Elise Woodward on Huskies’ Spring Game Last Week, Storm Starting

Elise Woodward, broadcaster for the Washington Huskies and Seattle Storm, joins Dick Fain and Hugh Millen to talk about what the Spring Game looked like last week for UW, who stood out for the Dawgs, plus the Storm season starting next week with a new look.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Now back to Softie and Dick onSports Radio ninety three point three kJ RFN
no Washington Huskies. I see,I don't crack. You're home for the
Huskies and Softie Dick without the sophoonelive from the Emerald Queen Casino. Hugh
Millen is joining us. We'll getsome more of his thoughts later on about

(00:21):
the Husky spring game on Friday,but right now we're going to talk to
the lovely lady who called the actionfor the PAC twelve network on Friday night.
My friend, my partner in crimeand Storm basketball at Lasee. Woodward
joins us. Hi, last,how are you? I'm doing good?
What's up? Partner? Doing well? Getting excited for storm? See,

(00:41):
I'll have to throw in a Stormquestion here at the end, But we
got you on talking Husky football,and I know a lot of the a
lot of the buzz was just letlet's get folks in the building and make
it an event. And I reallythought the Husky succeeded in that. I
don't know if it was the justthe marketing that they did, or the
fact that it was Friday night insteadof kind of like a sleepy Saturday afternoon

(01:03):
but the vibe seemed pretty healthy thereon Friday night. Yeah, I think
that they were really pleased with it, and I think the marketing department did
a really good job. I thinkthat the players and certainly Jed Fish pushing
out the messaging of it matters andwe love the fans support and they were
very appreciative. The players were reallypumped to be able to have a spring

(01:23):
game. That felt like some extraadrenaline, right, like there's people watching,
there's and it was cool, andthere was a lot of students there
too, which you know, Ithink a Friday night at six o'clock is
it is a good time for thestudents to be able to do that because
you're down there for a couple ofhours and then you can go back and
do whatever you're going to do ona Friday night. And the weather held
off where it wasn't raining, soI think all in all, the atmosphere

(01:45):
was great. They put on youknow, it was a fun event.
Then those autographs and you know,all kinds of stuff, So it was
it was a successful spring game forsure. At least before I ask you
any questions, I got to say, and I'm not trying to embarrass you
r and at the risk of soundingpatronized, and I just thought you I
thought, I thought you just nailit. I know you've done it before

(02:07):
in regular season games, but Iyou're just a natural at the play by
play. So send your tape toESPN and Fox if there's an opportunity there,
if you want it. But anyways, I'm I'm interested from your position
close to the to the program.How give us some real some some examples
of how Jedfish is different in youreyes than Kaitlin de boor you know,

(02:32):
it's that's interesting. I think Iwas talking about from the last few coaching
staffs and the difference between them.Jed is definitely when you have Chris Peterson,
who was built for life and itwas about the entire experience. From
what we've heard so far, withJedfish, it's much more football the a
pro you're coming here. And it'sinteresting, right because it's two different ways

(02:55):
of recruiting kids for what is reallyvaluable. And I think it's going to
be interesting to see and he certainlyis recruiting his tail off right now.
They're in they're doing a fantastic jobin just with the class of twenty twenty
five and twenty twenty six, andyou know, trying to just they lost
all but two starters off that teamthat made it to the national championship.

(03:17):
There is so much heavy lifting tobe done to field a roster that he's
going to be competitive next year,and yet with little time to do that
and with all the other things thatthey're trying to figure out, I think
they've done a really good job ofjust getting in quality players. I saw
you can't even keep up with it, you guys, like trying to build
by board for the game. Iwas literally deleting guys and adding guys like

(03:40):
the week of one of the game. It's college football is insane right now.
But I think for Jed, theone thing the players have talked about,
which we all well, we allhave kids, and we all know
how expensive it is to feed them, and they are spending like they have
made it a point to get thekids like the best food they can and
more food and more often, andyou know, they want to get these

(04:04):
guys bigger, stronger, faster,and you know, the food was a
big deal. It's a recruitible thing. So that's one like tangible thing that
I've heard from a couple of differentguys just of what they've really liked about
this, and coaching staff least wouldwe'd joining us. Well, you got
two quarterbacks with very different skill sets, there's no question about that. What
stood out to you with Will Rogersand Demon Williams. Yeah, it's interesting

(04:26):
because I've been able to be outat quite a few practices and Will Rogers
I thought looked really good. Hegot rid of the ball quickly, he
was on time, he was ontarget. He clearly is a veteran.
He just looked comfortable. He hadthe one bad thrill that I thought that
Pricetock made a great play on it. He looked like the receiver as opposed
to the dB on the play andhe picked it into the end zone and
touchdown two toes And it was reallyimpressive. And that guy's good. He's

(04:47):
he's long, he's like picked fourwith a wingspan of he could be a
real dude. That is, youknow, one of the better cornerbacks.
Well now in the Big ten.We got to use to saying that right
that he was honorable Mention All Packtwelve last year, and you could see
the athletic ability for that guy.But in terms of will Rogers, I

(05:08):
thought he was just really comfortable andconfident, and he looked like a guy
that is one of the all timepassing leaders in SEC history at Missiter State.
Like he looked that good. ButI thought that Demon Williams had the
worst day that I had seen throughoutthe spring, and I think I'm sure
he's disappointed, but he was aneighteen years He's an eighteen year old kid

(05:28):
that he should be going to problemright now. And as a quarterback,
we remember Jake Browning. How JakeBrowning when he first came in, he
also was not sharp early on,and he got massively better and took strides.
But I think for Husky fans towatch, I still thought he was
good. I just didn't think hewas as electric as we've seen him and
he has been. He's got Imean, you obviously can break this down

