Like I've said before, Jordan Polk is going to burn it up at UW in the summer and fall. I wouldn't be surprised to see him forgo his redshirt, and play next year (though, he'll have a lot of competition at WR, especially among the smaller/quicker WRs).

Adam Long looks like a guy no one is really talking about, but like the UW coaches were saying, he may be one of the fastest guys on the team come this fall. I'm excited to see what he can do.

Dawgs are finally starting to get back some of the elite speed we were used to in the '90s.

Congrat's to both Adam and Jordon. Keep it up guys. We're finally seeing some speed brought back into the program.

Can't wait for August. GO DAWGS!

Can anyone do the math, what does a 10.70 in the 100 meter equate to into a 100 yards. i could see either one or both of these guys returning kick this year.

thats movin!

i saw youtube video of jordan and he is shifty too and he would be perfect for returning kicks

Anyone remember jawarren hooker. Track star without fb skills. Hopefully these kids have more football talent

I'm just waiting for the first guy to come on here and post, "Those times are weak. My 13 year old nephew ran a --.-- last week."
Whatever the case, it's good to see some speed coming into the program. The bigger question, will TW actually get to coach these kids past 2008? Next year will tell. Stay tuned.

fish93: knock off a little less than one second for the 100 yard versus the 100 meter. These kids are running the 100 yards in about 9.7 to 9.8.

Hooker was more of a track guy trying to play FB. I think these kids are football players running track. ( I hope )...

Hey what did Stanback do in the 100? wasn't it like 10.4?

I think Stanback ran a 10.48 100 (though he did it before the start of his senior football season while these guys are just seniors in high school).

If you have any worries about Polk being a football player, take a look at this video. Actually, scratch that, just watch the video because this guy can fly and its fun to watch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiUNvgi4L48

I'm Waiting. That comment about some guys nephew running a 11.5 100 meters was in reference to Cody Bruns running a 11.4 100. Now you see how slow Bruns is in relation to Polk and Long?

So no, 10.6 and 10.7 are very good times. But the elite speed we had in the 90's was across the board, it wasn't confined to little 170 pound gnats.

Thank you for the link Olydawg -- he is fun to watch!

He did something that really excited me, though. He actually CAUGHT the football -- sometimes even in traffic or with some contact. Give me a guy who can catch with some speed over a track star who has brick hands every day of the week. Polk looks to be capable of both catching and running -- very cool!

At any rate, I hope these recruits aren't pressed into action before they're fully ready. Which leads me to a question.

Why are we facing a year of playing so many youngsters? I would think now in his 4th year that Ty would have a starting roster with a number of Seniors, Jrs, RS Jrs, Sophs, RS Sophs, etc. The fact that we're talking about so many Frosh potentially playing this year gives me a lot of concern. I realize Ty's first recruiting class wasn't a fair measure, but shouldn't the next two classes be filling out our starting roster rather than kids coming in this year? Any ideas as to why we're looking at such a young team next year? It doesn't really add up in my mind.

rambling man,

It's because Ty doesn't always play the best players. In fact, he often kicks them off the team if they don't see it "his way." If you practice well, you play in the games, a mantra I doubt Don James followed in his tenure.

That's the problem though with youngsters, right? It gives people more excuses for Ty. I'm not saying you're making said excuses yet, but for every 1 person on this blog who says Year 4 is "Go Time" for Willingham, there will be 2 more who say we were so young that Ty should get Year 5 and Year 6.

I really don't want to see that come to pass, but even the Typologists HAVE to agree with me that there will be those who will use such an excuse.

You do not know what happens between Ty and the players, and you do not know that Ty isn't playing the best players. Stop pretending that you do.

Your 2 to 1 figure is completely pulled from where the sun doesn't shine. And what difference does it make whether some people will say that Ty deserves another year. Emmert will fire Ty this year if he doesn't win. You said yourself that it was obvious.

I know you like to think that Emmert is reading this blog and hanging on everyone's words, but if he was dumb enough to make decisions based on anonymous blog comments he wouldn't be president.

