Dawgman Radio: A Washington Huskies athletics podcast

The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund - don't have a radio show on Sports Radio KJR 950 this morning, so we did the next best thing. We got together and put out our thoughts on what we expect to see from the Washington Huskies and California Golden Bears tonight at Husky Stadium.

The game time start is 7:30 pm and can be seen on Fox Sports 1 (FS1). To get more information on how to watch, stream, or listen to the game, click HERE!

Washington puts their current 15-game home win streak on the line against the Golden Bears, who beat UC-Davis 27-13 last weekend in Berkeley. The Huskies dispatched Eastern Washington 47-14 behind the 349 passing yards of junior quarterback Jacob Eason.

The Dawgman guys talk about what they saw in each team's opening games, and how that has affected their predictions for what they expect to see tonight. They break down how Cal can slow down Washington's attack, and what the Huskies might be able to counter Cal's aggressive defense.

On offense, Cal struggled against UC-Davis despite having a 200-yard rusher in Chris Brown. How can Washington keep Brown at bay and put the game on Chase Garbers' shoulders?

We wanted to get a first-hand perspective on the California Golden Bears, and Dawgman.com's Kim Grinolds literally went into Bear Territory to find out more. He spoke with BearTerritory.Net's Jackson Moore to get the full scoop on Washington's Saturday opponent.

They talked about Cal Quarterback Chase Garbers, running back Chris Brown - who had 197 yards rushing in week one against UC-Davis - and their other offensive skill performers. This is year one of Beau Baldwin coordinating Cal's offense and coaching the quarterbacks (former UW quarterback Marques Tuiasosopo coached the quarterbacks last year, but is now coaching the tight ends), so is he a little bit under the gun this season?

They also broke down the Golden Bears' strong defense, and Grinolds asked Moore about Spokane native Evan Weaver, as well as the defensive staff Justin Wilcox has been able to assemble in his third year in Berkeley.

There's also plenty of coaching connections between Washington and California, including Wilcox, Tuiasosopo, Peter Sirmon, Gerald Alexander, and Torre Becton. Grinolds and Moore talked about that, as well as how California is starting to recruit more and more in the Evergreen State. Cal already has a cornerback commit for the 2020 class from Kennedy Catholic in Justin Baker.

Finally, Grinolds and Moore talked about the game Saturday night and the perception Wilcox has with Cal fans as he continues his rebuild of the Golden Bears program.

It's not easy, even if Chris Petersen makes it look easy sometimes. In fact, the easier it looks probably means the tougher it was to make it look that way.

That's the conundrum young ex-players face when thinking about getting into the world of coaching, and the UW Head Coach talked Thursday to the media on a number of subject, but the topic of coaching came up because the Huskies hired former UW linebacker John Timu as a program intern. They also hired a former teammate of Timu's at Chicago, Cornelius Washington, to help out in the recruiting office.

Here's what Petersen said about the coaching lifestyle, getting Timu back to help, and a number of other topics as the Huskies continue to prepare to play Cal Saturday night at Husky Stadium.

Dawgman.com's Kim Grinolds spoke Wednesday with Washington junior quarterback Jacob Eason, who talked about his performance against Eastern Washington, his favorite EWU post-game moment, what he's seen from Cal on film ahead of their Saturday night game at Husky Stadium, and keeping calm after missing basically two years from behind center after an injury at Georgia led him back to the Evergreen State.

Eason went 27-36 for 349 yards and four touchdowns, as the Huskies defeated EWU 47-14 to get their 2019 season underway. The 349 yards was a Washington school record for the most passing yards in a debut.

On Wednesday, the media got the chance to talk with several of the Husky players and coaches, but the man on the spot was quarterback Jacob Eason who found himself surrounded by 15 people wanting to hear his thoughts on how he played against Eastern Washington as well as what it is that Cal's defense does so well.

Eason gave his thoughts on getting the chance to play for the first time in nearly two years and what it was like to play in front of his friends and family for the first time in quite some time and he also looked back at some of the mistakes he made and knows he has a lot to work on as he continues to get better.

We also got the chance to speak with tight end Cade Otton who has had a chance to play with Hunter Bryant now all the way through spring ball and fall camp and what that has been like as well as looking at the Cal film and what the Husky offense can do better.

Tailback Salvon Ahmed discussed his music-making skills and what he talked about with Myles Gaskin shortly after finding out that his former teammate made the Miami Dolphins. Will Ahmed get a dinner from Gaskin now that he's making pro money?

The junior tailback also said that starters playing on special teams, like he did on Saturday, is something that Chris Petersen expects from his best players and that he enjoyed it.

