Washington Football Coach Jimmy Lake

Washington has high expectations under first-year head coach Jimmy Lake, and they open their season with a rugged matchup on November 7th at California. Ashley Adamson and Yogi Roth talk football with the Huskies' new head man.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This is going to be a shortseason. The students have already descended onto
our campus and they're going to bedisciplined as they've ever been for this stretch
of two months, so we canget this thing done. All right,

(00:26):
Husky fans, The schedule is here. Camp is about to be underway,
just about a month out from theJimmy Lake era officially kicking off. You
dub opens the twenty twenty season atCal. They get Arizona at home as
their South Division crossover game. Andhow about those three final matchups? Apple
Cup action in Pullman the day afterThanksgiving, followed by a home game against

(00:47):
Stanford, and then December twelfth,Huskies headed to Ats and not hard to
imagine the Pac twelve North being decidedthat day in Eugene Ashley Adams and Yogi
Roth. And we're finally getting achance to do something we have done a
lot of in the last several months, which has talk some actual football with
the head coach of you, JimmyLake. It's great to see you,
as always the time to get intobut let's start with the schedule, since

(01:08):
we were just looking at it witha few days now that you've had to
digest it. What in particular standsout? What's your action? Yeah,
No, I mean we're first ofall, we're just excited we have we
have football back. And so Itold our players that said, hey,
we are working towards a season.We just don't know who we're playing yet,
but we are. We are goingto play a game at some point.

(01:29):
And now we actually know who we'replaying and the schedules laid out,
We're excited. I thought the PactWall did a terrific job of keeping the
home games the same as it wassupposed to be in twenty twenty and the
away games the same, and thenwith the one crossover game with the North
and the South, that was anopponent that we're going to play anyway,
and so it doesn't affect the twentytwenty one season. Our road games and

(01:51):
our home games will be flipped justlike they normally are. So they did
an next time job of setting itup. College football is pretty much single
elimination for the most part anyway,but there's always a little wiggle room now
like there's none regarding at least thecollege football playoff. One would imagine in
the Pac twelve. Have you talkedto your players about that or do you
hear them? And is there adifferent pressure around each game based on only

(02:13):
a seven games to late. Yeah, I mean, I know, Yoga,
you're gonna hate. This is morecoach speak, but but it is
true. We are really just worriedabout ourselves right now and getting prepared for
a game. And of course ourfirst opponent, Cal, who who is
a ferocious opponent, Justin Wilcox haveterminus respect for everything he's done with that
program. That is all we're worriedabout. And also our other opponent,

(02:35):
which is the coronavirus, and we'retrying to make sure that you know,
our team stay is healthy and wedon't get that virus spreading in our building
and then we're not able to playfootball games. And so that's really what
our our attention is on at thispoint, all right, coach, So
you mentioned the opener at Cal.Obviously the Bears have have had your guys
number the last couple of years.There really could be some juicy storylines too,

(02:57):
depending on who your quarterback is.Know if you totally want to go
there with this yet, but eitherbrother Vie, Brother Ethan Garber's and Chase
or nephew, the uncle Jacob Sermon. If he's your quarterback, he'd be
going against his uncle Pete Sermon,who's obviously the defensive coordinator at Cal.
You don't actually have to name yourstarting quarterback with yoga and I right now.
But how are you and John Donovangoing to make that decision? Yeah?
Yeah, no, I mean Iwe have four talented quarterbacks that are

(03:22):
gonna be vying for that job herecoming up. And you know, it's
a completely wide open competition and we'regoing to find out here the next month
or so during training camp who whothat is going to be. And so
we're we're excited to watch the competitionjust display itself and the cream's gonna rise
to the top. And whoever thatstarter is, we'll be named the starter

(03:42):
and away we go. But it'sdefinitely been a tough matchup with Kylie's last
couple of years. I mentioned coachWilcox, he's a great defensive coach,
and it's been a defensive stalemate thelast couple of years. And you know,
the truth is their defense that's playedbetter than ours, and those two
matchups they held us to least amountof points and they actually scored on us
as well two years ago. So, UM, it's probably gonna come down

(04:05):
to the same thing in twenty twenty. Whose defense is gonna play better and
whose offense can can can scratch itout at the end. So speaking of
your offense, we weren't there forspring ball. You know, what is
it going to look like under coachDonovan? Yeah, so no one was
there for spring ball because we didn'thave a spring football. But you know

