A very Happy Birthday to our graduate assistant and coach of the tight ends, Jordan Paopao!  Coach Paopao enters his second year here at the UW after a two year stint with Stanford as a recruiting assistant.  Before that, Coach Paopao was a four-year starter at center for San Diego under then head coach Jim Harbaugh.  In 2006, Coach Paopao was a First Team All-American selection.

Today marks the second and final Fundamentals Camp of this June.  Campers will have the ability to work on their 40-yard dash times as well as their vertical jumps with tips and guidance from the Husky Coaches.  Remember you can still sign up for the Rising Stars Camp, which is begins this Thursday (28th) and ends on Saturday (30th).

We want to wish Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach Torre Becton a happy birthday! Over the years, Coach Becton has worked with Olympians, NFLers and collegiate ballers across the nation. The Strength and Conditioning Program is a huge part of what Husky Football is aiming to accomplish.

Strength Coach Tyson Brown (left) and Coach Becton (right)

Many have heard the wise tale of how the famous “Wave” was founded at the University of Washington.  It happened on October 31, 1981 when the Huskies were taking on Stanford.  Husky alum, Rob Weller initially intended for the wave to travel vertically up the stands.  Eventually, it was changed to travel horizontally across the stadium in order for it to form continuously.  We recently met with Rob and he recalled Stanford’s quarterback, John Elway, “turning around and staring up at the crowd in amazement.”

Duff McKagan, of Guns N’ Roses and Velvet Revolver fame, Seattle native, ESPN writer, and uncle of UW offensive lineman Dexter Charles, was named Grand Marshal of this year’s Seafair Torchlight Parade. Seafair is a huge deal in Seattle, made complete by hydroplane races on Lake Washington, the stunts of the Blue Angels U.S. Navy Flight Team, and the aforementioned Seafair parade. The UW Football Team is excited to see a huge Husky fan at the helm of Seattle’s marquee festival.

McKagan hanging out at practice during Fall Camp last year

Athlon Sports came out with a list of their top 25 Heisman Trophy contenders in the Pac-12 Conference.  Three Huskies were mentioned in the top 25: quarterback Keith Price, tight-end Austin Seferian-Jenkins, and safety Shaq Thompson.  Also, Kasen Williams (wide receiver) was listed as an honorable mention.  It should be noted that Shaq was the only incoming true freshman selected on the entire list.

Congratulations to Erik Folk on signing with the Atlanta Falcons!  Erik joins his brother Nick in the NFL who currently plays for the New York Jets.

Today and Saturday, Coach Sark and the Husky Football Coaches will be teaching area teams and players the fundamentals of the passing attack from both sides of the ball. In addition to the coaching sessions, the teams will be going head to head on UW practice fields in heated 7-on-7 competition. You can still sign up for the upcoming UW Football Camps this June, which include:

Fundamentals Camp-June 24
Rising Stars Camp-June 28-30

Desmond Trufant and Kasen Williams battle for a pass during Spring Practice

Five of the upcoming Husky games have been given official starting times and television scheduling.  You can check them out on GoHuskies.com.  The updates are as follows:

September 1: San Diego State (CenturyLink Field) 7:30pm PT on the Pac 12 Network

September 15: Portland State (CenturyLink Field) 1pm PT on FX 

September 27: Stanford (CenturyLink Field) 6pm PT on ESPN

November 2: @ California (Memorial Stadium) 6pm PT on ESPN2

November 23: @ Washington State (Martin Stadium) 12:30pm PT on either FOX or FX

GoHuskies.com recently took another look at Keith Price’s prolific sophomore season to highlight the broken Washington records and the national prominence. Price finished 7th in the nation in passing efficiency and 8th in TD passes. For a more comprehensive look at Price’s standout season, check out the article from GoHuskies.com.

Price releases another bullet pass during Spring Practice