his running style yet he still has that explosiveness you want.''

Behind that, however, it appears pretty wide open, with Willingham saying several of the true freshmen could play this season. The ones he seems to reserve the most praise for are Shaw and Brandon Yakaboski, though it's still too early to rule anybody in or out of that race.

In the one bit of bad news for the Huskies, true freshman PK Erik Folk remains sidelined and hasn't been able to do any kicking. Folk said today that it's been diagnosed as a muscle spasm, something he said began to creep up a few months ago.

He said some new medication has appeared to help, but he said somewhat ominously that "it hurts whenever I kick.'' The hope is still that he will be ready for the season. But for now, the three competing for the kicking job are Ryan Perkins, Jared Ballman and Cory Rutkowski.

Willingham said today that "Ballman did a pretty good job'' in practice the last couple of days.

I also talked to DL coach Randy Hart for a while today, as well, and he said the four projected starters on the line --- Greyson Gunheim and Daniel Te'o-Neshiem at ends and Jordan Reffett and Wilson Afoa inside --- remain the starters.

Worth noting that Don James was a visitor at the morning practice today meaning three of the past four UW coaches prior to Willingham have all been here in the past three days --- Jim Lambright visited Thursday's workout and Keith Gilbertson was here with the Seahawks Wednesday. Don't think we'll see Rick Neuheisel come by anytime soon, however.

This is it for access to the team today other than getting to watch the first 25 minutes of the afternoon practice, so maybe not much more until then. That will be a relatively light practice following the full pads work this morning.

Willingham didn't seem overly impressed with the practice this morning calling it "okay'' and saying the pace wasn't quite what he hoped it would be.

Also, a reminder that tomorrow is Picture Day. It begins at 1:30 at Husky Stadium. Details here via GoHuskies.com.

We'll try to get back to normal after the hectic events of the past few days and resume our morning links post.

First, here's our story today with the latest on the Jordan Murchison situation, including some new details on his second arrest.

Second, here's a Redshirt Freshman All-American Team from CollegeFootballNews.com that includes Jake Locker and also names Ryan Tolar as honorable mention on offense and Matt Mosley and Cameron Elisara as HM on the defense.

A NEW HUSKY? Scout.com is reporting that UW has gotten a commitment from Anthony Gobern, a running back/cornerback from Del Campo High in Fair Oaks, Calif. He's UW's 10th commitment for the Class of 2008.

AROUND THE NFL: Isaiah Stanback may begin the season on the Non-Football Injury List, which could mean he doesn't do much this season.

--- Here's a story out of 49ers' camp about Dashon Goldson leveling former Cougar Jason Hill during a recent practice, with Goldson apparently ending up a little shaken up.

--- Here's a story on Damon Huard's battle to get the starting QB job in Kansas City. By the way, if you watch any of HBO's Hard Knocks, which this year is following the Chiefs' training camp, Huard was proudly wearing Husky gear in just about every interview.

ON JC TRANSFERS: At least one person criticized my post on the JC transfers saying I mixed in some players who were recruited by UW but never signed, but that's not true. Every single guy I detailed on that list signed a letter with UW, including Qwenton Freeman, who has a bio in the 2005 UW media guide.

Lots of discussion on here in the wake of the Jordan Murchison situation, some of it dealing with the fact that many of Tyrone Willingham's troublesome recruits at UW have been JC transfers.

So let's detail those players:

JC TRANSFERS IN THE CLASS OF 2005
WR Marlon Wood --- Had a decent two-year career before a messy departure when he thought the school would try harder to get him another year of eligibility and he was instead declared a senior the week before his final home game.

DB Qwenton Freeman --- Didn't qualify academically and after also failing to get in at Arizona landed at Montana, where he also landed in quite a bit of trouble.

DB Chris Handy --- Came with some baggage after being kicked off the team at Nevada for involvement in an assault and after practicing a few days at UW, was declared academically ineligible and never played a down for the Huskies.

JC TRANSFERS IN THE CLASS OF 2006

WR Marcel Reece --- Appears on the way to having a solid senior season after a breakout game against the Cougs last year following some somewhat surprising struggles most of the year.

FSJason Wells --- Stepped right into a starting job last season and should hold it for this year and next.

OL Sir Aaron Mason --- Was ineligible to begin camp last season and didn't play a year ago but should help out this season.

LS Danny Morovick --- Technically a JC transfer since he spent a year at Saddleback CC, though he didn't play football there. Could be a four-year long snapper for the Huskies.

S Ashlee Palmer --- One of the plums of this class, he didn't get admitted to school and is now playing linebacker at Mississippi.

DL Anthony Atkins --- Didn't play last year and is now gone from the team due to academic problems.

CB Jordan Murchison --- Unclear now if he'll ever play for UW.

JC TRANSFERS IN CLASS OF 2007

CB Byron Davenport --- Technically a JC since he went to one after leaving UCLA, should be a key contributor if he can shake off hamstring injury.

P Jared Ballman --- In contention to be the starting punter this season.

COMMENT: That's 12 players, five of whom may never play a down for the Huskies. Tyrone Willingham would be the first to admit that's not a great percentage. But it's also worth noting that he appears to be becoming more selective in his recruiting as his program matures, and the dependence on JCs doesn't figure to be real great the rest of the way except for immediate needs.

SIDE NOTE: I'm off to a family function so this could be the last post of the day, though if there is really big news, we'll try to find a way to get it up here.

Just back from the portion of practice open to the media and the big news might have been seeing cornerback Byron Davenport in full uniform. The team was in full pads for the first time this year.

Davenport didn't look anywhere near 100 percent, as he was visibly slow during backpedal drills and other warmup stuff. But the mere fact he was out there seems to be good news.

Davenport is still struggling with a hamstring injury suffered two days ago and the actual prognosis remains unclear.

We saw what was the starting unit as this was another split practice and there didn't appear to be any change to the starting O-line.

Coach Tyrone Willingham addressed that topic during his news conference today, as well, saying that the changes could last into the season. "I don't think there is anyone who can say that we had the all-conference offensive line last year, so we've got to pick up that,'' he said.

RB Louis Rankin was again the only Gold Jersey wearer, symbolizing solid play in practice the day before.

There were also a few visitors at practice today, including former UW coach Jim Lambright, who talked a while with Willingham during warmups, as well as former Seahawk Ray Roberts.

Willingham also praised freshman RB Brandon Yakaboski during his media briefing today, saying that he didn't want to call him a surprise but that "he has showed himself well. ... He looks physical and seems to run well and seems to have vision.''

Washington coach Tyrone Willingham refused to classify it as a suspension, but he said today that Jordan Murchison "will not do anything with the team at this time.''

That statement came in the wake of yesterday's news that Murchison had been booked into jail for failing to appear for a court date in connection with an earlier assault arrest.

Willingham said it was "indefinite of when he will practice'' and would not say specifically what would have to occur for Murchison to return to the team. He said again he will wait to make a final decision once he has all the information on the case.

Willingham said he was not aware that Murchison also had three misdemeanor charges facing him in relation to a domestic violence incident in June.

Willingham said he became aware on Wednesday that Murchison had missed the July court date and met with Murchison and told him to take care of the matter. Murchison apparently then turned himself in to the UW police department.

Willingham indefinitely suspended running back Michael Houston last October when it became known that Houston had been arrested for stealing a cab. Willingham said this case was different because he had more information about that case than he did this one.

