Dawgman Radio: A Washington Huskies athletics podcast

The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund - had a ton to talk about, especially after Washington's joint statement Friday morning about UCLA and USC defecting to the Big Ten.  Will Washington get a chance to bolt too? Can they do it with or without Oregon?

In the first part of the nearly hour-long podcast, they talk about the ramifications of losing the LA schools and what could happen in the near term for Washington athletics.

After a break to pay some bills, they jump right into the more positive news; Washington's recent football recruiting. The Huskies picked up a verbal commitment from Fairfield (Calif.) Rodriguez cornerback Leroy Bryant Friday afternoon, the 16th public verbal commit for the 2023 recruiting class.

They also talk about the last two offensive line commits in Menlo-Atherton's Soane Faasolo and Ferndale's Landen Hatchett. Faasolo, at 6-foot-9, represents Washington's desire to get longer with their offensive linemen. The guys also talk about Hatchett, a UW legacy (his brother Geirean is a current Husky OL) and his comparison to another local offensive lineman in Micah Banuelos, and the plan laid out by the UW coaches that eventually turned the tide for Hatchett.

After another quick break, the podcast finishes with arguably the most important recent commitment for UW, and that's quarterback Lincoln Kienholz from Pierre, SD. What are his strengths and what are the Huskies getting with Kienholz? How does he differ from Avery Johnson, the other 2023 quarterback prospect looking heavily at UW before Kienholz's public commitment?

The guys wrap up the podcast with their final recruiting thoughts as we move into July. That's normally the month the coaches take time away from Montlake to go on holiday and spend time with their families before fall camp begins in August. But could UW fans see some more verbal commitments take place before the coaches leave town?

And finally, we have another promotion that we think you will love: TWO MONTHS for just ONE DOLLAR. Think about it; for only one buck, you will get access to everything we do all the way through fall camp. How can you not want to take advantage of such a screaming deal! You can check that all out HERE.

The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund - caught up to talk about the major talking points of the day with regard to Washington Football, Men's Basketball, and recruiting. And there was a lot to talk about.

To start with, they spoke on the three players that have just left the program - Jordan Lolohea, Draco Bynum, and Emeka Megwa - and that talk turned to a conversation that revolved around a revamped running backs room and what should UW fans expect from that position?

After a quick break, the guys talked about Jaxson Kirkland's waiver to come back and play his last season at UW accepted by the NCAA, and how will that move will impact the Washington offensive line in the fall. And could the line look different depending on if the Huskies use a right-handed quarterback or a left-handed quarterback?

And could the receivers group actually end up becoming the group that gets highlighted and produces the most out of all the offensive positions?

Talk turned to men's basketball, specifically the recruitment of Kentucky transfer Keion Brooks and what UW fans should expect from Isaiah Stewart's former prep teammate at La Lumiere. If you want a more in-depth conversation surrounding the remaking of Washington's roster ahead of the 2022-23 season, Fetters spoke with Head of Hoops Aaron Beach to get his thoughts and they do a deep dive here. 

And finally, Kim and Scott go deep into Washington's recruiting schedule for the month of June, starting with this weekend's slate of camps and UW's 7-on-7 tournament, which takes place on Sunday. The new coaching staff is going to be hosting a ton of local camp participants, as well as official visitors from all over the country, culminating in the final week in June when nearly 20 official visitors are expected to show up at Montlake.

The guys from Dawgman.com - Chris Fetters and Head of Hoops Aaron Beach - got together this weekend to sort through everything having to do with UW Basketball at the moment now that the Huskies have seemingly finalized their roster heading into the 2022-23 season. There were seven outgoing players, and they just signed their seventh incoming player this past week.

In part one of the podcast, Fetters and Beach talk about Washington's ability to keep up with the Joneses and adapt to this new world of the transfer portal and if Mike Hopkins and his staff have been able to build something that has staying power, while at the same time addressing the multiple short-term needs that almost always come along with Division-1 basketball nowadays.

They also talk about Washington's latest signing, former Kentucky forward Keion Brooks, his strengths, and how he should fit in with the Hoop Dawgs on both ends of the floor.

