UW Coaches to Their Arizona-Bound Huskies: Drinks Are On Us

The message is preparation for a football game in the desert shouldn't be hard to swallow.

On their Thursday walk-through, University of Washington football players were treated to 72-degree temperatures in the city, 20 some cooler than what they expect to endure when facing Arizona State on Saturday in Sun Devil Stadium.

In the past, the Huskies might have headed straight for Dempsey Indoor, cranked up the heat real high to turn it into a sauna and tried to simulate a toasty Tempe on an October afternoon.

Kalen DeBoer, who came from often overheated Fresno, California, to coach the UW, has a much better idea for preparing his football players for the significant Southwest desert climate change.

Watergate.

Throughout the week, DeBoer, his coaches and support staff have used their Fresno State experience to insist upon their players that they drink liquids nonstop leading up to the game. 

"You need to be building a reservoir, and hydrating, and that isn't a hydration that takes place the day or two before the game," DeBoer said. "You've got to build yourself up throughout the week. If you're smoking yourself out in an indoor, to me, you're working against the cause."

On Thursday, temperatures in Fresno reached a high of 93 degrees with 22 percent humidity, which wasn't lost of these displaced Husky football coaches. Everybody better be downing water before, during and after practice.

"Having been in a hotter climate the last couple years, for four of the past five years, there really isn't a replacement," the coach said. "There is something you can do to give that same impact and effect. You just have to do a better job, and I spoke to the players about this yesterday, we just have to be better with how we hydrate during the week."

DeBoer admits to still not properly following these guidelines even under the best of weather conditions. He won't let that happen when the Huskies face Arizona State.

"I know living here and moving here, I don't even do a good enough job personally during practice and during the games," he said, "because the weather feels cooler, it's nicer, and it's just part of the natural human nature."

Bottoms up. 

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