He said he knew last spring about the initial arrest of Murchison and indicated he was under the impression that Murchison was doing what needed to be done.

I'll have a more on this later.

SAVANNAH NOT ELIGIBLE?: Willingham also clarified the reason for E.J. Savannah's demotion to the second team today, saying that
Savannah has some academic situations to clear up before becoming full eligible.

"We're working on that,'' Willingham said without elaborating as to the specifics.

Savannah has been practicing with the team. Willingham said he would "know by game week'' if Savannah will be eligible for the opener against Syracuse.

We have updated our Jordan Murchison story on-line with some of the latest information, but I will also present it here.

Murchison was arrested yesterday for failing to appear for an arraignment hearing in July in connection with a second-degree felony assault in March. He was released this morning from King County Jail after posting bond on $10,000 bail. The arraignment hearing will be rescheduled.

Murchison also is facing three misdemeanor counts --- two assault and one harassment --- on a domestic violence incident from June. He is scheduled for a court date on that case on Sept. 24 in Seattle Municipal Court.

So to sum up, Murchison is facing two court dates on charges stemming from two separate incidents.

UW coach Tyrone Willingham will meet the media around noon or so at which time he may address Murchison's status with the team.

MORE ON HAWKS: As you might imagine, the news on Murchison coming late yesterday resulted in some hasty rewriting of my story for today --- I had a bunch of other stuff all ready to go. Included in that was the views of UW players about watching the Seahawks practice, some of which made it into the paper anyway.

But as sometimes happens when stuff breaks later, some of that was cut out.

Part of what was omitted was the rest of the final quote from Roy Lewis, which if you just read what made it into the paper might sound like a negative comparison between UW's practices and those of the Seahawks. But I don't think that's what he meant, as the rest of the quote would have indicated.

Here's how the entire quote was originally presented:

"It just looked a lot more organized, clean,'' he said. "They hardly made any mental mistakes. You didn't hear a lot of coaches yelling because they weren't making mistakes. They were just out there playing football.''

King County records show that Husky cornerback Jordan Murchison was released from jail early this morning after having been booked Wednesday evening for failure to appear in connection with an assault case from March.

Here's our report from today's paper on the details.

On the issue of what Tyrone Willingham knew and when he knew it, he was asked "is this something you just found out about today?'' and he said simply "no'' without elaborating.

He basically deferred all other questions on the issue other than telling us that Murchison was not with the team on Thursday and had been charged. A UW spokesman said that the team had not yet seen a police report and Willingham indicated he did not know the full nature of the charges. At the time we met with Willingham, none of us knew about the other charge against Murchison, so we did not ask him about that.

We did confirm further today that the June charge was for misdemeanor domestic violence assault and harassment when an officer was called to an establishment on University Way to break up an alleged incident between Murchison and a woman. A police report alleges Murchison grabbed the back of the woman's hair and pulled it and yelled threatening comments, among other things.

Willingham is scheduled to meet with the media today for his regular press briefing around noon so we'll see if there is more on the UW end of things then.

Here's a link to our story with the latest information on the situation involving Jordan Murchison.

I'll let you read that for the details.

As for what this will mean for Murchison's UW future, Tyrone Willingham said he will address that once he finds out more information. I would think there could be some word tomorrow, at least on Murchison's immediate future, if not his long-term standing with the team.

If precedent means anything, it's worth noting that Michael Houston was suspended almost immediately upon his arrest last fall for stealing a cab.

If Murchison can't play for a while, or the entire season, that's obviously a pretty big blow to the UW secondary as there are only five other scholarship cornerbacks on the roster --- Roy Lewis, Byron Davenport, Matt Mosley, Vonzell McDowell and Marquis Persley. And as we've been reporting all day, Davenport has a hamstring pull that could keep him out a week or two.

Only Lewis has ever played in a game for UW and other than Davenport, all the rest are redshirt freshmen or freshmen. There are also two walk-ons --- Desmond Davis and Cory Nicol. Davis is a senior, Nicol a junior.

The move of Nate Williams to safety boosted the depth at that spot, so maybe there's someone there who could make the move to cornerback if needed. Either way, this is a potentially an early hit to an area of the team that couldn't afford it given the depth problems it has and the schedule it faces.

We'll obviously have more on this tomorrow.

Bad news for the Huskies today as it was learned that cornerback Jordan Murchison was arrested for failing to appear in court in connection with a felony assault case last March.

Seattle Police reports indicate Murchison assaulted another man on March 31 who he suspected of showing interest in his girlfiend. The man suffered damage to several teeth, reportedly losing one.

Those records also show Murchison spent a night in jail in June on misdemeanor assault and harrasment charges in a domestic violence case.

UW coach Tyrone Willingham said he would make a decision as to Murchison's future with the team once he collects all the facts.

Former Husky Michael Houston was alleged to have served as a peacemaker in March incident, helping break up the fight. Houston, a transfer running back from Texas, was let go from the team last spring after being arrested for stealing a cab in October.

Murchison was expected to contend for a starting role with the Huskies this season, competing with Matt Mosley and transfer Byron Davenport opposite Roy Lewis.

Murchison transferred to UW from the City College of San Francisco in 2006 but sat out last season while nursing a pre-existing knee injury.

Note --- I have updated this post a couple of times as new information has become available.

Not much to report from the 25 minutes of open practice we got to see here today.

For starters, this was one of UW's split practice days, so we only got to see half the team --- the other half will come out in an hour or so for some special teams work with the entire unit, then some work on its own.

The group we got to see was the backups and third-teamers, and it appears as if there is little change in the depth chart anywhere --- Ben Ossai and Casey Bulyca, for instance, look as if they are still running with the second team, as is E.J. Savannah.

One interesting thing was seeing offensive coordinator Tim Lappano watching closely over the O-line during the beginning stages of its group work. Lappano usually hangs with the QBs as he is also UW's quarterbacks coach. But with graduate assistant Luke Huard now on hand to help out with the QBs, Lappano appears to have some time to look over other units of the offense, as well. Or maybe he simply wants to keep a closer eye than usual on the O-line.

Receiver Anthony Russo said today he broke the pinkie on his right hand in practice Tuesday and will have surgery on Friday.

He said the initial prognosis is that he will be out at least four weeks but that the surgery will further determine his outlook.

"How fast I heal is how quickly I can come back,'' said Russo, who said he hopes to be back for the opener against Syracuse, though that seems unlikely. He said he will have stitches in the hand for at least two weeks following the surgery.

Russo, who was wearing a cast from his pinkie to his elbow, said he was running a post pattern when he went down to catch the ball and the pinkie got caught in a grasp and bent backward.

"There's a pretty big fracture at the bottom,'' he said.

Corey Williams will move into Russo's starting slot opposite Marcel Reece and other receivers will also move up in the rotation. But that's a blow to a position that doesn't have a ton of depth, especially after the loss (at least for the moment) of Anthony Boyles and Devin Aguilar to grades.

Cornerback Byron Davenport told reporters he will sit out today with the hamstring injury suffered yesterday but isn't yet sure how long he will be out.

Linebacker Donald Butler said he expected to return to practice today after missing Tuesday to rest his knee. He said he had surgery over the summer to repair a lateral meniscus tear and that the knee began swelling up a few days ago.

He said he played with the injury through the spring and had the surgery shortly afterward but that he expects to be 100 percent for the season.

