One of the great attributes of Coach Lorenzo Romar is that he is very involved in the community. One of my readers works with Childhaven and sent me this release which has details about an event where Coach Romar will be speaking next Wednesday, May 14th. If you'd like to attend the event, visit www.childhaven.org for more information. I haven't personally been involved with Childhaven but I've heard great things about the work they do. Here's the info…………

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Childhaven's 3rd Annual Business of Children Breakfast, May 14

Keynote speaker: Lorenzo Romar, Coach, UW Men's Basketball Team

SEATTLE – May 9, 2008 – Childhaven, an area not-for-profit provider of therapeutic child care to abused, neglected and at-risk children, today announced the 3rd Annual Business of Children Breakfast to be held Wednesday, May 14, 2008. The event, beginning at 7:30 a.m., will be held in the Metropolitan Ballroom of The Sheraton Seattle and will feature Lorenzo Romar; Head Coach of the University of Washington Men's Basketball Team. Proceeds from the event will benefit Childhaven's prevention, early intervention and treatment programs.

Romar's basketball life has been marked by success at every level beginning with his playing career in high school, his time in the NBA, and continuing with his coaching career. In just five years as Head Coach of Men's Basketball at the University of Washington, Coach Romar has elevated the Huskies to the elite level of college basketball with his leadership skills, commitment to teamwork and his dedication to the game. He already ranks fifth among all-time UW coaches with 103 victories. Following his sixth season with the UW, the charismatic coach plans to stay at the top after putting together consecutive recruiting classes that were rated among the nation's best.

Romar is also committed to making a difference in the community. The Lorenzo Romar Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded by Lorenzo and his wife Leona, is dedicated to the support and advocacy of family-related issues. The Foundation focuses on the prevention of domestic violence and educational assistance for disadvantaged youth as well as other charitable causes.

Seats are still available. Please visit http://www.childhaven.org for additional information or to register.

Event Specifics

Location: The Sheraton Seattle – Metropolitan Ballroom
1400 Sixth Avenue
Seattle, WA 98101
Time: 7:30 a.m. 8:45 a.m., doors open at 7:00 a.m.

How to Register

Visit: www.childhaven.org
Price: Suggested minimum donation of $150 per person (payable at breakfast).

About Childhaven

Childhaven is a local, Seattle not-for-profit organization that provides daily therapeutic child care to abused, neglected and at-risk children ages one month through five years. Children are referred by Children's Administration (Child Protective and Child Welfare services), as well as Public Health Nurses and Economic Services Administration social workers. Childhaven provides daily van transportation, health monitoring, two nutritious meals plus snack each day, developmental assessments and therapies, including speech, occupational therapy, special education, art, play and music therapies. Childhaven operates four child care branches in King County, including the First Hill Broadway Center in Seattle, the Patrick L. Gogerty Branch in Auburn, the Eli Creekmore Memorial Branch in Burien, and the Lake City Branch in North Seattle. For more information about Childhaven visit www.childhaven.org .

As I wrap up my season on the Blawg, I wanted to have one more good conversation with my friend and fellow blogger, John Berkowitz. Our conversations have become a staple on the Blawg during football season and I figured it was a proper way to conclude the spring football discussion. John runs a fantastic UW blog on blogspot.com. We talk UW football every Monday during the season.

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John: I watched the spring game a couple of times and really came away with the feeling that the defense is going to be much better in 2008. Even though the interior of the defensive line seemed to hold its own against our offensive line, they still looked small and unimpressive to me. I just don't see Matthews as being big enough to play interior DL. Do you think we run more 3-4 to get away from that, or will they stick with the 4-3 as a base and hope the frosh like Ta'amu, Noble, and Kelemente can fill the void in the fall?

Nathan: Ed Donatell has said that he'll use both the 3-4 and 4-3 but I think they looked fine with the 4-3 in spring ball. I wouldn't expect much from Craig Noble and Alameda Ta'amu as I project them as 2nd string at-best. In a perfect world, you'd redshirt both of them. Matthews did better than I thought he would as a DT and if he puts on some weight he could be a really good tackle in the future. He's got an NFL frame; he just needs some more size. The real concern for the defensive tackles is that Jovon O'Connor and Tyrone Duncan didn't make a big move during spring football and give us the impression that they could be big-time contributors.

UW has another very tough schedule this year. Would you like to see the UW administration go the direction of scheduling easier teams in the future?

