Greg Gaines Announces Return for Senior Season
As the Washington Football team faces another year of attrition as players line up for the NFL, DT Greg Gaines announces he will return to the Huskies for his final season
The Washington Football team just finished a 10-3 football season. While that may have fallen short of some pre-season expectations, it was a successful season. The sting of ending with another loss though will take time to overcome. To that objective, the Huskies are off to a great start in 2018.
The team received word that All-Pac-12 2nd team defensive tackle Greg Gaines will return for his senior year at Washington. This is great news for a defense that is taking some huge hits due to graduation and the NFL Draft. Attrition will take it’s toll on a defense which emerged as one of the best in the nation despite losing three starting defensive backs to last year’s NFL Draft. And this year looks to be more of the same, as key starters depart for their NFL professional careers. Players such as two time All-Pac-12 2nd team linebacker Keishawn Bierria and Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year Vita Vea are on their way.
Savvy strategy
The hope is that there is similar expertise waiting their time as a starter from the bench. And frequently that is exactly what happens. Coach Petersen is rather savvy at planning his team depth in layers. He does that well, which gives the Huskies depth from within the team ranks as starters depart for the pros.
That typically limits the number of team scholarships available annually to the high teens, which keeps a steady influx of new recruits to the team each year. As they arrive, they learn initially through practice and observing the play of starters, such as defensive tackle Vita Vea