(04:26):
it's, Uh, it's gonna be. It's gonna be. I'm enjoyed because
I had to watch it every singleday. We've already had these walkthroughs and
we're seeing all the end stalls andwe start training camp here at the end
of the week. UM, youknow, definitely have an advantage for the
first game. No one has seenour offense, including our first opponent.
UM, but I'm excited. It'sit's going to be an aggressive, attacking
style offense. It's gonna be apro stall offense, UM, you know,

(04:48):
with some college elements mixed in whicha lot of the offenses you're seeing
right now on Sundays that are scoringa whole bunch of points in the in
the National Football League. UM,and I'm hoping that we can work with
that type of effigency, run thefootball, be balanced, and hit some
big plays in the past game.You know, obviously we alluded to it.
Quarterback position probably the biggest unknown rightnow on your team. What's the

(05:09):
position group that you feel like yourdeepest dad are the most excited about coming
into this season. Yeah, youknow, I think our running backs we
have some you know, two seniorrunning backs, Camary Pleasant, Sean McGrew
and then rich Newton of course,who you know, made a lot of
waves in the PAC twelve last yearthat that room is fairly deep, and
there are deep in the backs.They're they're very deep. We return everybody

(05:31):
except Miles Bryant. We lost MilesBryant to New England Patriots, and then
ever the whole crew is back andwe signed some other guys that we feel
really really strong about. So Ithink those two position groups stand out for
depth and also some veteran leadership andyour dbs as talented as you're going to
find in the nation, they makethose receivers pretty talented too. Your fan

(05:54):
base and myself, poking Tokua,we want to know, like where is
he? We saw flashes of himlast year. What do you expect and
where do you think he is today'sYou guys are going to get rolling in
a few days. Yeah, youknow, our whole wide receiver corps really
starting January before the pandemic. KidI thought took a huge step on the
weight room and the way they weretraining and the way they were competing.

(06:15):
I'm really excited to see that unitas we get into training camp and how
they're going to compete against you know, some talented dbs across the across the
line, and you know, Pookais one of our receivers that we're expecting
to make some big time plays forus. But there's also some young talent
in that room, and there's alsosome older talent, you know George chen
Ty Jones who got to take thatnext step and start making some big time

(06:35):
plays for us. I'm excited forthe group, but they we definitely have
to go prove it on the fieldduring game days. You know, Kadat
and obviously one of your playmakers.He was on a Zoom call last week
and he mentioned something I think thatwe all feel and can relate to.
He said that Zoom meetings haven't beenhis favorite. I'm curious, how have

(06:56):
you been able to keep your guysengaged during the last five six months without
being able to have that face toface energy and I know that that's something
that you totally feed off. Howhave you been able to kind of engage
and make sure that they feel energizedand that you're able to reach them through
a computer screen right now, It'sit's been a challenge and been a challenge
for everybody. But you know,there's different, you know, things that
we use, some humor, someexciting things. We'll try to show some

(07:19):
videos special guests will bring in andit's always good to get the guys laugh,
get the guys juiced up a littlebit. And now eventually here in
which we actually started this last weekor so, team meeting special teams still
be in via zoom, but we'veactually had some in person position meetings,
smaller groups and a larger room,and so I know all guys have really

(07:43):
enjoyed actually seeing their position coach liveand in person. And so hopefully,
you know, as we continue totest every single day and we know that
our our whole team is free andclear of this virus, will be able
to have more in person meetings coach, I feel like head coaches in the
first year afterwards, they all saygenerally the same thing, which is,
man, I paid so much attentionto detail on everything that maybe maybe I

(08:07):
shouldn't have, maybe I should havegone ten thousand levels. It's been the
CEO curious your approach. Clearly aformer defensive coordinator of an incredible defense heading
into camp and managing all the newroles and maybe letting go of some past
ones. Yeah, No, it'sit's been an exciting transition. It's something

(08:28):
that I've been preparing myself for fortwo decades, and so I already had
a laundry list of things of,you know, the ways that I wanted
to do it, the way thatI've seen it done and it be successful,
and also ways that I've learned fromother coaches where I was like,
you know what, I wouldn't handlethat that way in this situation, I
would handle it this way. Andso I have a lot of a lot

