Lauren Kirschman
The News Tribune
Next year, for the first time in four seasons, Washington will have a new starting quarterback.
That’s something Huskies head coach Chris Petersen spent some time contemplating during his weekly press conference on Monday.
In Jake Browning, Petersen said, UW has a quarterback who not only brought stability to the program, but is also trusted completely by the coaching staff. He’s a rarity, and it will be a “weird time” for UW when he’s no longer around.
“I think there’s tremendous advantage, especially when it’s a guy like Jake,” Petersen said of four-year starters. “Just the tone that he sets for our culture, let alone getting to the field.”
Petersen is never surprised when Browning sets a new UW record — he became the Huskies’ all-time leading passer during Saturday’s victory over BYU — but he mostly cares about the advantage UW gets from having him on the field.
Browning completed 23-of-25 passes for 277 yards and a touchdown in the Huskies’ 35-7 victory over BYU, nearly breaking the NCAA record for completion percentage in a game (96 percent, 24-for-25).
Petersen wasn’t aware of how close Browning came to the national mark, but he did see how well the offense was running. The Huskies have steadily improved offensively in recent games, with its best performance coming against the Cougars.
Petersen said that has little to do with Browning and first-year offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan growing more comfortable with each other, especially since Hamdan was UW’s wide receivers’ coach and pass game coordinator in 2016.
Instead, Petersen pointed to an offense starting to find its identity.
“Every year is different,” Petersen said. “You lose a few guys and certainly you put a new play caller in there, and even though it’s subtle differences I think it takes some time to figure out what you’re really good at this year. That’s how it’s kind of been going.”
But even though every offense is different, Browning has been the common thread for the past four years.
Four-year starting quarterbacks have always been rare, Petersen said. Having one provides a level of comfort. Petersen knows Browning is consistently going to make the right decisions, and he can also trust what Browning sees on the field.
For the most part, all of UW’s offensive decisions run through the quarterback. Browning has to be confident in the calls, Petersen said. If he’s not, it doesn’t matter if Petersen or Hamdan believe otherwise.
“Jake, he’s awesome about it because he’s seen a lot of football,” Petersen said, “and we can throw a lot of things at him and he’s good with it.
“Then there will be certain things we can go either way with, adding plays or not adding plays or calling plays. We’ll check with him on the sideline, ‘Hey, do you like this or do you like that?’ I think that’s smart coaching and Bush does a great job of that.”