Also, the Seahawks practiced here today with most of the Huskies on hand to watch. I'll have some player reaction to that a little later.

UPDATE 1 P.M. --- Tyrone Willingham met with the media and said he was optimistic that Russo wouldn't be out all that long (while also saying he didn't yet know all the details of Russo's injury). He seemed a little more pessimistic about Davenport, saying that "one week would be kind and two weks would be generous'' on how long the cornerback will be out. Guess that means he'll be sidelined somewhere from one-two weeks.

As for Butler, Willingham said he remains day-to-day, though Butler, as noted above, said he expected to be back today.

Willingham also revealed that incoming freshman kicker Erik Folk has a back "issue'' that is limiting his ability to practice. Willingham didn't go into detail, saying only that "we are monitoring'' Folk's back "issue.'' Folk had been expected by many to step right into the place kicking job, but there are other candidates, including Ryan Perkins and walk-on Cory Rutkowski.

There wasn't much else new from Willingham as the team didn't practice this morning, instead watching the Seahawks work out at Husky Stadium.

Willingham said he hoped the players learned a few things watching the Seahawks, adding that "if you want to be the best, why not watch the best? It all goes hand in hand.''

Willingham also had a few minutes to chat with his UW predecessor, Keith Gilbertson, who is now an assistant with the Seahawks. Willingham said he has kept in contact with Gilbertson through the years --- the two got to know each other well during their one year when they were rivals at Cal and Stanford --- and that Gilbertson "has always been delightful to be with.''

Here's my story for today, which is on Carl Bonnell and the quarterback battle.

As the story details, Bonnell gave a little thought to just packing it in when he found out Jake Locker was named the starter heading into spring practice but instead decided to stick it out and as he said make it "the funnest'' experience of his career.

He is also, he says, in the best shape of his career. All good news for a UW team that is still dangerously thin in depth at the most important position in the game. I've gotten a couple of responses saying stories like this, quoting Bonnell as saying he thought about quitting, are just revving up controversy. But judging by the amount of e-mail I've gotten on this topic, I think it's newsworthy. And I always think the mindset of any of the players at such an important position is worth detailing.

There's also the camp glance, which details the injury situations and has a little info on E.J. Savannah.

IN OTHER NEWS:

--- We touched on this yesterday and suddenly there are a ton of stories out there about Reggie Williams' seemingly tenuous future with Jacksonville. Unfortunatelly, Reggie's quote in this story really couldn't make him sound worse, as he comes off as if he feels no urgency about the situation at all, which is obviously what the coaching staff wants him to feel.

--- Here's more on Isaiah Stanback's struggle to get on the field in Dallas. This is a particularly good piece detailing all the roster options Dallas has in regards to Stanback.

--- Here's an update on the 49ers with a note at the bottom about Dashon Goldson making a nice play.

--- In some news around the Pac-10, here's an update from UCLA on receiver Joe Cowan, the son of former UW QB Tim Cowan.

--- Here's an interesting column from John Canzano at the Oregonian asking why no one is putting more pressure on Mike Bellotti, given what's happened to the Ducks the last few seasons.

The first day of at least some pads --- the Huskies went in helmets and shoulder pads --- yielded the first two injuries of the season.

UW coach Tyrone Willingham said that receiver Anthony Russo suffered what could be a finger separation "and could be more than that'' and that CB Byron Davenport suffered a hamstring injury. Willingham said Davenport's injury could keep him out a couple of weeks, though he said he'd know more on Wednesday.

The injury to Davenport could be especially damaging as he is competing for a starting job opposite Roy Lewis and missing any time while adjusting to a new system will hamper those efforts.

Those injuries are on top of the news earlier in the day that LB Donald Butler is being limited while recovering from off-season knee surgery. Willingham said it is uncertain if Butler will be back today. "We have to see what the progress is,'' Willingham said. "We'll see.''

Otherwise, Willingham said he was "pleased with the competitive spirit'' of the practice, saying it yielded some good competition across the board.

NOTES
--- To those of you have asked how specific players have looked so far, I hate to deflect the question, but it's just so early to make any real declarations about anything. The coaches will tell you again and again that you can't tell anything until full pads and full contact, which won't begin to happen until Friday. Running backs coach Trent Miles said that again today when talking about the running backs, saying "I'm thrilled with what I've got so far, but it's still early. We haven't put the pads on, so it's guarded optimism.'' Every single coach will give you a similar comment. Judging players, especially the new ones, will be much more accurately done once the pads come on.

--- I talked to E.J. Savannah today and asked him about his demotion to the second team behind Chris Stevens at weakside linebacker. He said he's not upset, saying "I just took it as them wanting me to prove myself again and go out there and make some plays. It just means I've got to work harder, that's all.'' He said it could be related to conditioning, though he was pretty vague, and said he thinks he's in better shape this year than he was last season at this time. He said he weighed in at 227 --- he's listed at 222 but said he wanted to gain a little weight. He said he spent much of the summer working on improving the strength in his neck and shoulders --- he missed the 2005 season due to a lingering stinger problem --- and said he feels a lot better in that area.

--- The Seahawks are holding an open practice at Husky Stadium this morning with UW scheduled for just one practice in the afternoon. The Huskies will attend the Seahawks practice.

UPDATE (8 p.m.)
--- To answer the question on how Locker looked today, we are in the period now where we get to see only the first 25 minutes of practice, which is mostly stretching and other conditioning, so I didn't get to see any of that.

--- I referenced talking to Miles above. Looks like that stuff won't make it in the paper tomorrow, so I thought I'd pass along this quote on his early observations of the running backs: "(Brandon) Yakaboski and (Brandon) Johnson bring a little more power, (Curtis) Shaw has great speed, Willie Griffin is really good with his speed and his vision. they all bring something. This is a really talented freshman class and it's something we feel good about.'' He later elaborated of Griffin that "he's tough, he's got great vision, he's got good feet and can change directions and can see things. He's really got a good feel for the running back position and he's very bright and very intelligent.''

UW coach Tyrone Willingham threw a little surprise our way during his regular press briefing today by announcing that projected starting middle linebacker Donald Butler will be sidelined for a day or two while he continues to recover from off-season knee surgery.

Willingham called it a "precautionary'' move and said he was not worried that it is something that will impact Butler long-term.

That Butler had surgery in the off-season, however, wasn't known until today.

Willingham said the surgery was to clean up an injury that dated to his high school days at Del Campo High in Sacramento.

Asked it if was simply a scope, Willingham said it was "a little more intensive than that.''

Willingham said that any time a player has work done to his knee "you have to be careful with those,'' which is why Butler was sitting out today.

Today's practice, set to begin at 3:30, will be the most intense for the Huskies as UW will put on shells (essentially helmets and shoulder pads) after going without pads the previous two days.

The news on Butler doesn't sound earth-shaking, but any setback for him could be problematic as he is a key part of UW's defensive future after making 24 tackles last season as a true freshman.

OTHER NOTES
--- Willingham was asked again about the lineup shakeups and indicated that all are still in effect, and all could be long-term. "Usually once you get there (behind on the depth chart) it's a little more difficult to get out,'' he said. Asked if he would be comfortable with the current starting offensive line as the starters for the opener at Syracuse, Willingham said "absolutely. I'd be very comfortable.''

--- Willingham said the passing and catching in Monday's practice was better than Sunday, when the entire passing offense looked a little ragged. "We're still not sharp yet, but I thought we took a step forward,'' Willingham said.