After a quick break to pay some bills, the guys are back at it to talk about the other players that have been added from the portal to fill needs and fit holes left by departing players. In total, does Beach feel like the inclusion of other portal players, like Noah Williams, Franck Kepnang, and Braxton Meah, will add with Keion Brooks to form a stronger nucleus than what they had last season? Are they a better fit going forward on offense and defense? And could the freshmen - Koren Johnson, Keyon Menifield, and Tyler Linhardt - make an impact or shore up the depth this year?

And finally, Fetters gets Beach to name his starting five heading into the season and if there could be any surprises to the lineup with the new and existing players at Hop's disposal.

The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund - met up in the tunnel at Husky Stadium to give their initial impressions of Washington's fifteenth - and final - practice of spring football, held Saturday afternoon. Early rain gave way to sunny skies, as the Huskies were able to go through a 70-80 play 'scrimmage' with scoring rules to simulate as much of a game environment as they could.

A Michael Penix, Jr. pass to Rome Odunze proved to the be the difference in the 'game' as the offense came back on the final series to beat the defense. Grinolds, Fetters, and Eklund went through each position group, starting with the quarterbacks, and gave not just their impressions from the day, but also overall how they looked, what went right, what went wrong, and a quick look ahead toward the fall.

After doing that for the offense, they did the same for the defensive side of the ball after a quick break. Mishael Powell and Alex Cook were the two defensive players that came up with interceptions during the scrimmage. They broke down who they felt stepped up Saturday, as well as throughout spring. There were some veteran named that popped up, but also a few that definitely surprised over the course of April.

There was also plenty going on with recruiting during the spring preview, and the guys touched on some of the main names that were seen at Husky Stadium.

To wrap up, each gave their closing thoughts on the day, including who really stood out with their performances and what can Washington fans expect from the offense, defense, and special teams as they head into the fall?

The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds and Chris Fetters - were on campus for Washington's final practice ahead of their Saturday Spring Preview, and there really wasn't much to talk about with regard to the practice itself as the team was in shells and shorts and focusing mainly on special teams.

But there is still a ton to talk about, and the guys started the first segment of the podcast going over some of the things they talked about with the coaches and players they met up with after practice. It was the offensive coaches and players available to the media today, so we spoke with Ryan Grubb, Scott Huff, Michael Penix, Jr., Sam Huard, and Henry Bainivalu about spring, the NFL Draft, the QB competition, and Bainivalu's brush with a recent accident involving a Seattle Sounders beat writer that saw the UW right guard help nab a hit-and-run suspect and get some Champions League final tickets in return. And then there's talk of 'Fumble Island'. What the hell is Fumble Island? We explain.

After a minute to pay some bills, the guys come back with a lot more draft talk. Is Trent McDuffie the only surefire first-round Dawg taken tonight? Is there a chance Kyler Gordon could join him?

Then we finish the podcast off talking about the transfer portal, how busy it could be in the coming days because of the May 1 deadline, and whether or not we believe in the 'mass exodus' talk being thrown around other Pac-12 message boards.

Lastly, it's all about UW Hoops. The Wednesday signing of former Oregon center Franck Kepnang means the coaches are one piece closer to getting their roster balanced for the 2022-23 season. But what about Emmitt Matthews, Jr.? What about the other pieces that need to come together? Kim and Chris discuss those things and more.

The transfer portal has become an ever-present fact of life when it comes to college sports; even when you think things are settled down and everyone has found their place, it can all change in an instant. That's just the way things are nowadays.

So it wasn't that unusual to see former walk-on players Kasen Kinchen and Meki Pei decide to move on in the hopes they can earn a scholarship somewhere else. That makes sense. But when a basketball player like Emmitt Matthews, Jr. makes a move into the portal like he did yesterday, those are decisions that seemingly come out of the blue.

The guys from Dawgman.com - Chris Fetters and Scott Eklund - delve into a lot of the portal talk in the second half of Tuesday's post-practice podcast.