Mello --

Make no mistake about it. I'm firmly in the camp that Ty must go if he doesn't get us to a bowl game in '08. No excuses at all. Tough schedule, young team, 2009 looks great, injuries, etc. won't hold water with me. Unless this team wins 7 or more in 2008, I want a new coach in 2009. Ty wins or Ty goes. No excuses. Can a put any finer point on that one?

My question relates to the current dilema regarding youth. Is there a reason we're talking about playing true freshmen right now as opposed to sophomores, juniors, etc. filling up our starting slots? It just seems that we'd be seeing more 2nd, 3rd, and some 4th year guys starting. I'm worried that there is so much talk about playing freshmen.

Also, Don James took practices very seriously. I hope you're not implying otherwise.

I think a lot of that talk is overblown. People tend to comment in the offseason about the incoming freshman. Last season there were people saying that we'd be playing many of our freshman running backs.

Most of that was a result of excitement about the recruiting class. It didn't pan out on the field.

That said, there is a disturbing amount of youth at receiver. Wasn't it something like 7 senior receivers graduating?

tye's first three classes weren't that great. we lost too many in-state players to other schools. guys like stewart and taylor mayes were difference makers that could have jump started the rebuilding process. The players we did sign ended up inelligible or busts, like iweka and hasty. We have some good o-line and d-lineman in the program which is a good sign for the future. this class is the only one in which tye pretty much signed all the top in-state players, so the talent is in this class.
My problem with willingham is his lack of flexibility, he is set too much in his ways. James made adjustments when the nature of the game evolved. Baer should have been gone after year 2, but tye stuck with him and now he has put himself in a must win situation. willingham blows too many games in which talent had no factor. The stanford game two years ago still leaves wondering what happend. last years losses to arizona and wazzu were inexcuseable, even hawaii was a winnable game with a halfway competent d-coord. tye still doesn't have a signature upset win over a top 10 opponent. That tells me he isn't out coaching or out working anyone. willingham needs to beat the teams he is supposed to and have a least one major upset win in order to stick around past 2008. I really hope he does, because I don't like the prospect of starting over with another new head coach,but, we need to finally see some on the field progress this year, no excusses.

One reason we are relying on so many young guys is that out of the 35 recruits Willingham signed in 2005 and 2006, only 21 or 22 (whether you want to count Hasty who is suspended more often than not) are still on the roster.

The team had no depth when Tyrone took over and then 13 or 14 guys that he signed in the first two classes aren't even on the team anymore. That is one big reason we are relying on so many freshmen in 2008.

Also, I believe the primary focus was on rebuilding the offensive line first and then filling in the skill positions.

It sure gets frustrating seeing other coaches turn things around much faster than Tyrone. It is also frustrating seeing a guy like Harbaugh do more with Stanford in one year than Tyrone has done in three at UW.

Win now or get lost. No more excuses.

Speaking of speed, will we have more speed on the D line next year? That would be a huge improvement. How will Ta'amu be used? Is there a chance he will pay D? The prospect of greater overall team speed is quite exciting for us long-suffering fans because, as we all know, Troy Must Be Destroyed.

From 2005 to present only ONE "5" star recruit has committed to the UW and that was Kavario Middlleton. One out of almost 100 kids signed and so far this year the prospects for the "Elite" athletes looks dim. Not one "5" Star recruit is looking at us. What in the heck is going on here? At least offer - and DON'T tell me how we can't get these guys or have you forgot already about Chris Polk? If Ty doesn't offer the kid can't say yes.

OWW: generally you have to win to get lots of 5 star recruits.

Onewood, 5 star recruits do not exactly grow on trees. I believe that designation is awarded to only 50 seniors in the whole country. In the whole time you're talking about there have only been four in this state: Stewart, Mays, Schilling and Middleton. The odds of us pulling in a five star player with no ties to UW or the region are always low and in Ty's first two years here were infinitesimal given the state of the program he inherited.

Stewart was a lost cause before Ty even got here. I do agree that although Mays and Schilling were uphill battles, he probably should have gotten at least one of the two, however it was not for lack of an offer.

