TERRY MOSHER
It’s to your financial health to not put your faith in a young team, no matter the sport, because there is a real gulf physically between grown men (think football players at Brigham Young who have aged with two years of missionary work) and players who are still in their teen years. Testosterone, a lot of it, along with heavy weight lifting and other exercises will do that to the male species.
So it is late analysis defying logic that I can honestly say that I thought the Washington Huskies would put up a better than anybody expected fight against USC on Thursday night in Los Angeles.
But I didn’t expect them to not just beat USC but to do it so overwhelming. If Husky freshman quarterback Jake Browning had not had such a pedestrian game and connected on at least three long passes that should have could have been touchdowns and if they had made a missed field goal, the Huskies would have won 41-12 instead of winning a nail-biter, 17-12.
What made me think that the Huskies would put up a good fight is a young defense that is fast and very quick and very tough. I covered the Huskies for almost 30 years for the Bremerton Sun/Kitsap Sun and I can’t remember a defense that was this fast and quick and tough.
Sure the 1991 Huskies with the mighty Steve Emtman, defensive back Dana Hall and linebacker Donald Jones among others were unbelievable and rode their defense and an excellent offense to an unbeaten (12-0) season and a national championship, but the current Huskies don’t have to take a backseat to anybody when it comes to defense.
Five sophomores are starting on the defense – linebackers Keishawn Bierria and Azeem Victor; Sidney Jones is at one corner and Budda Baker plays safety, and up front is a miniature Danny Shelton in Elijah Qualls, who is not really that small. Qualls is listed a t6 -1 and 311 pounds and is as quick as a cat, just like Shelton, now a nose tackle for the Cleveland Browns. I also like senior linebacker/rush end Travis Feeney, senior linebacker Cory Littleton and sophomore Darren Gardenhire, who sees a lot of action at cornerback.
These guys are tough and intense and they give Washington a chance to do well in any game it plays, but I especially love Victor. That kid can play and the targeting penalty and game ejection that was called on him in Thursday’s game, which will cost him the first half of Saturday’s match-up in Seattle against Oregon, was a terrible call. He might have been guilty of roughing the passer, but I didn’t see him put his hands to the QB’s neck or head, which is the definition of targeting…
Victor leads the Huskies with 48 tackles, 5.5 for losses of 17 yards.
I would think five games into the football season that these Washington Huskies, 3-2 on the season, have to be the surprise of the Pac-12. And freshman running back Myles Gaskin has to be the surprise for the offense. He is leading the Huskies with 356 yards rushing. He is not your basic straight ahead runner. Gaskin darts and dashes here and there, and when he sees an opening he’s gone. It will be fun to watch his further development as the season progresses.
As for Browning, he had an off-game against the Trojans but has the skills to be an impact guy. It will also be fun to watch him develop.
On the baseball front, the firing of Lloyd McClendon had to be expected. A new general manager should want his own guy in the manager’s seat because if things go wrong at least it went wrong with your guy not somebody who was hired by somebody else. Nothing against McClendon, I’m sure he is a nice guy and a good baseball man. But that is part of the life of a baseball man. You are hired to be fired. If McClendon wants a job in baseball, he will get it.
To be honest, though, I didn’t think players put out there best for McClendon. It’s just a gut feeling I have. I have no proof, other than the team’s losing record this season.
I don’t know who new GM Jerry Dipoto will hire as manager, but I expect it will be somebody he knows well, and knows he can work well with. And that is as it should be.
I do know by watching these playoff games that the Mariners are far behind in terms of talent and enthusiasm for the game when it comes to putting a lineup on the field on a regular basis.
One thing the Mariners badly need, and Dipoto alluded to this in his introductory press conference, is the need to have leaders. I don’t think the 2015 Mariners had one, and a ship without a rudder is hard to control.
I tell you what, they should just bring back Jay Buhner and have him patrol the clubhouse and kick butt when it’s needed. That would work, believe me.
The local high school football scene continues to befuddle me. Our teams around here, with the rare exception, are usually behind the eight-ball when it comes to competing at the state level, and it appears it’s the same this season.
Port Townsend appears to be the top local candidate to bring it on when it comes to the playoffs. The Red Hawks are way the better class 1A team around here. Olympic High School under coach Sal Quitevis is unbeaten and seems to be the top 2A team and Central Kitsap is doing its regular thing – start slow and then get on a good roll – and may make some noise if it gets to the playoffs from the 3A Narrows League.
I don’t know what has happened to the biggest school in the state – South Kitsap. I have seen one SK game and that was by feed on the Internet and from what I see the Wolves’ defense, especially in the secondary, is almost non-existence.
When I arrived here in February of 1970 to write sports for the Bremerton Sun, South Kitsap football was in horrible shape. I remember one game in Tacoma in which on one play no SK football player was left standing and the opponent romped easily to a long score.
South Kitsap’s football fortunes bounced back with the arrival of Ed Fisher in 1973 and the Wolves’ quickly became a perennial state power and won it all 1994. But now things have gone the other way and I must profess that I don’t understand how a school that has three middle schools feeding it can fall this far this fast.
That’s it for today. I’m outta here.
Be well pal.
Be careful out there.
Have a great day.
You are loved.