To start with, they talk about Day 13's full-pads practice, the last one they'll be having before Saturday's Spring Preview at Husky Stadium. They talk about the players they saw mixed in with the ones and twos during the team session the media was able to see on Tuesday.

After a quick break, it's all about the portal and how things should really heat up around Montlake because the deadline to put your name in the portal if you plan on playing this fall is this Sunday. That means any Washington players that want to put their names in after the spring preview will have roughly 24 hours to do so. Is that enough time to come to a big decision like that? And how behind the 8-ball does that put the northern schools and the ones that push back their springs because of weather and the like?

Both Chris and Scott talk about what they expect to see from the portal this week, and how it could just a couple of names, or how it could be a lot more than that, depending on the conversations the players are having with the coaches, their families, and their own support staff.

This is just a reality of the portal, and the players can take their names out of the portal just as quickly as they put their names in, so good luck trying to make heads or tails of it moving forward.

The guys also talk about some of the post-practice interviews they were able to conduct, namely Scott's question to co-DC Chuck Morrell about how far along he feels the defense is at this point. Morrell also names some names when it comes to players that have pleasantly surprised him and have gotten more turns than he was initially expecting to see.

The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund - wrapped up their first full viewing of a practice this spring, as up to 500 Washington fans joined them to check out what the Huskies have been up to so far in April. It was a normal two-hour practice, full of individual periods, some team periods, some one-on-one and 7-on-7 work, special teams, and more. So the fans that did show up this morning got a great sense of all the different items the coaches stress and work on to get the players as ready as they can for the summer player-run workouts.

It's a relatively quick podcast today, around 20 minutes, because it was more of highlighting the players that did well and stood out during the team sessions. Julius Irvin was the lone turnover king today with an interception (Ruperake Fuavai looked like he recovered a fumble as well), while Michael Penix, Jr. and Dylan Morris combined for three touchdowns during their drives in the final team period of practice. Penix hit Giles Jackson twice on scores, one from 5-yards out, and the other from 20, while Morris hit a streaking Nick Juran down the middle of the field for 46 yards.

Washington Head Coach Kalen DeBoer singled out the receivers and EDGE players Friday when he spoke to the media, and both position groups definitely had their moments today during the team periods. The Dawgman guys talk about their days, as well as offer some more color and insight as to how the practice went for those Washington fans that were unable to attend. It was also the same day the Huskies were hosting their coaches clinic for the high school staffs to come in and see what the new UW staff is all about, so there were plenty of high school coaches and recruits on hand to watch practice under sunny skies at Husky Stadium.

The guys from Dawgman.com - Chris Fetters and Scott Eklund - wrapped up the week of practice as Washington readies their team to open things up to the media and fans on Saturday at Husky Stadium. But Friday we learned that there was a catch; what we thought would be a scrimmage Saturday will actually just be a full 2-hour practice. The scrimmage actually happened today, roughly 75-80 plays according to UW Head Coach Kalen DeBoer.

The guys broke down some of DeBoer's comments, first starting with some of the position groups that have stood out to him. He mentioned right off the bat how disruptive the EDGE players have been. So does that mean they've been killing it, or are they taking advantage of some of the offensive linemen put in newer positions, like Troy Fautanu and Matteo Mele? DeBoer singled out Fautanu for his consistency all spring, so it's likely the fact that the first four EDGE players are simply playing at a high level.

When the talk moved over to the other side of the ball, we ended up devolving the conversation to the point where we came up with a possible spring conclusion; Corey Luciano might be the only player leaving April confident knowing where he's going to start fall camp. The conversation got very interesting, so check it out!

After a quick break to pay off some debts, the talk turned to the receivers group, where DeBoer singled out Ja'Lynn Polk for his work Friday helping to move the chains. Could the former Texas Tech player become that key possession guy that Washington has been missing for a while?

And then the conversation moved to the running backs room, where the talk all spring hasn't been great. With so many players out hurt and unavailable to play, DeBoer was asked about what motivated the staff to go out and sign three running back transfers? He noted the health issues, as well as their need to have versatile body types at the position.