(08:48):
of notes to look back on andto lean back on, a lot of
experiences to lean back on. Butdefinitely no one's navigated through a pandemic.
We're all doing this for the firsttime. Coaching that have been you know,
the longest tenored coaches in the Pactwelve or a rookie like me,
we've had to deal with something brandnew in twenty twenty. Coach last thing

(09:09):
for me and this has always beentrue, but this year it's not a
completely different level. The success ofyour season, and really the pactual season
hinges on decisions that young people makewhen they are not with you, when
they are away from the football facility. How are you talking to your guys
and how often are you talking toyour guys about the importance of the decisions
that they make when they're away fromthe football facility. Oh, Astley,

(09:31):
that is That is like the thingI talk about every single day, and
I remind our guys every single day. I bring up situations that happen in
the NFL that are happening currently rightnow, today and yesterday that are national
news. We bring up issues thathave happened to other college teams across the
country and how they've had to puttheir whole season on pause because a couple

(09:54):
of guys were responsible, and wetry to just put it in their face
every single day so they see thesemistakes that other teams are making that other
clubs are making and we're going totry not to make those same mistakes.
But they're they're going to be disciplined. This is going to be a short
season. The students have already descendedonto our campus and they're going to be

(10:16):
disciplined as they've ever been for thisstretch of two months so we can get
this thing done. And what Ilike to remind them is what our goal
is. And when I keep remindingwhat our goal is, hopefully that kind
of you know, wakes them upa little bit, like, Okay,
that's right. I got to makesure I stayed disciplined because we have a
goal that we're trying to reach here. Yeah, and potentially maybe starting the

(10:37):
season late that could be one ofthe benefits there. You guys are able
to sit back and see some ofthe other stuff that's going on around the
country and with other teams. SoJimmy Lake can't have time, know you
got in your best to luck withstarting camp Friday and November seventh in Berkeley,
we will be watching. We cannotwait. Awesome Thanks as the Yogi
and go Dogs, Oh Yogi.Great to catch up with Jimmy Lake as

(11:07):
it always is love his energy,love his vibe, and excited to see
what he's going to do with theHuskies in his first year as a head
coach. And it was funny becauseyou kind of alluded to it when you
asked him. But to me,it's like, yeah, he's a first
year head coach, but pandemic monthsare like dog years, like everything is
so much more packed in. Sohe's basically like a veteran coach. I

(11:28):
think at this point, at leasthe will be by the time that they
actually get games rolling here in November. I think, to me, the
question, if I'm a Dupe fanand I'm listening to this podcast, what
I want to know the answer tois who's our quarterback going to be?
I think that's the question on everybody'smind. So let's just I want to
get your thoughts on that. Rightthere, They've got three scholarship quarterbacks,
Jacob Sermon, the redshirt sophomore sixfive, two hundred thirty five pounds,

(11:50):
only guy in the roster with anygame experience from a quarterback standpoint. Obviously,
have Ethan Garber and Dylan Morris aswell. How are you expecting this
thing to play out? I'm reallyexcited to this thing because they also add
in a grad transfer right, andthey come from Sack State. Kevin Thompson,
who's gonna be I believe, likea seventh year senior right when you

(12:11):
look at his career where he's beenwhen he got injured. So I'm really
looking forward to this because they allhave different traits, right, Thompson has
played the most football, of course, just being how old that he is.
Sermon probably looks the part the most. I mean quarterback, run game,
et cetera. I mean, youlook at him, he looks like
a linebacker. And then Dylan Morriscan simply deal and Ethan Garber's he's similar

(12:33):
to Dylan Morris, except physically he'sa little taller, different type of passers.
So I think it's gonna be reallyfun to watch these guys compete.
I think they've got to figure itout fast, though, you know,
within two weeks. I think yougot to narrow down to two. And
then you got to get somebody who'snever really played any meaningful snaps in Power
five football get ready to play,you know. So I can't wait,
And that'll be the first huge taskfor Jimmy Lake at least on the football

(12:56):
field. Yeah, and then let'stalk about the defensive side of it,
because he mentioned it. Obviously,they lose Miles Bryant to the NFL,
but four the five starters back interms of their secondary Elijah Molden, Keith
Taylor, Trent McDuffie, and CameronWilliams. What do you make of what
Jimmy Lake's defense is going to looklike? It's gonna be like Jimmy Lake,
you know. And let's not forgetPete Kuitkowski is still there. And