--- Willingham talked a little about the tight end spot and said he "likes the chemistry of the group. They are working really well together.'' Still sounds as if the coaches would like to see someone emerge as the go-to guy at that spot.

PRACTICE UPDATE 4 P.M.: Just back from the 25 minutes of practice we are allowed to watch. Butler had his right knee in a wrap and was jogging around and throwing passes during interception drills but otherwise apparently won't do much today.

RB Louis Rankin wore a gold jersey, symbolizing his solid play in practice so far, the first winner of the fall. RB coach Trent Miles praised Rankin's play when he met with a few of us earlier in the day. Miles also said that he is impressed with all of the team's new running backs but that it's still way too early to determine who might play and how much. He said "three or four'' are likely to have to play this season, however, if only on special teams, if nothing else.

Among the visitors to practice were former Huskies Hugh Millen and Wilbur Hooks, the latter now working for the Department of Homeland Security.

The last few blogs elicited a few questions so I'll try to answer those here:

Question: Is Reggie Williams the best receiver in UW history, why hasn't he been able to be a success in the NFL to the same level, and does Marcel Reece remind you of Reggie at all?

Answer: Reggie is definitely the best receiver I've seen here since I started covering the team in 1997. His debut game against Michigan in 2001 and the 2002 game against Oregon when he all but beat the Ducks by himself were amazing performances. I'm as stumped as everyone else why Reggie hasn't been a huge success in the NFL --- I was as sure that he would be as any other college player I've been around. But there were always whispers about Reggie's maturity, for lack of a better word, and maybe that's caught up to him a little bit in the NFL --- and it's worth nothing that he is still only 24 years old despite being out of college for four years. And while he sure seemed fast at UW, his speed hasn't apparently translated well to the next level (not even sure what that means as I type this, but basically, he doesn't seem to be as fast now as he was in college --- maybe he just always ran up against a lot slower guys here than he does there).

As for Marcel, he is definitely the closest thing to Reggie physically that UW has had since Reggie left. But he is definitely a little bulkier than Reggie, and we'll have to see if he turns into the same kind of deep-threat as was Reggie.

Question: What is the status of walk-on cornerback Cory Nicol? Does he have a chance to play this year?

Answer: Nicol, a junior from Woodinville High and Orange Coast College, is definitely in the minds of the coaches. Secondary coach J.D. Williams mentioned him to me on Monday as somebody who has a chance to contribute this season. But it's also only the second day of practices, and two days before the team puts on full pads for the first time, and still pretty early to make any definitive declarations about any of the new players. But given the depth in the secondary, it would seem he has a better chance than a lot of walk-ons to get on the field. How he performs in some of the early scrimmages will tell a lot. Coaches always say you can't really tell anything about new players until the hitting starts.

Question: Are any other practices scheduled to be open for the media, and what is your daily schedule like this time of year and will the basketball team's activities this month get in the way of that?

Answer: We have been told that there is one more Saturday practice that will be open, which is likely to be a scrimmage. Other than that, there is nothing more scheduled to be open other than the first 25 minutes of each practice. Camp tends to lead to a lot of long days for us in the media, but it's also an enjoyable time of the year in many respects with the specter of the beginning of football season looming. UW typically makes its players and coaches available to us around noon or so, and then there is usually practice in the afternoon followed on some days by another briefing with Tyrone Willingham after practice. Including writing and driving time and all, it's a lot of 10-12 hour days. But it's also not doing brain surgery so it's nothing to complain about. As for basketball, the team will practice from about Aug. 17-25 or so before leaving for Greece. I plan to cover it as much as I can, but it won't be as intensive as regular season coverage, and we won't be covering the team in Greece (I don't think any local media are going). There may be other people from the Times who will help out on the double duty during that time, as well. The upshot is that we'll make sure to get the basketball news covered while still preparing for the beginning of football season.

A little bit different drill at UW today as we have access to players around noon, then Tyrone Willingham a little later, shortly before the afternoon practice. So we'll try to pass along some stuff as we get it compiled, but the usual post-noon stuff from Willingham will be a little delayed today.

First today I'll pass along our two stories --- a feature on cornerback Bryron Davenport and a notebook centering on the demotion of the three starting offensive linemen.

As for Davenport, he's very open about his reasons for leaving UCLA --- a rocky relationship with his stepfather who he said forced him to go to UCLA, apparently wanting to micromanage his career path to the NFL. That is also the reason for Davenport's name change.

As for the three linemen, it's easy to think this is just a symbolic move, and it would surprise few if the three deposed starters regain their jobs soon --- I remember a few years ago when Kyle Trew ran with the first team for a few days ahead of Scott White for apparently similar reasons. But all three of the new starters --- Cody Habben, Ryan Tolar and Matt Sedillo --- are players with unquestionably bright futures at UW, and this is obviously a great opportunity for them to show the coaches what they've got. This is emerging as one of the most interesting stories of the fall.

ON OTHER NEWS:

--- Isaiah Stanback is still sidelined in Dallas, and this story claims he's losing any chance at becoming the team's punt returner this season.

--- Here's a good overview of where Marques Tuiasosopo stands in his battle to win the backup QB job with the New York Jets.

--- Here's a story on Rich Alexis' attempt to become the No. 3 running back for the Rams.

--- I missed this earlier but Roc Alexander was placed on injured reserve by the Texans and is done for the year.

--- And there's a note buried about midway through this story on the Jacksonville Jaguars that indicates that Reggie Williams is now running with the third team and will have to fight merely to win a roster spot, let alone a starting job.

Not a whole lot to report.

The biggest thing this time of year is injuries --- even in the non-pads practices, little things can crop up that can cost players a lot of time, ala Kenny James a couple of years ago.

So far, so good as coach Tyrone Willingham said the team made it through its second practice of the season today without any new significant hurts.

Willingham said he plans to again award gold jerseys for standout play in practice but has yet to do so this season.

He also addressed the team's scholarship number as UW appears to be at 77 if everyone on the roster is labeled correctly. Willingham said it was at "77 or 78.'' He said that's a few below where would optimally like it to be, though he said it's rare that a team is really at its full limit of 85 for long.

"You want to get to 85 but you want you want to get there the right way,'' he said. He said there were a few walk-ons on the team who could be awarded scholarships, with OT Erik Berglund, a former scholarship player, one obvious candidate.

He also said one of the new walk-on kickers could earn a scholarship at some point, though the fact that the team already has three kickers on scholarship might give some cause for greater thought on that, one would think.

After the punters got in some good work Sunday it was the kickers' turn today. Willingham didn't go into detail on who did what but did say that "there's some potential there.''

The team will hold one practice again tomorrow afternoon, though this one will include the whole group together at once instead of split.

With camp in its second day, the general camp routine is getting in place.

The Huskies hit the field at 2:30 for their afternoon practice, and UW is again employing a lot of split practices, where the starting unit and what would probably be called the No. 4 group works together. Later in the afternoon, the No. 2 and No. 3 units will work out. All the groups will join briefly in between the two workouts to work on special teams.

Coach Tyrone Willingham likes the approach because he says it gives everyone more reps. UW will have its first double-days on Friday. But two-a-days are no longer allowed on consecutive days and the Huskies will have just seven two-a-days during camp.

The media is allowed to watch only the first 25 minutes, which is most stretching and running, etc., so we don't get to see a lot.

