Happened to be at UW today and was handed a copy of the football media guide for this season. They aren't available yet to the general public, so if you usually get one sent to you, it will be a week or two before they come --- the school had a few shipped early to hand out at Pac-10 media day Thursday.

This year represents a change in how the Huskies have handled their media guides. New NCAA rules a few years ago limited schools to printing no more than 208 pages in a media guide. That meant a lot of schools, such as Washington,. had to cut out a lot of information.

Since schools used the media guides for recruiting purposes, as well --- including lots of info aimed at selling the school to recruits, such as pictures of the campus, flashy bios of the coaches, etc. --- most of what got cut was record book-type stuff.

What some schools are doing, however, is publishing a spring media guide aimed solely at the media, one including all of the stats and historical data, etc. --- one that can't be given to recruits --- and another in the fall that is aimed at recruits. UW is apparently the first Pac-10 school to join this trend, which appears to have started in The Big Ten, publishing this record book and media guide in the spring and now publishing another one aimed largely at recruits this fall.

The fall media guide does include a lot of player and historical info, but it's a lot flashier, more of a yearbook-style. It includes full-page pictures and bios on every Husky scholarship player, the kind of thing that will be perfect for kids to get signed on Picture Day.

There's no real news in the fall guide --- everybody is included other than those already known to no longer be on the team such as J.R. Hasty -- but one item of note is that LB Joshua Gage is listed with the scholarship players. Under his picutre it states that the "former walk-on earned a scholarship for the 2007 season and again in 2008.''

No other walk-ons are listed in the scholarship section. WR Charles Hawkins, who earned a scholarship last year, is listed in the walk-ons section. That doesn't mean Hawkins or other walk-ons couldn't earn scholarships later, just that they aren't considered scholarship players heading into the season.

Also, someone had asked about Tripper Johnson's eligiblity. He is listed in the guide as a fourth-year junior, meaning he has two more years to play. As noted in the spring, he took a few JC classes while playing minor league baseball that impacted his eligibility.

The cover features action drawings of Jake Locker and Daniel Te'o-Nesheim with Juan Garcia, Donald Butler and D'Andre Goodwin on the back. The inside covers feature photo montages of Huskies in the NFL, such as Laywer Milloy, Mark Bruener, Marques Tuiasosopo and Reggie Williams --- not something UW has ever done before and obviously aimed at showing recruits Huskies who have had success in the NFL.

There is no two-deep in the guide and there may not be an official one until the week before the first game, when the Huskies traditionally release it.

The guide is not yet available on-line, but should be soon.

And speaking of Locker, he will accompany UW coach Tyrone Willingham to Pac-10 Media Day Thursday. This is the final week of summer classes for most players --- the quarter officially ends Wednesday --- so players are spending this week finishing that up, and many will then head home for what will be their last break before practice begins Aug. 4. Players will be due back on campus Aug. 2.