Could it be that the running backs we haven't seen this spring (Richard Newton, Cameron Davis, Emeka Megwa) won't become a factor at all this fall? And how far behind have Caleb Berry and Sam Adams lagged due to missing a fair bit of spring themselves, either through illness or not being 100 percent healthy? The running back room is struggling right now, and there's no doubt Aaron Dumas and Jay'Veon Sunday are benefiting from that struggle. But it feels like we're going to have to wait until August to see just how things will shake out once Wayne Taulapapa and Will Nixon arrive.

Part of the running back conversation involves the idea of attrition, how NIL can now impact the idea of a player leaving to go into the portal or not, and how that can impact things especially when a new staff is trying to instill their own culture and way of doing things.

The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund - wrap up their thoughts now that the Washington Huskies are 10 April practices in. With only 15 practices in total, that means the Dawgs are now two-thirds of the way through spring ball. Where did the time go?

Starting with the quarterback competition, the guys talk about who they think is leading the pack, as well as how they expect things could shake out as the battle continues to be joined. They also talk about the running backs. For a position that has seen very little go on from the media standpoint, there certainly has been a ton of player movement. Emeka Megwa has been out all of spring, and Caleb Berry has just started to come back. Cameron Davis and Richard Newton have not been practicing either, so at this point the only scholarship running backs that have played spring at 100 percent health are New Mexico transfer Aaron Dumas, and Jay'Veon Sunday.

The guys got a chance to speak with both UW OC Ryan Grubb and RB Coach Lee Marks to break down what they see in the two incoming transfer running backs; Virginia's Wayne Taulapapa and Nebraska's Will Nixon. Clearly with three transfer running backs in before the start of the 2022 season, an already loaded room will undoubtedly suffer attrition of some sort. What the numbers will be and who those players are is anyone's guess at this point.

Chris broke down who he saw playing with the two-deeps on defense during the limited 11-11 session the media gets to see, and with a few players that weren't spotted in there, like Jordan Perryman and Carson Bruener (both were practicing), it's hard to know if they are still cycling players through to get turns put on film, or if there's something else going on.

After a quick break to pay some bills, the talk turned to recruiting and who was at practice today. The Huskies also had a couple of draft hopefuls on hand in Cade Otton and Luke Wattenberg.

The guys also provide some insight into some of the interviews they did post-practice. Not only did they speak to Grubb and Marks, but they also talked with Dylan Morris, Ja'Lynn Polk, Roger Rosengarten, Troy Fautanu, and others.

A quick hoops update was followed by the guys' final thoughts on the day and also how things are wrapping on what has been a very quick April. Only five practices left, UW fans, including a scrimmage this Saturday at 11 am that is OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Be there!

The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds and Scott Eklund - just got done watching what they could of Day 9 of Washington's spring football campaign, as well as doing their post-practice interviews. Today they spoke with some of the defensive players and coaches, but again the big spotlight today on what they saw revolved around the quarterbacks.

Who stood out? Who made the big plays? Chris gave some thoughts on a drill he had never seen before.

When talk turned to the defense, it was mostly about the cornerbacks, as well as transfer linebacker Cam Bright. We spoke with Bright today after practice, and the soft spoken senior from Alabama, by way of the University of Pittsburgh, definitely seems to be the type that speaks softly but carries a big stick with him at all times.

We also spoke with his position coach, William Inge, and what Inge did to help persuade Bright to move even further away from his home state. Inge also talked about the process to re-recruit everyone in his room, especially now that we're in the days of the transfer portal and the free on-time transfer.

Chris and Scott talk about that process and what it might look like after spring football is over. The deadline to transfer and still be able to play in the fall is May 1 - literally one day after Washington's spring game. So how is that going to work for those UW players that are genuinely interested in checking something else out via the portal?

We also provided a quick hoops recruiting update, as things are in a bit of a holding pattern as Washington tries to shore up their front court with a couple of big men. Will it be Utah Valley's Fardaws Aimaq? West Virginia's Isaiah Cottrell? Oregon's Franck Kepnang? We shall see.