What we did see today is that the changes made to the starting lineup on Sunday are still in place --- Matt Sedillo, Ryan Tolar and Cody Habben remain with the starting O-line and Chris Stevens as a starting linebacker. That means tackle Ben Ossai and guards Morgan Rosborough and Casey Bulyca are continuing to work with the second unit, as is LB E.J. Savannah. The change also impacts Jordan White-Frisbee, who had been challenging for a starting job, as well, but is now deep on the depth chart at guard.

I asked O-line coach Mike Denbrock about the changes today and this is what he had to say:

"There were some things that some guys had to do over the course of the summer and not everybody got everything done,'' Denbrock said. "So we shuffled some things around a little bit. I think more than anything else, it gives those guys an opportunity to understand that we are serious about doing things the right way.
We want to make sure that they know they are not out of the mix and we are still hoping that they do the things necessary to get themselves back in position for a starting job. The door is certainly not closed on anybody but we wanted to make sure they understood that we are serious about what we are trying to accomplish.''

I talked to White-Frisbee for a while and he said that as far as he knows, the demotions are strictly due to conditioning standards that weren't met. White-Frisbee, listed at 320 pounds, said he is instead more like 350, and wanted to be around 330, instead. He admitted he didn't work as hard as he hoped he could this summer, citing some personal issues as getting in the way of his training. He said the good news was that he still passed the team's conditioning test on Sunday, so he feels he is in good enough shape to play (and he said his foot isn't an issue) but that he knows the coaches are sending a message about his weight. I'll have more on that in a story for tomorrow's paper.

NOTES
--- As we wrote earlier would happen, Byron Davenport is wearing No. 18 instead of the No. 25 he wore Sunday and is listed as wearing on the roster. No. 25 isn't officially retired but apparently won't be worn by any Husky for the forseeable future.

--- UW will practice without pads until Thursday.

Tyrone Willingham has concluded his daily press briefing and there isn't much big news since the team has done little since he met with us after practice last night.

Willingham elaborated on Nick Wood's wrist injury saying it was a pre-exisiting injury that the team decided needed surgery once he got on-campus. He will be out 2-4 weeks, but being a true freshman lineman means he is almost certainly headed for a redshirt season.

Willingham said a film review of the first day of practice was about the same as it appeared in person. "It was a good day but not a great day,'' he said, reiterating that the passing game was rusty on both ends.

Willingham also talked about punter/kicker Ryan Perkins and said he was impressed that Perkins was able to hold his own while punting Sunday with his left foot --- Perkins can kick with either foot. The team will do place kicking today and Perkins will try that as well. Willingham said the team will play it by ear for a while to see how Perkins is rehabbing and if it's necessary to limit him to doing just one or the other. For now, he seems to be in legitimate competition for both spots.

ON NUMBER 25: A number of you asked about Byron Davenport being awarded Curtis Williams' old No. 25 jersey.

Apparently, it was pretty much a fluke and he won't wear that number during the season. Secondary coach J.D. Williams, who is Curtis Williams' older brother, said Davenport was given that number for his practice jersey because he is in locker 25. He said his gameday jersey will probably be No. 18. J.D. Williams said as far as he knows, Curtis Williams' jersey won't be worn and is technically retired, though the school has never officially designated it as such.

"It's no big deal,'' J.D. Williams said of Davenport wearing 25. "He's just wearing it for practice.''

WILLIAMS ON SWITCH: Talked to freshman running back-turned safety Nate Williams who said he decided on Friday that he wanted to make the switch to defense. Or, "the dark side,'' as Williams called it.

Williams said he made the move in part because of his performance in the state All-Star game when he was named the Defensive MVP after making two interceptions at safety.

Williams also said the fact that UW brought in five running backs this year played a part in his decision, as well.

Willingham said he okayed the request since it's also a move that could best help the team with UW still having some depth issues in the secondary. He said he doesn't okay every request to move, always basing it on what he feels is best for the team.

BONNELL UP TO SCALE: While there's lots of focus on some of the bigger players who may be too heavy, one player UW wants to see get bigger is QB Carl Bonnell.

Bonnell said he was able to do that this summer, adding about 14 points to get up to 214. He said he was about 210 a year ago before suffering a shoulder injury and having off-season surgery that made it difficult for him to lift weights and keep weight on.

"I'm back to where I should have been the whole time,'' he said. "Hopefully this one will stay. I think it will.''

A few links to throw your way on a Monday morning.

First, here's our story from Sunday's practice. It contains a lot of the same info as was on the blog, but that won't always be the case from here on out. The first day of practice, however, always results in a little bit of news that there is little choice but to replicate.

Here's out the AP reported from yesterday's practice.

Here's the latest on Isaiah Stanback with more worries that his lingering injury is causing him to fall behind.

Speaking of UW alums, Corey Dillon decided to retired. He'll probably always have the greatest statisical quarter for a UW running back with that 222-yard performance against San Jose State in 1996.

We start the regular camp schedule today with media interviews around noon and practice in the afternoon, so watch for more coverage here.

Just back from practice where the big news was that freshman Nate Williams, recruited as a running back, is now playing defense, working with the defensive backs.

We'll find out more on this from Tyrone Willingham when he speaks after practice.

A few other quick notes:

--- Curtis Shaw appeared to be the No. 3 running back after Louis Rankin and J.R. Hasty, followed by Willie Griffin and Brandon Johnson. These things are real fluid this time of year, but that appeared to be the early pecking order on the freshman RBs.

--- Chris Stevens ran ahead of E.J. Savannah at outside linebacker. Willingham said recently that Savannah was still the starter so not sure the reason for that move. Could be the conditioning test conducted earlier in the day.

--- That same conditioning test may also be the reason that the No. 1 O-line looked a lot different than it ended in the spring. The starting unit was Chad Macklin and Cody Habben at tackles, Juan Garcia at center and Ryan Tolar and Matt Sedillo at the guard spots. Ben Ossai ran with the No. 2's along with Sir Aaron Mason, with Casey Bulyca and Morgan Rosborough at guard.

UPDATE (6:55 p.m.): Willingham explained that Williams was moved "he thought he would like to start out on defense.'' He will begin as a free safety and "then we'll work him both ways (strong and free safety),'' Willingham said.

--- Willingham explained that the lineup changes on the offensive line and linebacker was because "there were some things that were not completed coming into camp so we made some adjustments and we'll stick with those adjustments until some things are rectified. ... At the appropriate time I will talk about those things.''

--- As for his overall thoughts on the team's conditioning, Willingham said "I was generally pleased with our overall attitude, especially with our conditioning work. I thought that came across well. I thought our team ran as well as any I've had. ... That's a good base to work from, but it's football that puts you in shape to play.''

--- As for the team's play, Willingham said "I thought we looked a little rusty. We didn't throw it and catch it very well. But for a first day I thought it was okay. Not great, but okay.'' That seemed obvious as neither of the QBs looked real sharp throwing the ball, especially Jake Locker, who had said earlier in the day that he thought he had solved his accuracy problems from the spring by improving his footwork. Locker missed on a lot of throws, but the whole passing game seemed a little out of sync, as Willingham mentioned.

--- The best punter of the day might have been walk-on Kiel Rasp of Nathan Hale High in Seattle, who caught Willingham's eye with some of his rockets. "There were couple ones that he hit that you say (wow),'' Willingham said. "We've got some potential there, but the whole key is consistency.''