John: I think the schedule has been ridiculous lately thanks to Bumbling Barbara Hedges. Todd Turner did what he could to soften it but his hands were pretty much tied. The formula for success is only one BCS major like a Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma, or Notre Dame per year. You need to play that one big non conference game. After that you schedule a MWC/CUSA type opponent followed by a WAC/MAC type opponent. You don't play two majors in one year. There is nothing wrong with playing Notre Dame, Wyoming, and Idaho for example. The problem is - of course - that these schedules are usually agreed to a decade in advance. With parity, it is getting a lot tougher to identify the cupcakes so far in advance. To answer your question, the UW will continue to schedule one big game, followed by two they are pretty sure they can win in the future. You won't see a Notre Dame, and an Oklahoma on the same schedule again.

How do you feel about the defensive backfield, especially the cornerbacks? I came away surprised, impressed, and feel that we may end up being pretty solid and physical back there. What do you think?

Nathan: I really enjoyed watching the defensive backfield step up their game during spring football. The safeties are as good as we've seen in a long time. When Jason Wells returns in August, UW will be set at the safety position. Late in spring football, Mesphin Forrester and Quinton Richardson showed that they can give UW a physical presence at cornerback. I still believe that Byron Davenport will be one of the starting cornerbacks by the season opener but with Matt Mosley, Jordan Murchison, and Vonzell McDowell, UW finally has some depth at the position. Obviously, the buzz has been the play of the safeties – Victor Aiyewa and Nate Williams – but Forrester has proven to be a valuable player to this team because of his versatility. He can almost play every position in the backfield.

How many wins do you project for next season?

John: "How many wins?", now that is a tough question. Before Spring Football, I was thinking maybe four to five but I saw enough out there this past week to revise it to six to seven, if everything goes right. Wins I would possibly pencil in now would be BYU, Arizona, Stanford, Oregon State, Notre Dame, UCLA, and WSU. I don't think we have the firepower to beat Oregon, Oklahoma, USC, Arizona State, and probably Cal which is on the road, but we will be very competitive in every single game. I think with Jake at the helm we can put up 30-35 points on the board each week which gives a shot to play with anyone. I know the defense will be improved, and that might be the difference in getting us over .500 and into a bowl this year. This team will surprise if we can get some growth and consistency out of the youngsters. The key to victory will be the maturation process of the younger players in the skill positions.

What should I put you down for?

Nathan: I'm on record for 6-6. I see 3 games that they should win (Stanford, WSU, Oregon State), 4 games they'll definitely lose (USC, ASU, Oklahoma, Cal) and 5 games that are toss-ups (UCLA, Notre Dame, Arizona, Oregon, BYU). Of the 5 toss-ups, if they can just win the home games – three of them – they'll get to 6-6. I would assume that we'd get selected to a bowl game with that record. I agree with your assertion that the defense is the reason we have a chance to win 6.

Who's going to win the Pac-10 next year?

John: I am going with Arizona State. Dennis Erickson has things rolling again and he has plenty of talent led by a scrappy senior QB returning. Rudy Carpenter really impressed me with his moxie when we played them last year in Tempe. Dennis knows how to put together a balanced nasty team.

USC will be at or near the top but I see cracks developing in the Trojan armor. I just don't think they have the firepower at QB to finish on top. Cal has talent, but I think their run ended mid season last year, I don't see them challenging for the top. Oregon had a decent Spring and they have a nice stable to replace Jonathan Stewart. UCLA will continue to have problems at QB similar to this year which will sink them.

What percentage of passes will Jake Locker complete this year?

Nathan: 54%.

Do you think UW will have a 1000-yard rusher in 2008?

John: Great question, and I would say yes.

Jake is going to average close to 85 yards per game on the ground, so that puts him in the thousand yard neighborhood.

I'm not too sure about the running backs. Johnson, Griffin, and Yakaboski hit the hole better than Rankin did, so I think they will pick up the 4-6 yard gains we need to keep the offense moving. One thing Rankin had going for him was big play ability and he'd pick up a lot of yards on those plays. One thing we all hated about Rankin was his dancing which killed drives when we needed a short gain to keep it alive. I like our running backs but I haven't seen any big play ability yet. That may be the role that Chris Polk and Curtis Shaw fill out from the slot.

How many yards per game will the defense give up in 2008?

