Huskies Enjoy a Snow Day, Standing Tall Amid the Falling Flakes

With snow cascading down on Husky Stadium, offensive linemen John Mills and Drew Azzopardi stood together, shirtless in the middle of it all, seemingly channeling a late-season Big Ten encounter welcoming all of the elements.

One could almost hear the late John Facenda, the legendary NFL Films narrator, talking reverently about those two defiantly embracing "the frozen tundra," offering a catch phrase that defined him forever in shaping the Green Bay Packers' non-negotiable weather challenges.

While Mills and Azzopardi no doubt were posing for a sudden photo op on Friday, their moment in the snow just added to the notion that this coming University of Washington football team is going to be different, tougher, better, for the coming season.

People elsewhere only now are beginning to learn about the 6-foot-6, 340-pound Mills, who is so much bigger and talented than the average college football offensive lineman entering his sophomore season.

All of a sudden, he's an All-American candidate in some people's minds.

Snow Dawgs in the Greatest Setting ❄️ pic.twitter.com/HlNpZCdAIs
— Washington Football (@UW_Football) March 13, 2026

Last fall, Mills became the earliest starting UW O-lineman in school annals, ready to play right from the beginning as a true freshman and opening not only at left guard, but at right tackle, as well.

Hey, even cornerback Trent McDuffie, the highest-paid defensive back in NFL history, had to wait two games as a freshman before he could become a UW starter.

Mills is a guy who comes with his own wig-wearing fan club, with a serious glint in his eye, and now feeling the need to be a Husky team leader.

Then there's the streamlined 6-foot-7, 315-pound Azzopardi, who's a little more staid in his approach, without the Mills mullet.

Yet with the snowflakes falling all around him, the 30-game starter for the UW and San Diego State showed off some bearded growth that was new and maybe indicating there's a crazier, less-inhibited side to him.

That can happen when you hang out with Mills long enough.

As these two Californians, one from the Bay Area and the other from SoCal, stood frozen in time during the snow flurries, the Huskies were just two and a half weeks from opening spring football practice.

It's not clear if they'll have to wade through any accumulating snow to get to the Dempsey Indoor facility when Jedd Fisch calls everyone together for 15 practices in April and into May, though that seems unlikely.

Yet if it happened, it would only serve to make the Huskies far more resilient to wander through some weather-challenged Midwest outpost such as they did Wisconsin last November and come away with a win this time.

In other words, tame that frozen tundra.