Dawgman Radio: A Washington Huskies athletics podcast

The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund - got together after Saturday's full pads practice, the first one for Washington this spring, to talk about what they saw and who stood out.

The practice coincided with Washington's annual coaches clinic, which also meant the arrival of Hall of Fame Coach Bill Belichick, father of new UW Defensive Coordinator Steve Belichick. So it wasn't surprising the number of coaches on hand was higher than normal.

Today's recap started with the offense, and especially the play of quarterbacks Will Rogers and Demond Williams, yet the single biggest highlight of the day came courtesy of Dermaricus Davis.

There were a few 'live' periods of practice where the team played close to full tempo and could take the ballcarrier to the ground. It allowed us to see some work in the trenches and also some passing plays down the field too.

We talk about those things, and then after a quick break we turn to the defensive side of the ball, the side that won the day. Starting with the defensive line, they certainly have the upper hand over a very inexperienced offensive line at the moment.

We also talked about the arrival of Belichick, as well as some other dignitaries at practice like former UW star DL Danny Shelton and Indiana DL Philip Blidi, in town on an official visit.

The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund - braved the cold and the rain normally associated with fall football to check out day two of Washington's spring football campaign, and there was plenty to talk about - even if a lot of it had to do with the team breaking things down and continuing to get back to basics.

To start the show, the guys focused on the offensive side of the ball and especially at quarterback. There appears to be a clear pecking order already with Will Rogers, Demond Williams, and Dermaricus Davis, with Williams continuing to earn a lot of praise for his athleticism and how quickly he seems to be picking things up.

The media got a chance to talk to OC/OL Coach Brennan Carroll today, as well as OL Drew Azzopardi and Zachary Henning, so a lot of the talk in the first half of the show had to do with the offensive line and their struggles. To be fair to the group, they've fully embraced the challenges of being down in numbers and trying new roles, but the coaches have also made it clear they are going to go to the transfer portal early and often to fill out the rest of the offensive line room.

After a quick break, the talk turned to the defense and what each of us saw during practice. There was a lot of breaking things down to the bare fundamentals, and if that meant only going half-speed or slower, that was what had to take place. We also offer our thoughts on new DC Steve Belichick, as well as how the bedding-in period for the defensive coaches will be longer than for the offensive coaches. Outside of DL Coach Jason Kaufusi, all the defensive coaches are new to Jedd Fisch and the staff he brought with him from Arizona, while all the offensive coaches are straight from the Wildcats' program.

The guys from Dawgman.com -- Chris Fetters and Scott Eklund -- were on hand for Jedd Fisch's first practice as the head coach for the Washington Huskies on Wednesday. They broke down the the format of practice and also discussed some of the coaches they saw in action, particularly defensive coordinator Steve Belichick and linebackers coach Robert Bala.

In addition to those observations, the guys also talked about what they saw at quarterback as it was their first chance to see Will Rogers in a Husky uniform and freshman Demond Williams who looks to have the strongest arm of the bunch.

The offensive line is a work in progress and Fetters and Eklund broke down who played where and how players were flipping sides of the line to get them reps on both sides.

They also broke down what they saw from many of the new faces on hand, including cornerback Ephesians Prysock, tailback Jonah Coleman, defensive tackle Sebastian Valdez, offensive lineman Drew Azzopardi and defensive linemen Isaiah Ward and Russell Davis.

The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund - found some time at the end of an incredibly busy week to recap all the comings and goings on Montlake.

To start, the guys give their thoughts on the passing of one of our favorite posters, David Handy - otherwise known as AANDY. His Meanderings became the stuff of message board legend, and he will be sorely missed.

Talk then turned to all the happenings on campus this week, headlined by Washington State Athletic Director Pat Chun moving from Pullman to Seattle to become UW's new AD. As you could expect, nerves are somewhat raw on the other side of the state. And the influence of former AD Jen Cohen continues to resonate with the hiring of Chun, who tripled fundraising efforts while at WSU and brought them championship-level coaches.

Right as Chun was being introduced as Washington's 17th Director of Athletics, 19 former UW football players took part in their Pro Day at the Dempsey Indoor Facility. The guys talked about who had a big day, starting with QB Michael Penix Jr, who ran - depending on whose stopwatch you trust - anywhere from 4.45 to 4.6 in the 40-yard dash.

Why has the draft world suddenly come to the conclusion that Penix is a first round lock? The guys ended up talking to 13 of the 19 players who took part and they give their stories and thoughts on some of the players they spoke to.

After a quick break the talk turned back to the current comings and goings with respect to UW Football and the Wednesday pre-spring press conference with Jedd Fisch, Brennan Carroll, and Steve Belichick. What stood out? It's probably not what you might expect.

Later Wednesday afternoon came the introductory press conference for new UW Men's Basketball Coach Danny Sprinkle. Kim and Chris were both on hand; what were their takeaways from the event?

Scott then offered up the latest recruiting news, starting with arguably the biggest news that was overlooked in a week full of news; the verbal commitment of 2025 running back Julian McMahan. He also talked about upcoming official visits and more as recruiting continues to heat up to coincide with spring ball.

Dawgman.com was at the Dempsey Indoor Facility Thursday for Washington's Pro Day, and 19 former Huskies took part - either if it was just to interview and talk to scouts and general managers from NFL teams, to doing the full battery of tests and workouts.