Nathan: In 2006, the UW defense gave up 379 yards/game. Last year, they gave up 446 yards/game. I would expect that new Defensive Coordinator Ed Donatell could return the defense – ahem! – to its 2006 form. OK, all kidding aside, I wouldn't expect UW's porous 2007 defense to become the 2nd -coming of the 1985 Chicago Bears in 2008 but if they could get down to the 350-370 yards/game level, that would be a positive accomplishment and put them in the middle of the conference in total defense. Think baby steps. More importantly, I'd like to see the sack and turnover numbers go up more so than worrying about total yards per game. Another major gauge of the defense's improved performance would be red zone defense since UW was 7th in the conference in stopping opponents in the red zone. Obviously, that's terrible.

Whenever you have an 10-7 intra-squad scrimmage, you're left wondering afterwards "was the offense bad or the defense good?". Obviously. However, there's a lot to think about after Saturday's scrimmage and we have some new information which gives us more perspective about the game.

Dawgman.com's Scott Eklund interviewed Offensive Coordinator Tim Lappano after the game and Lappano said that he only ran 4 plays the entire game. Yes, that's not a typo - 4 plays. I knew the gameplan was vanilla but that sums up why the offense didn't do much.

Why would Lappano insist on keeping the gameplan so vanilla? It took away some of the excitement from the game and the program could use an infusion of excitement right now. Anyhow, it certainly explains why the defense dominated.

So, should we worry that the offense struggled through the final couple of weeks of spring football? I'm not really worried. With QB Jake Locker at the helm, this offense still has a chance to be a 32-35 point per game type of offense in 2008 and that's good enough to a win a couple of more games than last year.

Some fans lamented the lack of game-breaking speed at the running back position but I don't see it as a worry. Starting tailback Brandon Johnson was injured and couldn't show his full arsenal of talent. Johnson isn't a game-breaking back but I'll take a TB with his physical style over one who only lives on breaking big runs. When Johnson's healthy, he's great at pounding out 3-4 tough yards and controlling the game.

I don't want to pick on departed senior Louis Rankin but Johnson is the exact opposite of how Rankin played most of his UW career. Remember, Rankin was good at breaking the big ones but often frustrating when we needed 3-4 yards to keep a drive alive.

Your game breaking running back is freshman Chris Polk who the coaches used at tailback and as a slot receiver on Saturday. So, there is game-breaking ability in the backfield. Imagine Polk running that WR sweep play that the coaches "borrowed" from Oregon State? Fun.

Alright, let's talk about the defense.

With safeties Nate Williams and Victor Aiyewa and linebackers EJ Savannah, Donald Butler, and Mason Foster, UW is stronger in the middle portion of their defensive than they've been since the Rose Bowl season in 2000. The weaker part of the defense would be considered the cornerbacks and defensive line but even those positions had a positive spring football session.

If you follow conventional wisdom, the weakest part of the defense is the defensive tackle position with two sophomores anchoring the middle of the line. Will UW be vulnerable at some extent up the middle stopping the run? Probably. DE-turned-DT De'Shon Matthews needs to add at least 20 pounds before the season.

Where will this defense stack up when you compare it to other defenses around the conference?

Last year, UW was last in the conference in stopping the run at 184/yards per game. I'll predict that UW - with Defensive Coordinator Ed Donatell's improved strategy - will be around 150 yards per game in terms of rushing yards allowed. That would put them at 6th or 7th in the conference in run defense.

UW was 9th in the conference in passing yards allowed and in points allow last season. Donatell's biggest effect will be in defending the pass. I could see UW vaulting up as high as 5th in the conference in pass defense with the improved play at cornerback and the safeties showing All-Pac-10-like ability.

Considering the youth on defense, a 6th or 7th place defense would be a huge improvement over last season and a nice accomplishment for Donatell.

Spring Football Grades

Quarterbacks - B-. Jake Locker and Ronnie Fouch had a decent but not spectacular spring football session. Remember, Fouch looked rusty early in the spring session even though he had a good spring game. Locker showed improved accuracy but he's still making mistakes. I suppose that we need to keep in mind that he's still a sophomore.

Running Backs - B. I was tempted to give them a B+ but there's still some improvement that needs to happen in pass blocking.

Tight Ends - C. I was hoping for more.

Wide Receivers - B. D'Andre Goodwin gets an A, Alvin Logan gets a B+ and the rest of the receivers get a B-.