UPDATE 7:30 --- Neglected to mention earlier that freshman DL Nick Wood is out with a hand injury that is expected to sideline him for some time and all but certainly to result in a redshirt season. It's unsure the origin of the injury.

UPDATE 8 P.M. --- Story is finally sent so I have some breathing room for a few more notes and overall impressions.

--- For what it's worth, Locker's first pass of the year --- in a seven-on-seven drill --- was picked off by Mesphin Forrester, symbolic off the "rust'' that Willingham said he saw from the offense.

--- The three new RBs (Shaw, Griffin and Johnson) all were impressive, particularly Shaw, whose speed was obvious and who also made a nice catch in traffic out of the backfield. Griffin, meanwhile, reminded me a lot in style of former Husky Willie Hurst.

--- WR Marcel Reece actually looked a little bigger today then he had last spring, which might seem a little ominous. But he was running with the No. 1 unit, indicative that the coaches were happy with where he is in terms of his conditioning.

--- Ryan Perkins seemed to punt just fine, giving some proof to Willingham's claim that he could be a factor in the kicking race this year.

I've sensed a lot of interest on here in the progress of the offensive line, specifically how it conditioned over the summer.

So here are some of offensive coordinator Tim Lappano's thoughts on that subject from media day today:

Asked some general thoughts, he said "Ben Ossai had the best summer he's ever had. It will still be a battle with he and Erik Berglund out there. We've got to find a combination and find it within two weeks, probably, so it will be interesting to see what's going to happen. We're going to make it competitive and try to get the most out of those guys.

"But we do have some options there, which is nice. Sometimes you don't have any options. You can kid yourself and say you are going to play this guy and he isn't ready. But we do have some options this year.''

Asked about the size of the line, he said:

"I don't think there's a bigger line in college football than these guys. But it's better than it's been. We didn't have anybody gain weight (over the summer) --- that couldn't happen. A lot of guys lost weight, though they probably didn't lose as much weight as we wanted. But they are pretty close and in training camp they should be able to take off another 5-10 pounds before this thing is over.''

Lappano said that he was particularly pleased with the shape of Ossai and Chad Macklin and center Juan Garcia, adding that "our tackles are in good shape, but we've got to trim it down a little bit at guard.''

Asked why weight is significant, he said "the reason we make a big deal about weight is that it's about getting to play four quarters. When you're that heavy it's hard to play four quarters. We'retyring to make sure they can get through a football game, especially at a place like the Carrier Dome (at Syracuse) where we know there's no air conditioning there. It's hard to play four quarters when you are 20 pounds overweight.''

MORE NOTES
--- Meant to get this in earlier. Tyrone Willingham, when asked if there was a chance that names would be on the backs of jerseys this season said coyly that "there's a possibility.'' When pressed, he simply repeated that statement that there's "a possibility.''

--- Willingham also confirmed again that DE Anthony Atkins will not be back. Apparently it's for academic reasons though Willingham didn't elaborate.

--- Willingham said that P/PK Ryan Perkins has come back well from his injury and should be a factor in the kicking race this season.

--- I talked to Jake Locker for a while about what he did this summer to correct his footwork, which was the nexus of his throwing problems during the spring. The short of it is that he said it's all fixed and shouldn't be a real problem anymore. I'll have more on that later.

--- After the media day luncheon, the team was expected to have its conditioning test. Then it will hit the field for the first practice at 4:30 p.m. We'll have more after that workout.

Official interviews from media day have ended so I'll pass along as many notes as I can right now:

--- There are no changes to the current active roster other than the expected addition of some walk-ons, which we noted earlier. Coach Tyrone Willingham said he could not talk specifically yet about the status of WRs Anthony Boyles and Devin Aguilar but said "it's not beyond reason to expect we could have one or both at some point'' this season. That, at least, jibes with what Boyles and Aguilar said about attempting to take the test one more time to get eligible later this season, maybe after the fourth or fifth game.

--- Willingham said again that Jake Locker is the starting QB heading into camp.

--- As to the question of the condition of the team, everybody waxed as optimistic as possible, saying it was the best summer of the three since Willingham took over.That's to be expected, however, as I've rarely heard teams say on this day that they didn't have a good summer. However, two of the more insightful comments I heard on that topic were from Carl Bonnell and Tim Lappano. Bonnell said it was "the most consistent'' of the summers since he has been with the Huskies in terms of overall turnout. Lappano, meanwhile, admitted that the turnout for seven-on-sevens during the summer started out well then kind of dropped off as the summer wore on. This year, he said he heard, was a lot better in that regard.

--- In terms of the condition of the O-line, sounds as if a few players still have some work to do. Lappano specifically mentioned guards Morgan Rosborough and Jordan White-Frisbee as players who still need to lose some weight. "The good news,'' he said "is that nobody put on any weight'' over the summer. Players he said were in particularly good shape are C Juan Garcia and tackles Chad Macklin and Ben Ossai. Ossai, Lappano said, had his best summer since he's been a Husky.

--- WR Marcel Reece looked pretty close to where he was in the spring, when he was listed at 240. Reece playfully said he "didn't know what I weight right now'' but it doesn't appear that weight should be an issue for him this fall, as it was a year ago.

--- Willingham said there are no new injury issues and that every player should be able to go once practice begins this afternoon.

--- Roy Lewis talked about the surgery he had on his hand in June to repair some ligament damage. He said it was a lingering injury that began last season and continued through the spring. He also said he played with "a pretty bad thumb'' much of last season. But he said he's "100 percent, maybe even better'' right now.

--- Lappano said he thinks the three fastest running backs on the team are Louis Rankin, Curtis Shaw and Brandon Johnson. He said each has legitimate "sprinter's speed.'' That would seem to indicate that Shaw and Johnson would have the best chance of the incoming frosh to make an immediate impact.

--- Defensive coordinator Kent Baer said it was heartening to look in the meeting room and see 16 defensive backs. "I think in the spring we had six,'' he said. Nobody wanted to say yet if some players will be moved around to add to the secondary depth, but sounds as if it is being discussed.

--- Greyson Gunheim and Jordan Reffett each showed up wearing mohawks, something Reffett said they are doing as a way to get motivated for camp. Reffett said he and Gunheim are "the barbers'' on the team and expect to shave a few other players similarly.

More later.

The fall roster is out and there are a few new walk-ons mentioned.

Among the notable are a new quarterback --- Taylor Bean of Skyview High in Vancouver --- and defensive back LonZell Hill, the son of the former Husky receiver of the same name.

Other new walk-ons include cornerback Cory Nicol of Woodinville and Orange Coast College, defensive back Jared Fagan of Eastlake, running back Tobias Togi of Evergreen High, defensive back Brandon Mezistrano of Newport and linebacker Pete Galbraith of Mount Baker.

That doesn't include some of the walk-ons mentioned earlier, such as kicker Cory Rutkowski of Hailey, Idaho or punter Kiel Rasp of Nathan Hale, who are also on the new roster.

Also, as expected, WRs Anthony Boyles and Devin Aguilar are not on the roster.

Here at UW for the season-opening media day, which coincides with the first practice of the season.

Wanted to pass along my story for today on 10 questions facing the Huskies as practice begins.

I mentioned in the story that this is the first time Tyrone Willingham will have more of his recruits on the team than from the previous two coaches --- Keith Gilbertson and Rick Neuheisel.