(13:16):
Pete Kutkowski is one of in myeyes, and I think in college football,
one of the most revered minds onthe defensive football. Right. You
look at what he did prior toJimmy being the defensive corder and then having
the humility, you know, Jimmytalked about humility a little bit, having
the humility to say, you know, yeah, we don't want to lose
Jimmy. He can become the defensivecoordinator, the play caller, the voice

(13:37):
of the defense, and I'm notgoing to go take another job, you
know. So I just think thatdynamic doesn't probably get appreciated enough. And
now he steps back into the playcaller role, So I don't think they
skip a beat in that regard.I think they've recruited on the defensive front
as well as any team in thisconference. With the last couple of years,
you know, they didn't have thatCavon Thibadeau or Drake Jackson, like

(14:00):
one guy that was solely so highlyranked. But they've had a lot of
talented players that I think are SECcaliber defensive lineman now in their second and
third year in the program, andleave Ion Zuriki opts out, Joe Tryon
opts out. So how they're goingto fill those slots I think will be
very critical and overall, I thinkwhat you talked about him being a first
time head coach. Most of thetime, I think when you leave a

(14:22):
coach like Chris Peterson, I've seenthis before with coach Carroll right, guys
trying to fill his shoes. Usuallyyou try to keep things kind of the
same, even Mark Helpridge with ChipKelly, I think the pandemics throwing it
in such disarray that you have toown your way, and Jimmy's owned his
way because of all this, SoI think it's going to advance him as
a first year head coach, andhe kind of alluded to it. And

(14:43):
I think it's a big advantage forhim in that regard of having so many
things off the field to have tomanage, deal with and lead well.
And I was listening to a presscommence of his last week and he reiterated
a Chris Peterson mantra that he said, it's been helpful to him his entire
career, and it's been particular literallyhelpful over the last six months. And
it's just when you're a head coach, you're a problem solver. Every single

(15:05):
day. That is what you're doing. You are solving problems. And obviously
right now there's a lot of problemsto solve and a lot of things to
get through. But when you havethat mindset and you know what your job
is as a head coach of ofa football program, I think it kind
of allows you to really dial inon that and make it about that all
right, before we go, Yo, the ceiling for the Huskies this year
in twenty twenty, what is it? Well, they got a chance to

(15:26):
win the Pack twelve North, youknow, I mean this is the type
of program. You know, They'velost huge name players over the last couple
of seasons of course, pretty muchtheir entire defense two years ago. And
then you look losing you know,the quarterback to the Cults and Jacob Eson.
You know the guy competing with him, Jay Kaner. He transferred to
Fresno State. So there's holes there. But it's not like this is a

(15:48):
rebuild by any stretch of the imagination. I mean, this is a reload
with people that maybe we didn't hearof. So I can't wait to see
how they play from jump. Ilove that they've got a marquee game up
front. Right it's supposed to beMichigan right now. It's cal granted,
maybe not historically the same program,but a team that's had your number,
you know, as you're referencing yourdialogue with Jimmy. This team will be
focused and I love that. AndI think the way their schedule is laid

(16:11):
out, no game is going tobe easy. I don't think you have
like an easy w but this programshould not be surprised if they're five and
zero heading into the game at Oregon. So I'm excited for that. But
they got to figure out the quarterbackthing, and we got to learn about
who this offense is. None ofus know, and I don't think anybody

(16:32):
any of us are going to knowuntil November seventh when they play Cal.
And just one final thought from me, I really appreciate what he said about
you know, we've got two opponentsWeek one, We've got Cal, We've
got the coronavirus. And I thinkthe way that he's talking to his team
every single day, the way thathe's trying to impress upon a players every
single decision you make affects every singlething that we are able to do in

(16:52):
all the goals that we have dependson what you guys are doing every second
of the day when you're away fromthe football facilities. So he's got him
dialed in. I'm excited to seehow it all comes together. As you
mentioned Washington at Cal November seventh.That is the opener. Cannot wait.
A reminder to obviously subscribe rate review, but you can listen to all interviews
with all twelve head football coaches inthe PAC twelve on PAC twelve Perspective podcast

(17:17):
as well as PAC dashtwelve dot com