Dawgman Radio: A Washington Huskies athletics podcast

The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund - were excited to give their thoughts after a spirited Day One workout on the newly-turfed east field next to Husky Stadium. 

But the practice was cut short, and that became part of the story too. There was a reason behind it, as well as a reason why the offensive and defensive linemen were wearing guardian caps. 

They talk about all that stuff, how the quarterbacks did, which true freshmen impressed right out of the gate, and a whole lot more in this wide-ranging podcast.

It was a busy day one of fall camp for the Washington Huskies, and the defensive coaches and players had plenty to say too. Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters and Scott Eklund of Dawgman.com spoke to UW Defensive Coordinator Jimmy Lake, co-Defensive Coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski, Defensive Line Coach Ikaika Malloe, as well as two junior defensive backs - Elijah Molden and Keith Taylor. 

If you had five minutes with Washington Athletic Director Jen Cohen, and you had ideas that you had been thinking about for a long time on how the Huskies could pounce on the revenue opportunities based on the forward momentum generated by football and basketball...what would you say? What would your blockbuster ideas be?

One person that has plenty of ideas to share, and also has the ear of Cohen from time to time is former UW alum AJ Maestas, Founder and CEO of Navigate Research, a trusted advisor to leading brands and organizations in sports and entertainment. Navigate provides clients with data-driven guidance on strategies, deals, and major decisions to help drive revenue and achieve success. 

Maestas is passionate about Husky Football, and Navigate has worked with the UW AD in the past on different business deals, but he's equally passionate about the college football marketplace as a whole. He's been on all sides of big negotiations, from consulting with conferences, media entities and consumer brands. So there was no one better to talk to than AJ when trying to figure out where the Pac-12 stands as they venture into their next big media rights deal in the coming years, as well as looking at the marketplace from all sides. 

We talk about where the consumer side is heading for college sports. Is streaming the main way to go? If he could dust off his crystal ball, what is the future of the Pac-12 Networks, and will the league still try and retain full ownership despite looking for private equity investment in the meantime? And what about the expansion into markets outside the United States? 

And finally, what about Washington? In Maestas's dream scenario, what things would he love to see the Huskies do to maximize revenue now that they have a new apparel partner and huge momentum driving them via football and basketball? AJ has some great thoughts on this that you'll want to hear. 

All those things are discussed in this wide-ranging, 56-minute podcast. It felt like a great time to talk to AJ right before the start of fall camp to get fans revved up about all the possibilities that lay before UW and the Pac-12 ahead of the 2019 football season. 

The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds and Chris Fetters - continue their position-by-position look-ahead as UW's first day of fall camp hits on Friday. 

Moving to the defense, that entire side of the ball took some big attrition hits with graduation, injury, and the like, so how will they cope? They've clearly recruited well and have a ton of bodies in the pipeline, but how are they going to bridge the experience gap in the meantime? 

Grinolds and Fetters go through all 11 of the current Washington Defensive Line room, detailing their strengths, areas for improvement, and what the expectations for each should be as the Huskies embark on their 2019 campaign. 

Here's an excerpt from the defensive line fall preview...

For those Washington fans who were wondering if signing four defensive linemen for the 2019 class was overkill? Now it's looking like they could have added more bodies if they wanted to, but then you start to create class imbalance within the roster, so it's never just one thing you have to look at. 

The Huskies signed arguably their best defensive line class ever, and two of the freshmen - Jacob Bandes and Sama Paama - even showed up early for spring football. They were both sidelined with various ailments and never really did anything, but being here was half the battle. They were able to get used to school, college life, the weight room, and other factors one has to deal with when acclimating to a new environment. 

But you add to it the fact that Faatui Tuitele's year may be up in the air if he gets surgery for a torn pectoral muscle, the numbers that left the defensive line room before this fall continue to dwindle.

The guys from Dawgman.com -- Kim Grinolds and Scott Eklund -- take a look at the offensive tackles as they prepare for the start of Washington's fall camp on Friday.

The return of All-American candidate Trey Adams is a huge boost to the Dawgs as they look for stability along the offensive line and now that Jared Hilbers has nearly an entire season as a starter under his belt, the Huskies have two talented and experienced players to throw out on the edges.

That being said, Henry Bainivalu, a third-year sophomore and Henry Roberts, a fifth-year senior, will have something to say about the depth behind both of those players and youngsters like Matteo Mele will also be in the mix, so the Huskies have some bodies to work with and now Huff needs to find out who plays well with whom and who fits into which position the best.

All of those players have versatility and talent and it gives Huff a ton of flexibility to find his "Best Five". Pretty much any coach in America wants that, so the third-year offensive line coach has put himself in an enviable position, now his group needs to find that success.

The guys from Dawgman.com -- Kim Grinolds and Scott Eklund -- take a look at the interior linemen along Washington's offensive line as they prepare for the start of fall camp on Friday.

Last year's starters at left and right guard as well as center -- Luke Wattenberg, Jaxson Kirkland and Nick Harris -- all return and there are some very intriguing youngsters that are in line to compete for reps as well. With the way that Scott Huff has recruited the past couple of seasons, especially with his hauls in 2018 (M.J. Ale and Victor Curne) and 2019 (Corey Luciano, Nate Kalepo and Troy Fautanu), the Huskies are poised to have lots of success, no only this season, but in the future as well.

All of those players have versatility and talent and it gives Huff a ton of flexibility to find his "Best Five". Pretty much any coach in America wants that, so the third-year offensive line coach has put himself in an enviable position, now his group needs to find that success.

The Husky interior offensive line has three All-Pac 12 candidates listed as the starters and each should make their presence felt this fall.

If Washington doesn't have the top offensive line in the conference, that's news to Nick Harris. In a wide-ranging interview at Pac-12 Media Day, the senior center told Dawgman.com's Kim Grinolds that they definitely pay attention to the fact that pundits believe the best OL in the conference resides in Eugene, and those opinions have definitely added fuel to a fire already burning within the Huskies to prove everyone wrong. 

Harris also talked about who put the biggest dent in UW's food budget last year, being back in his home area of Los Angeles, Trey Adams, Jaxson Kirkland, the redshirt freshmen defensive linemen, adidas, the quarterback competition, and more.

The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds and Chris Fetters - break down the Washington tight ends room ahead of fall camp, which starts a week from Friday. 

The room took some attrition hits, as Drew Sample, Mike Neal and DeShon Williams graduated, and Jusstis Warren left the program. But UW Tight Ends Coach Jordan Paopao has been hot on the trail, picking up a couple of walk-ons in Carson Smith and Lake Washington's Zeke Pelluer, son of former Washington quarterback Steve Pelluer. 

How will those new boys fit in with a room with three upperclassmen (Hunter Bryant, Jacob Kizer, and Cade Otton), as well as a redshirt freshman in Devin Culp and a redshirt frosh walk-on in Jack Westover? Culp gained a whopping 35 pounds during the offseason, coming into the spring as a completely different body type. And Westover showed that he might surprise some people this fall as a guy that can create some mismatches down the field. 

But Bryant, Kizer and Otton are the 'Big Three', and they will be counted on for the lion's share of the production this fall.