Chris Petersen addressed the media today to open up the 2019 season of fall camp, and the 2019 football season.
With the release of the Coaches Poll this morning (Washington is ranked #12, topping all Pac-12 teams), Petersen is optimistic and ready to get on to the business of getting his team ready.
Health of Team
Three guys won’t practice: Troy Fautanu (foot), Jacob Kizer (back), Cole Norgaard (ankle). This now explains why Corey Luciano was moved to tight end for the time being. We had heard that there may be some possible attrition at this position, but the good news is that Kizer is on the right track and may be able to make a return. Petersen feels optimistic that Kizer’s recovery is on track.
“I think he’s making progress and he’s going to take some time, but I think our doctors feel good about it”, Petersen said.
With Norgaard out, Petersen talked about depth on the offensive line, and said that Henry Roberts and Matteo Mele are able to play center if need be.
As for Luciano moving from OL to the TE spot for now, Petersen said “It wasn’t like we didn’t think he could play. We do. And with Cole being out we’re like OK, this is a new little twist. So we’re going to be flexible with him and see what happens.”
Incoming Freshmen
Petersen loves this group and said that if he could play them all, he would.
“I hope we don’t redshirt everybody”, he said, “We like to play the young guys. We really do.”
Improvements
Petersen said that raising the standard on Special Teams will be emphasized during camp, he also said that redzone offense is going to be emphasized in 2019.
“We would have fixed the problem last year if it was one thing”, he said, explaining that penalties were one of the things that caused issues, but said that playing in the redzone isn’t as easy as some might think.
Here’s the entire video:
