Lake on Husky QBs: 'We May Have Multiple Guys Playing'
Jimmy Lake has all sorts of manpower contingencies prepared for the University of Washington football team's pandemic-delayed season, including at starting quarterback.
While some coaches are adamant at settling on one guy to run the huddle and direct their offenses, the new Huskies leader is not one of them.
"If it doesn't feel right or the starter isn't ready to go that first game, we may have multiple guys playing," Lake told media members on a Pac-12 Zoom call on Wednesday.
The first-year coach brings his UW players together on Friday for their first official practice leading up to the abbreviated season's first game at California on Nov. 7 in Berkeley.
Lake went on to say he's on no timetable to pick a starting quarterback among his relatively inexperienced bunch of sophomore Jacob Sirmon, redshirt freshman Dylan Morris, freshman Ethan Garbers or senior transfer Kevin Thomson.
"It'll be more when it feels right when that person has earned the job," said the UW coach, who wouldn't offer depth-chart pecking order just yet.
Lake also said, with player eligibility frozen for the upcoming season, he's more inclined to use more guys than usual in the coming games.
"We don't want to put players at risk of injury with too many reps," he said. "We'll definitely use that at the University of Washington."
The coach said his offensive line will be built around junior Jaxson Kirkland and senior Luke Wattenberg, who were starting guards in 2019, but are being considered for left tackle and center, respectively.
He reiterated that his inside linebackers run as deep as any position, possibly six deep combined for the two positions, with ready-made players.
Lake is ready to turn his guys loose in practice and get this long overdue process started as the UW head coach.
"We feel we have some extremely talented players who have been here and that we're bringing in some extremely talented players," he said. "We'll find out who our real guys are when we put the pads on and start flying around."
Lake said he will address any roster changes when he meets virtually with the press after his first workout on Friday.
Follow Dan Raley of Husky Maven on Twitter: @DanRaley1 and @HuskyMaven
Find Husky Maven on Facebook by searching: HuskyMaven/Sports Illustrated
Click the "follow" button in the top right corner to join the conversation on Husky Maven. Access and comment on featured stories and start your own conversations and post external links on our community page.