In the bigger picture we should be less concerned about # of 5-star players, and more about whether we're getting the majority of the highest rated local players and filling in the rest of the classes with athletes who look like they can compete in the Pac-10. No UW coach has ever successfully recruited a ton of 5 star players and most of those few we have gotten, have been from around here.

uw doesn't need to pull down 5 star usc type of classes to be dominant again. oregon st has knocked off the trojans a few times and they hardly ever pick up anyone higher than 3 stars. If we can start going to bowls on a regular basis, we should be able to land at least three 5 star recruits per year. Which is more than enough to win. I would rather have a 3 star guy with a non stop motor who lives in the weightroom, bleeds purple and knocks people's heads off anyday over some 5 star southern cal prima donna.

I agree with purplereign. James rarely had top ten recruiting classes. We kept the kids in state at home and mixed that with guys that had heart and guts. Once the winning comes more consistently we'll keep the kids like mayes and stewart in state instead of letting them slip to the SC's & U of zero's in our league.

Nice job guys. Alot of good recruiting points made. Don't forget what Baer said in his interview with his hometown newspaper in Logan Utah, (that Bob linked). He essentially said about recruiting that some mistakes were made. That was a big duh, or maybe a big doh! Either way that's something that TW has to baer responsibility for as HC.

TW redeemed himself a little with last years class, but it will be interesting to see if he can bring in another top 15 class this year. Obviously, wins will be what were talking about this year, but if the recruiting class is hot, that may also play a factor in TW's fate. If enough wins don't come, and the recruiting class is mediocre --- duh, or doh!

Mello,
Don James also ran players off. Every coach does if it will help their program. James ran guys off who were cancerous. He didn't make his name by playing guys who didn't work hard. Admittedly I was in grade school during most of his career, and perhaps my memory is shaky. But all the old-timers on this blog talk about how his Husky teams outhit and out-worked everyone. I don't think he let Chris Chandler skop practice, talk back to coaches, avoid conditioning, and then smiled at him and played him all the time.

I think Btown's argument is very on the mark. TW took some JC guys that contributed for their 2 years (Marcel Reece), and some that couldn't qualify, as well as other guys that couldn't qualify or didn't pan out.

He was also left with a class of 2009 that is like 13 guys. That is another cause of the sucky depth.

Rambling Man,
I think we are excited about the incoming class because it looks like the strongest class we will have had in several years. But at most, 4 guys are going to play significantly, and most likely only 2.

Based on the spring game, Polk is going to have a lot of chance to contribute. And based on what most people say, probably Middleton will get some serious looks to get on the field in the fall.

Perhaps, in part because of need, one of the big DL (Noble or the RB guy) gets in the mix too.

Admittedly, we have had depth and talent issues. And there probably are 10-15 HS seniors in the country who could start for us next year I am guessing. But most of them are not in our incoming class. We are talking about a scant 2-4 of those players making a contribution next year.

Why are we talking about Fr playing? Maybe we had 5 or 6 sr Wr. So if Ty recruited alot of Wr we would be saying what is Ty doing recruiting Wr's. This goes back to the problems RN started. This team is finally taking shape and is being built right.

Adam Long Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnl1_JNQhbQ

Those were great highlights of Adam Long. Makes you want the Dawgs to try him out at RB to start.

Noticed his hands were suspect (how many kickoffs did he drop?) so he probably can't go in the slot like C. Polk but he gets into the end zone for a small guy. Hopefully he's just as good on the other side of the ball.

I am not saying that we should be able to get a whole crop of 5 star recruits, but pointing out that we have gotten only one in the last 5 years. I'd like to see a few of them consider us.

And purplereign - your comment "I would rather have a 3 star guy with a non stop motor who lives in the weightroom, bleeds purple and knocks people's heads off anyday over some 5 star southern cal prima donna." is crazy.

USC has been in or a few injuries away from playing in the National Championship for the last 5-6 years in a row - We're better off with our recruits????? com'on.