If you want to get a full tick-tock of what we witnessed during the Pro Day with updates from Scott Eklund, click HERE.

Below is the full listing of the interviews that took place. We've stitched them together one by one so you can hear them all right after they took part in their Pro Day.

Michael Penix Jr

Dillon Johnson

Rome Odunze

Jalen McMillan

Devin Culp

Jack Westover

Roger Rosengarten

Ulumoo Ale

Tuli Letuligasenoa

Bralen Trice

Zion Tupuola-Fetui

Edefuan Ulofoshio

Dominique Hampton

The six that we weren't able to interview were:

Ja'Lynn Polk

Troy Fautanu

Sekai Asoau-Afoa

Ralen Goforth

Antonio Hill

Jaden Green

Washington Head Coach Jedd Fisch and his two coordinators - Brennan Carroll and Steve Belichick - met with the media Wednesday to talk about spring football, the changes they've already experienced in the two months they've been on the job, and what spring football is going to look like.

The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund - react to the Monday news that Washington has hired their next men's basketball coach, and they did it without a permanent athletic director.

They start out with their initial reactions to Utah State Head Coach Danny Sprinkle accepting the same role on Montlake, what it meant that he took the job despite Troy Dannen's departure for Nebraska, the initial contract details, and what it's going to also mean for assistants like Will Conroy, Quincy Pondexter, Jerry Hobbie, and Ben Lee - as well as the rest of UW's support staff.

And what is it going to mean for the remaining players on the roster and the incoming freshmen?

After a quick break, the talk steers into the larger conversation about Dannen and who his replacement is going to be. It feels like Washington State Athletic Director Pat Chun has the inside track, but how far along is Washington when it comes to filling Dannen's shoes?

Talk then turned to football matters, specifically the upcoming Pro Day on Thursday and the start of Spring Football the following week. Scott also provides a quick recruiting update as things really start to ramp up in that area too.

The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund - took a day to absorb the fallout from the news that Washington Athletic Director Troy Dannen would be leaving UW after 167 days on the job to take the same job at Nebraska. And while today is the first day of what is traditionally known as 'March Madness', UW fans have been dealing lately with an entirely different type of madness. 

Why? Why now? And for what purpose? So many questions, and even a day later many of those questions remain only partially answered.

In the first part of the podcast, they talk about their initial reactions to the news, how this will affect things like buyouts moving forward, and also why they think Dannen's move happened now, rather than years from now. There are a number of stories that have surfaced in the last 24 hours since Dannen's departure that have certainly illuminated the situation and helped clarify some of the reasons that may have been leading Dannen out the door after less than six months on the job.

After a quick break, most of the rest of the podcast talks about the vacant men's head basketball coaching position, how Dannen's departure fits into the hiring timeline for UW - did he put in enough legwork behind the scenes to allow interim AD Erin O'Connell to push a hire across the line? Will it be Utah State Head Coach Danny Sprinkle, as has been long rumored? Will the AD have to completely reset their list of candidates and go in a different direction entirely? Will they wait until a permanent AD is hired before tackling the process of making the next hire?

And where is Will Conroy's place in all of this? Will he come back with an interim tag as part of an eventual move to make him Washington's next head coach? What about Quincy Pondexter's future? Ben Lee's? Mike Hopkins?

The guys talk about that, the role Parker Executive Search will have in making UW's next hires. They were the group Washington used in the hiring of Jedd Fisch, their newest deputy AD Haven Fields, and they were also the group responsible for Nebraska's AD search.

There's also a quick recruiting update from Scott and we wrap things up with an update on one of our favorite contributors - AANDY - and also comment on Dannen's prepared statement to Washington fans that he posted on social networks as we were wrapping up our show.

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The ONLY episode on the NCAA Tournament that you'll ever need is HERE! Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander will break down every game to give you the sleepers, cinderellas, bracket busters, and more!

(01:00) - Kansas Kevin McCullar shut down for NCAA Tournament

(09:50) - Virginia, we're not mad. We're just disappointed.

(18:05) - We're picking brackets!

(53:27) - Final Four Picks

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The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds in Las Vegas and Chris Fetters in Seattle - break down Washington's 80-74 Pac-12 Tournament first round loss to USC, how they'll view the Mike Hopkins era now that it's over, and how Troy Dannen will now react to the coaching carousel knowing it's about to jump into high gear here in the next week.

To start the podcast off, Kim set the scene in Vegas pregame and then the guys gave their takes as to what went well for UW, what didn't go well, and what ultimately mattered in the Huskies' 6-point loss to USC.

Kim was also on hand to watch the postgame press conference with Hopkins and senior forward Keion Brooks, the emotion from Hop as things wrapped up, and Kim also added a couple of his favorite Hop moments over the years now that things have come to a close after seven seasons and an overall winning percentage of 52.7 percent.

After a quick break, talk turns to Washington Athletic Director Troy Dannen. What direction will Dannen take when it comes to Washington's next men's basketball coach? Has he already found his man in Utah State's Danny Sprinkle? And how difficult will it be for Dannen to work behind the scenes knowing the coaching carousel is just warming up and a lot of other coaching vacancies are going to appear in the coming days?

The guys then give their final thoughts on Hop, as well as Brooks.