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).