WATCH: Lake Creatively Uses the Portal, Connections to Land Talent
Players have come and gone for Jimmy Lake at a fairly steady rate through the transfer portal since he took over as University of Washington football coach.
Husky Maven's Kaila Olin thinks Lake is simply modernizing the Husky program by bringing in talent equal or better than what he's lost.
In the webcast, Mike Martin describes Lake's approach as forward thinking, as taking advantage of the system that's now in place for college football.
The Husky coach has addressed this situation similar to an NFL general manager, who when losing a free agent, just goes out and finds another, looking for an upgrade.
Olin and Martin agreed that Lake never wanted to miss on some of the higher rated local recruits or lose lose Puka Nacua or Ty Jones to transfer, but he has contingencies in place.
For instance, bringing in Giles Jackson not only helped UW program depth, it might have paved a way for others to follow.
Michigan incoming freshman Xavier Worthy, a wide receiver from Fresno, California, encouraged to sign with the Big Ten team by Jackson, but he's not been on campus in Ann Arbor. He chose not to enroll early and this might stem from Jackson leaving.
Lake uses connections to secure talent. To land Texas Tech wide receiver Ja'Lynn Polk, the UW coach went through Husky freshman running back Caleb Berry to make it happen. Polk and Berry were high school teammates in Lufkin, Texas.
To secure the talents of Michigan's Jackson, the Husky coach had a middleman in incoming freshman defensive back Vincent Nunley. The two are cousins and former teammates in Oakley, California.
Lake is putting together a lot of pieces to the puzzle in a creative manner.