(05:51):
way better than I. But hethrows a beautiful ball and he's got some
velocity behind it. It is notjust touched, but it's also you know,
some you know, zipping it intohis intended targets. And so with
the way that we've seen successful quarterbacksthat have been smaller lately and so I

(06:11):
think, you know, that's theone thing with Demon Williams being only five
ten, five eleven. I don'tknow what he's listed at, but he's
clearly a smaller guy behind center.But when I saw him up until that
practice, like they are the scrimmage, they move him around in the pocket.
He's so good when he takes off, he runs a four four.
He's an electric athlete. And Ididn't think he showed as well as what
I'd seen throughout the spring in termsof practices. But you know, that

(06:35):
was just my observation. But Ithink he's got way more in that in
there than I saw. Yeah,I think that's interesting. I agree with
all that, Elise. My myresponse would be, you tell me the
ground rules about how we evaluate.If you say, if you say the
rules are is he a true freshmanand he should be getting ready for his
prom then then hey, I'll I'lljust go right along with that if you

(06:58):
if you actually evaluate the performance asyou said, I think the ball spins
out of his hand, well,I mean, you know, he like
like he's a natural throw of thefootball, but those down the field,
they get you know, numerous halfa dozen, just not close like like
not even near the target. Andso look, if you want to say

(07:18):
he's a young guy and that'll cleanup mine, I'm totally prepared to take
that position. But there could bea concern there. There's only two scholarship
quarterbacks right and with the transfer ofwhat is it number nine earlier in the
week. Yeah, Davis, Soso you're down to two scholarship quarterbacks.
Do you sense a concern on thestaff about that fact or is there any

(07:42):
of the walk ons that they feelcomfortable with, or just where are we
in terms of depth with the quarterbacks? You know we I was able to
talk to Jed Fish this week andI asked them about are you going to
bring it another quarterback? Is therea concern at all? And he flat
out said no, they weren't concerned. They're not going to bring anybody else
in, but that there wasn't aconcern. But I think logistically it's a

(08:05):
major concern when you're one ankle turnaway from having an eighteen year old thrown
into the fire and having no scholarshipbackup. We've seen how many times you
have to go to a third stringquarterback. Now with the rules in football,
I feel like it has trended thatyou aren't seeing that as much.
The quarterbacks aren't getting as injured becausethe targeting rules and because it's how much

(08:28):
they've taken some of those hits outof the game. But it's always is
a concern because it's football, right, and so from any position, if
you only have a too deep that'sand it's the most important position in football
and in sport. Yeah, Imean, I think you have to be
concerned that they don't have another Dollyguy. Yeah, yeah, exactly,

(08:50):
exactly, Yeah, Yeah, atleast before we let you go, give
me what you're most excited about andwhat scares you the most biggest cancerned about
this Storm season that we're gonna seein pre season tomorrow and a week from
tomorrow we're going to open it up. I'm so excited just about the growth
of the game and how there's peopletalking about women's basketball that aren't like inside

(09:15):
the sport, and how it's expanded, and you know, I just can't
wait to see how that translates forthroughout the league, and not just with
Indiana, with Caitlyn Clark and whenshe's in visiting arenas, which I think
is you know, it's going tobe electrical season long, which is going
to be fun. But I thinkspecifically for the Storms. You know,
they're a legit team in the leagueagain, and they're good enough with veterans

(09:35):
and they added two All Stars andtwo Olympians that or you know, Mecca
should have been that they they're goingto be a team that is now going
to be able to contend with Vegas. They can knock off anybody. It's
you know, God blessed you aLloyd and her scoring record last year because
that kept us intrigued the whole season. But this year, every single night

(09:58):
they have the ability to beat whoeveris on the floor against them. So
I'm really looking forward to that.In terms of fears, gosh, I
don't know. I just I thinkthey're a team that maybe I don't know,
I don't really have any fears.I guess you don't have the biggest
fear. I'm just trying to thinkof two. How long will it take

(10:20):
for them to and size I mean, they could get they could get pushed
around inside potentially by some of theby some of the bigs, but but
but gelling much more than the secondone. But yes, I would yeah,
yeah, I think defensively, I'malso super stoked to see that because
they're bringing in all defensive performers.So you've got Jewel Lloyd that can absolutely

(10:41):
guard and you know she's always beengreat as thee mag mcgore is one of
the best defenders, and then youadd Meca and you add Skuyler. I
think that part is on that endof the floor. I think they could
be one of the better defensive teamsin the league. They're rebounding with the
size, You're right, that's that'sa major concern and the Gelling's legit because
you know, Skyler digg and Smithis super talented, but she also is

(11:03):
a player that you know, shecan be very emotional and passionate, and
so I think the I think ifthere's a place for Skyler, which is
a perfect fit for you know,how she can you know, be emotional,
I think it's with Mecca, who'sa veteran, and with Jewel who's
the veteran, and with Noel Quinn, who is a super chill coach that

(11:24):
is, you know, a teacher. So you know, I think that
that obviously though, was a concernbecause of how things ended up in Phoenix.
Can't wait. We'll talk to yousoon. Thanks, Luise. All
right, tell let's have a goodone. We'll see check you know,
check the Ladys Davis by the way, already committed to UCLA. There you
go, the backup quarterback for you, Dob. So we'll see what happens

(11:45):
the next ten hours, right ortwenty four or whatever may changes. Guys.
Okay, yeah, guy joining ustalking, Husky's talking a little storm
and we will have Jewellloyd joining theshow at six ten today, but coming
up next well visit with her friendTexty on ninety three point three KJR FM