Here's the breakdown based on the roster in the media guide:

Willingham, 49
Gilbertson, 19
Neuheisel, 10

That adds up to 78, which is eight below the number of 85 that is allowed --- but I also didn't include WRs Anthony Boyles and Devin Aguilar, whose eligibility for this season remains unclear.

Few teams are at the maximum of 85 for long due to injuries, transfers, ineligibility, etc. But beginning a year at 78 is a little on the short side, especially considering three are kickers. EDIT: I changed this from an earlier post to correct the number to 78 after reviewing the new roster.

That's not to start the year on a negative note, just to point out that this team still has some significant depth issues at a number of positions.

Media day begins around noon, so we'll try to have some notes from that up within an hour or so. Practice is at 4:30 and will run 90 minutes or so, and we'll put up a report on that shortly afterward as well.

MORE ON DAILEY: I'm blatantly stealing this link on Terrance Dailey's commitment from the Vacaville Reporter from 78pup on the earlier post, but wanted to move it here to give it better play.

As BoiseTruth pointed out, the last line is interesting with Dailey saying he's basically been told he will start as a freshman if he puts in the right work in the weight room. Obviously a lot can change with the RB spot this year with all the new guys coming in.

ONE MORE NOTE, Syracuse's top tight end has decided to quit the team.

Is this December?

Sure feels like it the way the Huskies are reeling in verbal commits. I realize the game changed long ago, but still, getting three commits in one week in late July-early August seems a little out of the ordinary for UW.

The latest came from running back Terrance Dailey of Vacaville, Calif., a story reported tonight by both Dawgman.com and RealDawg.com.

Dailey, listed at 5-10, 195 pounds, also had offers from Nevada, Utah and Utah State, according to Scout.com, after rushing for 2,334 yards and 26 touchdowns as a junior last season at Vacaville High.

He is the ninth commitment for UW's Class of 2008 (players cannot sign letters-of-intent until February) and the third running back.

He is also the third to commit this week, joining QB Dominique Blackman, and running back Demetrius Bronson.

Some quick checking shows that UW had only six commits by this time a year ago (and didn't get number nine until November). UW had only four commits by this time in 2006 (though one was James Montgomery who ended up not signing).

This could be a sign that with Tyrone Willingham now entering his third full season at UW he's more confident in assessing the kinds of player the team needs and in going after them early.

UW now has the fourth-most commits in the Pac-10 and as many as Oregon (five), Oregon State (four) and Washington State (zero) have combined.

ON ANOTHER NOTE, thanks to many of you for kind words on the blog in the comments on the previous post. Thanks even more for your suggestions --- some good ideas there.

As I wrote in the comments section earlier, it's tough to cover practice the same way we do the Seahawks because while all of Seahawks camp is open to the media almost none of UW's is. That's not to get off on a rant about that topic, but to point out that there are certain aspects of our Seahawks coverage --- such as naming top plays or players of the day --- that aren't possible since we don't get to see anything. I used to do stuff like that when practices were open. There will be a few open days during practice so on those days, we'll try to be a little more specific on who is doing what.

Adding audio is an idea that will be broached at some point. Geoff Baker has done an amazing job with his Mariners' blog and the popularity of it demanded some greater steps be taken. We're not quite there yet on this one on the popularity of it --- a few wins would surely help --- so not sure yet how worth it that would be. We'll see.

ON THE QUESTION REGARDING PRACTICES, all teams are limited to 29 practices before playing their first game, so no one is getting any advantage even if they start a day or two earlier than some other teams. UW is actually at 28 practices this year as far as I can tell, but I'm sure there's a good reason for it so I'll try to find that out and pass it along. Could just be semantics --- some walk-throughs have to be classified as official practices even if they aren't listed as such, etc. Teams are also limited in when they can begin practice on a formula that differs depending whether school has started, etc. Typically, teams start practice just a few days shy of four weeks before the first game, which is exactly what UW is doing. Oregon State started a day or two earlier this year because it begins play on Aug. 30.

TO ANSWER ANOTHER QUESTION, Don James never had to start a freshman QB and never did. The two most recent frosh QBs to start a game at UW were Marques Tuiasosopo (one game in 1997 due to injury) and Brock Huard (nine games in 1996 in what may be the closest approximation UW has had to Locker's situation).

A Saturday potpourri:

---- Friday's post on the Coaches poll raised the question of how the pollsters are selected and how they put their polls together. Got to admit, I don't really know for sure how the pollsters are selected and I couldn't really find anything on-line that explained it, though I assume it's like the AP poll where they just ask people who they think will do a good job, while making sure to spread it around a bit regionally.

However, I did notice in reading this history of the poll that a lot of the same coaches keep doing it over and over --- Tyrone Willingham has taken part all three years at UW, for instance. Could just be that some coaches like doing it and others don't, and they stick with those that are willing to participate.

As for how the polls are put together, there have always been lots of stories about the coaches who actually have someone else do it for them --- their sports information guy, an assistant, etc. I remember covering one late-night game and a coach calling a few of us writers over after the interview was finished and pulling out a printed copy of the Top 25 of that week and asking us who won and who lost so he could figure out how to rank the teams.

That's the one problem with all the polls --- both writers and coaches sometimes get so involved with the team they are affiliated with that it can be hard to keep up with what everyone else is doing.

I've taken part in the AP poll a few times and how that works is that the state of Washington is allocated one vote every year. Someone from the AP then asks someone who covers one of the D-I teams in the state (either UW or WSU for football) to take part. They usually try to spread it around so that one year it's someone who covers WSU, the next someone who covers UW, etc. That's pretty much how it works everywhere, though larger states get more votes and those that don't have teams at all don't get any.

--- Here's the Oregonian's liveblog from Oregon State's opening day of practice Friday. The big news out of Beaver-land, however, is that punter Kyle Loomis has quit the team for personal reasons. That's a pretty big blow as he was a solid punter as a freshman last season and apparently means that All-American kicker Alexis Serna will have to take on the kicking duties. Serna's presence is one reason we decided to rank Oregon State as having the best special teams in the Pac-10 in the pre-season position ratings I help compile for Lindy's magazine. Wonder if Serna's kicking will suffer now having to also punt.

--- Here's the latest on Isaiah Stanback --- sounds as if he did some cutting and is getting closer to practicing. Also kind of sounds as if the Cowboys are miffed how long he's been out.

--- I admit I'm no video game expert (my losses to my 9-year-old in Mario Superstar Baseball prove that) so this story from the Bellingham Herald on how Jake Locker fares in the new EA Sports NCAA Football 2008 game isn't one I would have been able to write. We'll have to ask Jake what he thinks of his virtual self once camp starts.

--- Speaking of camp, it begins tomorrow (Sunday) and if you're a hard-core reader of this board then this query is for you. With camp beginning, I'm always on the lookout for ways to make our coverage better --- both here and in the regular on-line and print versions of the paper.

So any suggestions you have for story ideas, or topics to address or questions to ask (within reason, of course) are heartily encouraged.

Here's the pre-season USA Today Coaches Top 25 Poll and if you read the list of voters in the fine print below, you'll see that UW's Tyrone Willingham is among the 60 voters.

He's a fitting choice since he'll get a first-hand look at six of the ranked teams --- No. 1 USC, No. 10 Ohio State, No. 12 Cal, No. 17 UCLA, No. 23 Boise State and No. 24 Hawaii.

