The Huskies started off practice yesterday by working on special teams, specifically the return game. It’s certainly something the UW needs to work on after having the 102nd-best kickoff-return defense (24.09 yards per return) among all FBS teams last year and the 83rd-best kickoff-return average (20.87 yard per return).
Interestingly enough, walk-on quarterback Thomas Vincent took reps as a kickoff returner. Later in the practice, the team worked on field goals, with starter Erik Folk going 3-for-5 with a long of 48 yards.
Once again, the Huskies worked on their no-huddle offense, and it looked especially crisp.
Keith Price took the reigns of the offense first and moved the ball quickly and efficiently down the field. Nick Montana followed suit shortly thereafter and started shaky but looked more comfortable to the end of the drill.
Sarkisian has said that, while the UW would like to incorporate some no-huddle offense this year, the greater advantage is giving the defense experience against the no-huddle offense employed by teams like Oregon and Washington State.
Don’t tell DiAndre Campbell and Kevin Smith that they’ll have to sit behind the UW’s veteran receiving corps. Both of the young wide receivers have been turning heads with their play this spring, and it wouldn’t be surprising if they’re winning some playing time for the fall.
Smith, a sophomore, has been a big-play machine this spring; he’s tall and one of the fastest wideouts on the team. When he gets the ball in the open field, it’s always been good news for the offense.
Campbell, a redshirt freshman, has been very steady for the Huskies. A tall wide receiver like Smith, Campbell has shown sure hands and even better route running. His ability to find holes in the defense allows him to run for extra yards before he’s tackled, which has helped the offense move the chains during scrimmages.
Their emergence, coupled with the arrival of heralded freshman Kasen Williams in the fall, should assure that the Huskies’ receiving corp will be a force to be reckoned with for some time.
Missing a left tackle?
Sarkisian said fans shouldn’t worry about the absence of starting left tackle Senio Kelemete during practice.
“I’m not that concerned,” Sarkisian said. “Senio’s played a lot of football. In a perfect world, I’d love to have him for every practice, but the reality of it is we have a lot of young offensive linemen who need these valuable reps running our offense.”
The talented senior will certainly be ready to go by fall camp and has already proven his competence protecting a quarterback’s blind side.
Sarkisian was very happy with the defensive line’s performance yesterday.
“The whole defensive line today had their best day,” Sarkisian said. “I thought this was by far and away [starting tackle Alameda Ta’amu’s] best practice. He was really disruptive, he hurt us in the run game, and what he’s able to do in the pass game is really collapse the pocket to where the quarterback has a difficult time stepping up — it really flattens out, and now our edge-speed guys can really be effective.”
Reach reporter Jacob Thorpe at sports@dailyuw.com.
Source:
No comments:
Post a Comment