Offensive Line - C. I was expecting them to dominate but the front seven on defense beat them often.

Defensive Line - B. We have a solid pair of defensive ends. Hopefully, we can firm up the tackle position in training camp.

Linebackers - A. These guys are good.

Safeties - A. These guys are good, too.

Cornerbacks - B+. Aside from Goodwin, the cornerbacks were the best surprise of spring football.

Special Teams - D. I'm officially worried.

Nathan Ware
http://www.thedawgblawg.com

On the surface, if you looked at today's UW purple-and-gold spring game - which was won by the gold team by a final score of 10-7 - you'd say that UW's offense had a bad day. The gold team consisted of the 1st team defense and 2nd team offense. However, that's a one-dimensional view. You have to consider that offensive coordinator Tim Lappano kept the gameplan extremely simple and didn't let QB Jake Locker run the football. The defensive-dominated game and low final score make a lot more sense when you look at the game from that viewpoint.

However, the first team offense does deserve some criticism. Somewhat unexpectedly, the gold team's young 1st-team defensive line won the battle in the trenches against the purple team's 1st-team offensive line. Locker made just enough mistakes to keep the offense from ever getting into a flow. And, the worst part was that the wide receivers dropped just enough passes to sour our overall outlook on an otherwise optimistic-looking group of players.

The bottom line is Lappano still has a lot of work to do before the season opener against Oregon on August 30th. On a scale of 1-10, the offense is a 6 or a 7 and that's not good enough since conventional wisdom is that the offense is the strength of the team. On the flip side, the defense is a 6 or 7 on the same 1-10 scale and we originally thought that they would be much weaker than the offense.

Let's go through some of the key points that I listed last night. If you missed my post last night, here's the link.

1. "Watch the cornerbacks." - I'd grade the cornerbacks a B+ today and that's a solid effort. Defensive coordinator Ed Donatell has transformed this group of players into a very serviceable unit. I was initially worried that they might be a weak point on this team but I underestimated Donatell.

2. "Pay special attention to Matt Sedillo." - I'd grade Sedillo a B for his job filling in for injured center Juan Garcia. And, he did it all with a tweaked ankle. Solid effort.

3. "Track Jake's passes, particularly the short ones." - Locker was generally accurate; however, he seemed to have various mistakes derail drives, i.e. a fumbled snap, interception on an ill-thrown pass, etc. He has to become sharper and cut the crucial mistakes out of his game. I'd grade his performance a C-. He's the starter and the fan-appointed "Savior" because he's supposed to be able to get the offense into the end zone. Today, he failed on that mission with exception of one drive.

4. "Observe if the punting has improved." - The punting was average at best. I'll give them a C grade.

5. "See if any of the tight ends make some catches." - With incumbent starter Michael Gottlieb out with the flu, freshman Chris Izbicki played with the 1st-team offense and came on strong in the second half. I was excited to see that. I'll give the tight ends a B- grade with an asterisk because Gottlieb didn't play.

6. "Watch the players on the sidelines occasionally." - This point was related to the overall energy of the team. Today, the team's energy and level of intensity was average. I'll go with a B- grade. Ironically, backup QB Ronnie Fouch showed some passion and intensity in leading the team and the linebackers were energetic as usual.

Notes

- Great crowd today. UW estimated the attendance at 9,000 and that is as good as I can remember in recent years.

- The team did a lot right today but made just enough poor mistakes that the game left me with mixed emotions. For example, Locker's accuracy was improved on the short/intermediate passes but he threw a terrible interception that killed a promising drive. On another drive, Locker's squad was threatening the red zone but Locker fumbled the snap. There were some stupid penalties that affected other drives. It was situations like those that summed up the day. There was just enough negative "ying" to kill my positive "yang".

- The coaches didn't allow any kick/punt returns to limit the possibility of injury.

- If I had to pick one player to be the MVP of the entire spring football session, it would be WR D'Andre Goodwin. I can't get over how much he's improved.

- My defensive MVP for today's game was LB EJ Savannah, who is obviously trying to show the coaches that he's ready to run the straight and narrow. On offense, I'd have to go with Goodwin as the offensive MVP of today's game.

- In case you're wondering, TB/WR Chris Polk had a very solid game. He didn't have any big plays but he caught a few nice passes and complimented that with a couple of good runs. He still needs to work on his blocking but you can see the talent that has the fans and coaches excited.

- Here are the stats from today's game.