Walking into a balmy 74-degree Husky stadium with the Glenn Frey classic, “The Heat Is On” firing up the speakers, The Huskies have been hot as of late, with a great recruiting spree last month, preseason award watchlists piling up, and a recently announced pre-season AP Top 10 ranking.

Coach Kalen DeBoer has been on fire but was not approaching this climate casually, barking out to the guys at the end of practice, “Hydrate! Hydrate! Hydrate!”

He also reminded the guys that they would face some hot temperatures at the start of the season, specifically mentioning a 4 pm game against Michigan St. on the road.

Joining me at practice today was my friend, Dawg, and former HS football coach, Tyler Volk.  Together, we scouted out today’s practice and took a lot of notes on what we saw.  From a high level, the offense looked like they were in mid-season form, with both Penix and Morris very sharp. The defense looked vulnerable for a large segment of practice, but near the end, they fired up their intensity and really gave the Purple & White offenses some trouble.  On a sweltering day that reached a very hot 85 degrees by the end of practice, I submit to you my Hot Dawg Report

HOT DAWG REPORT  (Guys who were making Fire Emoji Plays!)

• QB Michael Penix- Bomb to Polk for 50+, scramble with a 16-yard bullet to Odunze, 2 TD runs, slip, recovery, and bullet to Jack Westover. Tremendous pocket presence and poise on 2 big completions on his own one-yard line.  Only one incompletion all day, with no INT’s or fumbles. Oh, and he also caught a TD pass from Rome Odunze!
• QB Dylan Morris- Bomb to Denzel Boston for 50+, 2 TD passes to Germie Bernard for 45+ and red zone, plus another bomb to Bernard of 47 yards, missed a couple of rushed throws, but very solid.
• RB Sam Adams- Adams is in the 2nd tier, but he made 3 great runs, plus a clutch catch.
• TE Jack Westover- Made the catch of the day with a two-handed vertical layout catch from Penix.
• RB/WR Will Nixon- Looks faster, stronger, and consistently found holes on the inside and showed burst on the outside.
• DB Mishael Powell- Blew up a trick play, and stopped a critical 4th down run in the backfield.
• Edge Voi Tunuufi- Got the only sack of the day, against Morris.
• LB Ralen Goforth- Big TFL on new Husky Dillon Johnson.
• Edge Zach Durfee- Quiet for most of the practice, but made some noise at the end, including a batted-down Dylan Morris pass with heavy pressure.
• Edge Bralen Trice- Strong pressure, beat Troy Fautano twice.
• RB Cam Davis- Clear #1 RB, made strong runs and a couple of catches all practice and finished the practice with a tough first down run up the middle.

Other Observations

• Fun to see newcomers like WR Taeshaun Lyons (2 catches, 1 drop), WR Rashid Williams (1 catch, but fell afterward), RB Dillon Johnson (several effective runs and a circus catch with great balance), Austin Mack (big arm, but clearly young), RB Daniyel Ngata (fast, elusive and tough running) and CB Darren Barkins (see next point) make plays throughout the day.
• Speaking of CB Darren Barkins, the Oregon transfer had some of the best coverage plays of the day and has caught the attention of DB Coach Juice Brown.
• Linebackers coach William Inge was shooting short selfie videos during warm-up to send to potential recruits.  Naturally, each video ended with a dubs-up.
• This team has Pac-12 and National Championship expectations. They will not surprise anyone this year.

By Warren Mainard and Tyler Volk

It was a great day at practice.  I will share more, and discuss UW Football more deeply on the next episode of the Dawg and Duck Show coming out this week. Follow Warren Mainard on Twitter at @PDubWDawg and @dawgandduckshow for more coverage, analysis, and opinions.