He also talked about Cal and what the Husky offense is preparing for and he also reflected on Washington's first game of the season and what it was like to see Jacob Eason back there taking snaps and directing things.

Senior wide receiver Aaron Fuller, who posted two impressive looking touchdown receptions during the game, talked about last year's game at Cal and how turnovers, penalties and mistakes by the offense impacted the game.

He also looked back at his one-handed catch and how he and quarterback Jacob Eason had worked on getting that exact look and making that exact throw and catch in practice and it worked to perfection.

Offensive coordinator Bush Hamden said he has watched the Cal game almost every day since the completion of that game, delving deep into what went wrong and how they can fix it and also what Cal linebacker Evan Weaver does so well and what they need to do to negate his impact.

Offensive line coach Scott Huff said he was pleased with how Matteo Mele played in his first chance to see game action at a position he'd never played and how great it was to get so many reps for all of the young linemen.

THE LINEUP

Offensive Line Coach Scott Huff

Offensive Coordinator Bush Hamdan

Tight End Cade Otton

Quarterback Jacob Eason

Dawgman.com's Kim Grinolds spoke Tuesday with Washington Defensive Coordinator Jimmy Lake, and he looked back at UW's 47-14 win over Eastern Washington, what went right and wrong, and also looked ahead to California, quarterback Chase Garbers, running back Chris Brown, how his young defensive backs graded out, and a lot more.

On Tuesday, it was time for the defense to stand up, take stock of their performance against Eastern Washington last weekend, and also look ahead to their next challenge, the California Golden Bears.

The defense gave up 274 total yards to the Eagles in their convincing 47-14 win. It hasn't always been that easy against Eastern. In 2011, it took a Desmond Trufant pick in the end zone to preserve a 30-27 win, and in Chris Petersen's first season at Washington (2014), the Huskies survived a 59-52 Wild West shootout.

But this past Saturday, the only thing the defense didn't do was cause a turnover, and Defensive Coordinator Jimmy Lake, senior defensive back Myles Bryant, and junior defensive back Elijah Molden talked a lot about that. There was also a bust when true freshman Cameron Williams ran into junior cornerback Keith Taylor, allowing Eastern receiver Andrew Boston to run 64 yards untouched to the end zone. Lake, Bryant, and Molden talked about cleaning that up and how Williams will bounce back from that learning experience.

Brandon Wellington talked about the inside linebackers group, as well as the budding play of redshirt freshman MJ Tafisi, who is quickly earning a reputation as a hard-hitting WIL.

Pete Kwiatkowski is going to be using the tape of Laiatu Latu's safety for years to come. He talked about the true freshman, as well as other outside linebacker combinations, and how the depth is starting to come back to the point where you might see more 'hockey shift' substitutions along the defensive front.

Chris Petersen talked Monday about Washington's 47-14 win over Eastern Washington to open up the season, as well as their Week 2 opponent: the California Golden Bears. 

It's been 729 days since Jacob Eason last stepped out onto a football field to start a competitive game. It was September 2nd, and the Georgia Bulldogs were playing the Appalachian State Mountaineers. He started out a little slow, going 1-3 for 4 yards, but then suffered a knee sprain that would alter the trajectory of his college football career.

In stepped Jake Fromm, who led the Bulldogs to the National Championship Game, where they lost to Alabama in overtime. Eason decided to leave Georgia and move back to Washington, his home state.

The Lake Stevens native was in front of plenty of friends and family, as well as Washington fans wondering what a couple of years of ring rust would look like for Eason, as he started UW's season-opener against Eastern Washington on Saturday afternoon. All the junior did was throw for 349 yards - a UW record for most yards in a starting debut, beating out Taylor Barton's record of 316 yards at UCLA in 2001. He also threw for four touchdowns, a personal best.

All things considered, it was a pretty solid first outing in the Purple and Gold for Eason.

If you missed it the first time, here's the post-game audio of Eason talking to the media, where he was asked about his play, how comfortable he felt getting back out on the field in a competitive situation, his favorite plays, the play of backup center Matteo Mele, who came in for Nick Harris after Harris went down with a leg injury in the first quarter, what he was planning to do to celebrate after the game, and a lot more.

The Lineup: 

Head Coach Chris Petersen

Offensive Coordinator Bush Hamdan

Defensive Coordinator Jimmy Lake

Quarterback Jacob Eason

Receiver Chico McClatcher

Receiver Aaron Fuller

Running Back Salvon Ahmed

Linebacker Kyler Manu

Defensive Back Elijah Molden