Here's What Lake Thinks Makes Huskies Better Than Most

The UW football coach has worked hard to foster unity up and down his roster.

Every Pac-12 football team is unbeaten at this point, overly hopeful about sharing in a winning campaign, purposely envisioning an endless string of victories, boldly dreaming of a meaningful bowl game.

Players for each of these conference schools have lived in the weight room throughout the offseason, closely watched their diets and fanatically watched game film.

Everybody is bigger, stronger and wiser. They're extra motivated, excited and experienced. Veteran players, returning starters and promising newcomers emerge in bunches up and down the respective rosters. 

So what possibly could set this University of Washington team apart from the rest? 

What makes these 2021 Huskies think they're somebody special?

Jimmy Lake, a self-appointed players' coach while entering his second season in charge and growing brasher as the days dwindle down to the Montana opener, prefers to trumpet rather than shield what he thinks is the UW's biggest football advantage.

He promises the UW has a leg up on everyone else simply based on their togetherness, their cohesion, their glue.

"The teams I've played on or coached on, when the players are holding others accountable, those are usually successful teams," Lake said. "That comes with time. That comes with chemistry. We have grown closer together by this pandemic and one of the anchors of our team has been uncommon unity."

Putting his stamp on the Husky program, the young coach introduced the Dawg Walk, a silent, locked-arm line of players stretched sideline to sideline that moves as one to midfield for a private moment.

Lake regularly stops practice and holds one-on-one competitions that involve sprints or push-ups for an entire unit on the losing end. He introduced the Husky Combine to encourage personal bests in the weight room. The innovative coach encourages a fun-filled soccer or softball competition for his football players. These are all team-building exercises.

"Most coaches who come here and most players who transfer here [say] teams aren't as unified as we are," the coach said. "We work at it every single day and we don't just talk about it. We live it every single day. So it's uncommon. Most teams are not unified."

A native Texan, freshman wide receiver Ja'Lynn Polk left Texas Tech for the UW after the 2020 season for that very reason, according to social-media posts. He started 7 of 10 games as a first-year player, caught 28 passes, scored twice and established himself as a significant contributor, Yet he didn't feel part of something closely pieced together. 

Polk is one of five players who came to Seattle in the offseason through the transfer portal. They joined the Huskies from Oklahoma, Michigan, Texas A&M and Colorado State, as well.

Cade Otton, the Huskies' fifth-year junior tight end and an All-America candidate, has spoken to each of the newcomers about their reasons for changing schools and he found a consensus. 

"Each of those guys I've talked to say this is the best culture they've been around," Otton said. "I've been here my whole career and not in other locker rooms, but I know other places aren't like this. Where the old guys treat the young guys well, and everyone gets along well, and we have unity and we all compete against each other, but at the end of the day we're a team."

Beginning Saturday, the Huskies will get a chance to show whether or not their team cohesiveness is truly as strong as they think it is. Whether it will be the difference when they face an opponent with similar or even better talent. 

Now Montana won't bring the challenge of a Michigan or an Oregon, but the Big Sky and FCS team will serve a ready purpose when opening kickoff arrives late Saturday afternoon at Husky Stadium.

"That's the fun part of our first game coming up," Otton said. "We've been like competing against each other all fall camp and now we finally get to become a team, and compete against someone else."

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