The Pac-10 isn't getting a ton of love in the poll with only the three ranked teams (we're wondering if maybe noted Pac-10 basher Les Miles left the conference off his ballot completely).

Four other Pac-10 teams did get votes ---- Oregon State 52, Oregon 30, and Arizona and WSU one each. (Kind of surprised that Arizona and WSU would get votes and Arizona State wouldn't).

Other conference coaches with a vote are Cal's Jeff Tedford, WSU's Bill Doba, Oregon's Mike Bellotti and Oregon State's Mike Riley.

I'm hoping none of those are the coaches who voted for Memphis (2-10 a year ago and rated No. 104 by Lindy's and 102 by The Sporting News). As for Duke's one vote, that is an annual tradition of South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier, who once coached at Duke.

Willingham, Bellotti, Riley, Tedford and Doba were also all voters last season along with former Stanford coach Walt Harris.

As the headline says, a few quick (and hopefully interesting) items for a Thursday night:

--- We've posted a few Isaiah Stanback stories already, but here's a really good overview of Dallas' receiver situation and where Stanback fits in. The story calls Stanback "the forgotten receiver'' due to the fact that he hasn't been able to practice yet due to injury, but also says the Cowboys will be patient with him.

--- The Oregonian plans to have a live blog from Oregon State's first practice Friday. Not sure I'm ready to go that far yet with UW (also not sure what the reaction at UW would be). But got to admit, I'll check into it to see how they do it.

--- Speaking of the Beavers, cornerback Coye Francies --- who for a while in 2005 was committed to UW before changing his mind --- has been kicked off the team by coach Mike Riley. Details here.

--- Nick Daschel of The Columbian in Vancouver has this breakdown of UW's quarterback situation.

--- UW players were moving into dorms on Thursday and they are expected to be measured and weighed and all of that good stuff in the next two days before practice officially begins on Sunday.

Got off the phone a little while ago with Kentwood High running back Demetrius Bronson, who confirmed that he has committed to play at Washington.

However, Bronson left open the slight possibility that he would still consider other schools, saying "it's pretty much 95 percent that it's not going to change. I have to keep a little leeway, but it's probably not going to change.''

Bronson said he decided on Wednesday to commit to UW, in part because he hadn't gotten any other offers and decided that if the Huskies were that interested in him, he should go ahead and commit rather than waiting. Bronson, however, said he has yet to talk with UW coach Tyrone Willingham, though he said he planned to do that by the weekend.

"I was thinking I would get more offers but they were always in my head because I like the coach and it's local and the team,'' he said, adding he finally "came to the thought'' that it seemed the Huskies really wanted him.

Bronson acknowledged that he was "kind of disappointed" that he had yet to get any other offers.

"I guess a lot of people are shaky about me because I'm kind of an in-between back,'' he said, saying he thinks he's not sure if schools see him as a speed back or a power running back.

Bronson said if he did get some other offers, he might look into taking some other trips.

"But even if a college was to offer me late, Washington would still have that edge
because they did it early,'' he said.

Bronson said he stands 5-10 and weighs 203 pounds and ran a 4.47 40 when he was most recently timed.

He said the Huskies told him he would definitely start out as a running back at UW, which he said also helped convince him to cast his lot with the Huskies.

"A lot of colleges, I felt, wanted to switch me to DB, which I don't mind, but your dream is to play tailback,'' he said. "I didn't want to go into college trying to learn another position.''

Bronson rushed for 1,247 yards and 14 TDs last year at Kentwood and said he will be motivated this season to prove to those schools that didn't (or haven't yet) offered him scholarships that they should have.

"It's pressure off (having committed to UW),'' he said. "I don't have to go into the season worrying about it. To me, I feel like I have to go out and prove to other colleges that I do have the same abilities (as other running backs). I kind of like challenges like that when you have to go out and prove yourself.''

A few interesting comments here in the wake of Derek Johnson's article on Dawgman.com about UW's schedule this season.

It's been well-chronicled here and elsewhere the difficulty of UW's schedule this year. And as some of you have pointed out, the future schedules don't get much (if any) easier. UW will host BYU, Oklahoma and Notre Dame next season along with playing all nine Pac-10 teams, meaning that once again, there's not a walk-over in the bunch.

With all due respect to Derek, however, I was there at Pac-10 media day and I didn't really hear any resentment in Tyrone Willingham's voice over the schedule (maybe I just was in a good mood or something). I mostly sensed that he was addressing an obvious question, and I thought his comment about the team taking it on as a challenge was just about what any coach would say.

Willingham was well aware of the schedule, or at least the types of schedules UW would play, when he took over and I haven't sensed in him an unwillingness to want to continue in that direction. UW finalized the deal to play Nebraska in future seasons about a year ago, something in which Willingham obviously would have had some say.

Also, he and UW AD Todd Turner did take some measures to lessen the blow for 2007. If you remember, shortly after Willingham took over the schedule for this season was changed, moving a home game with Oklahoma from 2007 to 2008 (originally, UW was to play Oklahoma and Ohio State on consecutive weekends). Boise State was moved in to replace Oklahoma (the irony there, huh?, considering how it's Boise State's win over Oklahoma last season that now makes UW's game with Boise State this year look so big).

If I've had a quibble with Willingham's scheduling practices it's his decision over the Hawaii game a year ago, and instead playing Hawaii this season. I thought all along it made more sense to play Hawaii last season as I thought it was something that team (a lot of veterans who hadn't had much to cheer about during their time at UW) might rally around.

With this year's team being younger, and Hawaii suddenly looming as a power, going there this year seems to me a bit more difficult, especially considering the difficulty of the rest of the schedule and the fact that now, there won't be any break between the Apple Cup and making the trip over there.

I would agree with the main premise of Johnson's article, however --- the Huskies have to start beating Oregon and Oregon State again. But it's foolish to long for the days when the Huskies did it routinely and with ease --- Oregon and OSU are each much better programs than they were 20 years ago and the Huskies should expect nothing but brawls every time they play either of them.

ON PRACTICE: Several of you have asked about the practice schedule for this season and whether any more will be open than in the past. There don't appear to be any major changes. The first practice Sunday will be open, as has been the custom since Willingham arrived. However, most of the others will only be open for the first 25 minutes, though one other Saturday is scheduled to be open (which was also the same as a year ago) and there is always the chance that a few others could be.

But mostly, it will be the same as before, so full-fledged practice reports won't be forthcoming here or anywhere else.

OTHER NEWS
--- The Huskies have apparently picked up a commitment from RB Demetrius Bronson of Kentwood. That would give UW nine commitments for the Class of 2008.

--- Cody Pickett has indeed already been cut by the Raiders. The next ex-UW QB Al Davis approaches should run screaming for the exits.

--- Here's a report from Chargers' camp with the note that Sonny Shackelford scored a TD in practice. Word seems to be it will be a long shot for him to make the team there, however.

Here's the latest on the quest of Isaiah Stanback to get on the field with the Dallas Cowboys.

And this story isn't quite as promising as the author puts "who's not'' hot category, saying that Stanback is missing a lot of valuable practice time, especially since there are injuries to other receivers opening up opportunities for younger players.

As other stories have detailed as well, Stanback's problem now is getting past shin splints that developed while he was recovering from the foot injury he suffered last year at UW.

PRACTICE STARTS SUNDAY: Just a reminder that UW's first practice is Sunday.

The team will also hold its official pre-season media day on Sunday, so watch for a lot of coverage in this space beginning then.