Lake Upbeat After First Practice; Two Reserves Opt Out
Two hours of practice as the new University of Washington football coach left Jimmy Lake giddy yet hardly in a reflective mood.
He barely acknowledged he had just put his players through the first padded workout with him as the man totally in charge. There's too much work to be done.
Nor was Lake willing to offer the slightest detail on his four-player quarterback battle. No depth-chart order. Nothing. He's going to keep everyone guessing.
Lake disclosed that a pair of UW seniors and reserves, Jacob Kizer and Isaiah Gilchrest, opted out of the abbreviated and late-starting season because of COVID-19 concerns.
Kizer, a tight end from Salem, Oregon, was expected to compete for a starting job if the Huskies continue to use two of these receivers in formation in their new offense. He started three games as a true freshman, including the Fiesta Bowl, in 2017 after grayshirting for a season.
Gilchrest, a former four-star recruit at safety from Bellevue, Washington, had been relegated to special teams much of his career and seen his playing time drop precipitously. He went from appearing in 8 games in 2017 to three games in 2018 to just one outing against Hawaii last season.
"They're still on scholarship," Lake said of the two players. "With this crazy year, if they decide that everything gets better in 2021, they would have the option to come back."
Lake was notably enthused over his new freshme after watching them pull on pads for the the first time as Huskies, though he mentioned them by position rather than specifically by name.
The coach again seemed to intimate that a lot of them will play right away, especially some or all of his four new defensive backs.
"If you're the best guy, you're playing," Lake said.
He said both new running backs, presumably Sam Adams and Jay'Veon Sunday, were impressive. He also spotlighted the play of both new outside linebackers, likely Sav'ell Smalls and Jordan Lolohea, supposedly for bringing edge-rushing moves he hadn't seen before.
Lake said his team is going to great lengths to stay healthy in the face of the pandemic.
His players arrive in groups, get tested in multiple ways and receive results within an hour. They're wearing masks and social distancing at all times inside the athletic buildings. So far, so good.
"If we did get somebody test positive, we wouldn't have to quarantine everybody," he said.
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