Which seemingly non-impactful player in 2021 will randomly be much improved?

Gladstone

New Fish
This has happened -- often with multiple players -- every year under Pete/Lake, from Andrew Hudson in 2014 to ZTF in 2020. I'm really hoping for 2021 it's Jackson Sirmon.
 
I thought this was called the Tani Tupou "Why is he still on the...Holy Crap!" Award

Exactly. I forgot about that but yes, calling shots on who wins that award now. For the team's W-L sake, I'm hoping it's Sirmon.
 
I think Sirmon has to be the pick. Nobody else really fits that I can think of, and he needs to be good.
 
If we are going with a veteran, either Alex Cook or Julius Irvin seem like decent choices. Cook came out of nowhere to start last year. Irvin has been injured, buried in the depth, and was absolutely fucking terrible against Arizona last year.

My hot take is that Cooper McDonald and Trice are equal or better than Smalls. Practice reports mean nothing, but they get mentioned playing alongside Bowman more than Smalls does. All three should be good players at some point. We need them to be good now.
 
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Devin Culp - I think he's got a chance to be a big mismatch in the pass game.

Culp is a pretty good pick. Seems we've been waiting for him for years now and many were on the verge of writing him off. Those are the two criteria...enough time in the program for there to have been expectations, and a general sense that he has failed to meet them. Culp really hasn't had that many opportunities but he's had some notable blown chances.
 
I don’t think Culp will get enough opportunity this year. Otton is obviously TE #1. Westover is the H-Back, 2nd TE. After that Culp, Redman, and Moore are battling for the leftover scraps. Pretty talented group there.

I would wager Culp does next to nothing before he makes an impact on winning games. He has to be markedly better than multiple guys to even get on the field enough to make plays.
 
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I don’t think Culp will get enough opportunity this year. Otton is obviously TE #1. Westover is the H-Back, 2nd TE. After that Culp, Redman, and Moore are battling for the leftover scraps. Pretty talented group there.

I would wager Culp does next to nothing before he makes an impact on winning games. He has to be markedly better than multiple guys to even get on the field enough to make plays.

He'll get in there and get some looks. He just needs to make the plays that come his way. You're probably right that there's a slim chance he gets enough looks to make a big impact though.
 
If we are going with a veteran, either Alex Cook or Julius Irvin seem like decent choices. Cook came out of nowhere to start last year. Irvin has been injured, buried in the depth, and was absolutely fucking terrible against Arizona last year.

My hot take is that Cooper McDonald and Trice are equal or better than Smalls. Practice reports mean nothing, but they get mentioned playing alongside Bowman more than Smalls does. All three should be good players at some point. We need them to be good now.

I'll go with Irvin, too; he's entering his 4th year at UW and has 2 career tackles.

Looking at the past, these awards always went to upperclassmen who did nothing for most of their career but came out of nowhere. Andrew Hudson, Tani Tupou, Damion Turpin, Zeke Turner, and Jared Hilbers come to mind.
 
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