“(Preston and Wambaugh) have come in and busted their butts doing whatever their role was, whether it was scout team or special teams, and they’ve embraced it and they’ve done their best at it. And now it ends with them earning a scholarship, which is something they’ll remember for the rest of their lives. But they earned it and they deserve it.”
Along the way, Preston and Wambaugh also developed a close friendship. Even beyond their common traits – both walk-ons, both inside linebackers, both from California – they are similar enough to be siblings.
“Right from the get-go, I told Jake he was my brother,” Preston said. “We’re pretty much the same. We think the same. We enjoy the same humor. We talk mess to each other all the time. And we’re always together.”
With their college careers winding down, Preston and Wambaugh can look ahead to life after football. Both earned their undergraduate degrees in four years – Preston in history, Wambaugh in sociology – and they sat together during the commencement ceremony last spring. “That was a cool deal,” Preston said.
Since neither player is a likely NFL prospect, both are planning accordingly. Preston expects to enlist in the Navy after he leaves Washington, “which is something I’ve wanted to do for a very long time,” he said. Wambaugh, who is already working toward a master’s degree, would like to be a collegiate strength and conditioning coach, “and hopefully somewhere on the West Coast,” he said. “Maybe even back here at the UW.”
For both players, the UW experience has been meaningful, memorable and, as Wambaugh put it, “life-changing.”
Being a Husky, he said, “has been unlike anything I’ve gone through in life. It’s been really hard, it’s been really fun, and it’s been really rewarding all throughout. You learn so much about yourself, you meet great people, and you make relationships that you’ll maintain for the rest of your life. … I had opportunities to play elsewhere, but I grew up watching Pac-12 football, I wanted to play in the Pac-12, and I always believed that I could. So to be able to come here and make it happen has been very special. It’s been like a dream.”
For Preston, “being a (UW) student-athlete has been a hell of a privilege,” he said. “It’s definitely been an honor to wear the uniform and to have the opportunity to run out into Husky Stadium in front of 70,000 fans. It’s been awesome. I couldn’t have asked for a better collegiate football experience.
“At the same time,” Preston said, “it’s been a lot of hard work. It hasn’t been easy at all. But I’m definitely thankful, and I’ll never forget the experiences I had the chance to go through here.”