Playing for the Huskies Requires Greater Commitment Now

UW players are graded in everything they do, on and off the field.

As with any coaching change, Kalen DeBoer's new University of Washington football staff has been decisive and straightforward in grading players on a rigid curve.

These new guys were under no obligation to keep Jimmy Lake's committed yet unsigned recruits, and they didn't feel compelled to wave everyone through. Quarterback Jackson Stratton and tight end Chance Bogan right away declared they were going elsewhere, each hinting these weren't voluntary moves.

Stratton eventually signed with Colorado State and Bogan with Idaho, choosing mid-major and FCS schools, which said a lot about what happened there.

Fifteen players since have left the UW following the coaching change and it appears at least a half-dozen of them were encouraged to move on, with parents acknowledging a couple of encouraged departures. These either were talent decisions or players didn't want any part of the increasing demands.

While this is an unpleasant side to coaching, DeBoer and his coaches haven't been shy about finding their guys, and laying down the expectations for Husky football moving forward, making it non-negotiable. 

While throwing for 4,469 yards and 52 touchdowns as a high schooler, Stratton was a 6-foot-5, 195-pound pocket passer from Southern California who wasn't highly recruited, which initially was a red flag. The quarterback's arm strength or his larger size made him a questionable fit for DeBoer's spread offense and he ended up in the Mountain West, which ironically sent the new coach to Seattle. 

Mostly, the new Husky coaches determined early on that most of this Pac-12 football team they inherited wasn't in good condition at all. They made half of the roster lose weight and everyone become much more fit. There's a watchdog system in place for this.

"We grade guys every single day," UW edge-rusher coach Eric Schmidt pointed out. "We grade them in the weight room. We grade them and hold them accountable in the classroom. We grade them in everything they do. It's their job, right?"

Most of the coaches learned these high standards from personal experience as coaches or players. In particular, Husky offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, co-defensive coordinator Chuck Morrell, DeBoer and Schmidt each shared in national championship college teams, some multiple times.

No matter what level their success came at — in this case, NAIA and FCS — it breeds future success.  

Ron McKeefery, new UW weight and strength coach, has made a conditioning connection with these Huskies. His predecessor didn't land another football job.  

"We take it, 'Hey, this is your job and this is your evaluation of how you're doing your job day in and day out,' " said Schmidt, a focal part of North Dakota's 2001 national title team as a team captain and a linebacker. "If you want to be a championship-level guy in a championship-level program, you have to be that all day long. 

"You can't just pick and choose and say, 'I'm going to turn it on on Saturday afternoon,' because that's when there's 70,000 people here. Like you have to do those little things and all those details, and you have to do it right." 

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