Monday Dots: Roster Crunch
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We can have some more
Nature is a Dot
Bruises on the fruit
Tender age in bloom
- The changing rules on collegiate eligibility have had a stranger impact on roster size. Now that the five-in-five eligibility rules seems sure enough that coaches can use it to plan rosters, they can anticipate taking in fewer new players each season under a set scholarship limit. However, coaches could not rely on that rule in planning the current roster, which means an extra ~20% of scholarship players on the roster for the next few years (if you spread the same scholarships across 5 classes, each group would be about 20% smaller than spread over 4 classes). Christian Caple wrote over the weekend about how Jedd Fisch has started to anticipate and plan for this new reality. Fisch, in his third year with the Dawgs, has also brought in disproportionately large recruiting classes in his first two cycles in order to build out the roster with more of his players. If those players stay a year longer than planned, the team has the benefit of their play for an extra year, but also has to make financial plans for how to absorb the cost of those extra scholarships, benefits, and revenue share. Fisch and his staff are already working on solutions, but it is yet another example of how football coaching has grown into a job far beyond on-field x’s and o’s.
- While the Huskies wait for decisions from their top remaining OL recruiting targets, they added a couple of specialists to the ’27 recruiting class. First, Arizona long snapper Braylon Logan chose the Huskies. Then, Nolan Balke, rated as the #1 Punter in the country by the prestigious Chris Sailer Kicking, chose the Dawgs. I have not seen specific reporting, but it appears that Balke is likely to be on scholarship, but not Logan. Stay tuned to see if we can get one of the nation’s top holders this week!
- Over at Dawgman, Scott Eklund took a look at a recent ranking of the Top 10 Linebacking Corps from ESPN’s Greg McElroy. The list excluded the Huskies and Eklund investigates whether that omission was a mistake. With proven returning talent like Jacob Manu, Xe’Ree Alexander, and Buddha Al-Uqdah and emerging stars like Zaydrius Rainey-Sale and Donovan Robinson, it is very plausible that the Dawgs could rise up that sort of list during the season.
- Husky Women’s Basketball added UCLA staffer Tasha Brown to the the coaching staff. Brown will have the title Associate coach specializing in Peak Performance, which will focus on many of the mental components of success on the court. Brown and UW Coach Tina Langley spent a season together at Rice before Langley came to Montlake.
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