THE HANDOFF: FROM HUARD TO BROWNING

By Mason Kelley

By Washington Huskies

December 29^th, 2016

Brock Huard was in the Husky Stadium tunnel. He was ready to take the field. He was ready to be greeted by 70,000 fans.

In that moment, Huard’s coach, Jim Lambright, delivered a message, sparking a memory that remains vivid.

“We walk out of the stadium and we have six points on the board,” Huard remembers the coach saying. “When we play in front of 70,000, and they make the noise they do, they give us a six-point advantage every game.

“Go make them proud. Go finish.”

When Huard was the Huskies’ quarterback (1996-98), the stadium was always packed.

“It didn’t really matter if it was September, October, November, there were 70,000 people here,” he said.

Sure, there were games when Husky Stadium felt a bit louder. When Nebraska or USC made the trek to the Northwest, the noise reached a deafening pitch, but when it was Saturday in Seattle the atmosphere was “always great.”

And that atmosphere, created by Washington fans, made a difference.

“It changed the dynamic, and it changed pretty quickly,” Huard said.

When the former Washington quarterback looks at what these Huskies are building, he sees a program pointed in the right direction.

“This is a group that is going to make them (the fans) really proud,” Huard said. “This city has seen a champion in football down I-5 and they’ve done it the same way – running the football and playing great defense.

“There is something about the blue-collar nature of the Pacific Northwest – and I don’t care how white-collar it gets with all the tech money and everything else – this is still a blue-collar town that loves physical play.”

Huard was back on the field at Washington recently, hosting a free youth camp. He invited the Huskies’ current quarterback, Jake Browning, to work at the event, providing another opportunity for the program’s past and present to converge.

“It’s like being part of a brotherhood,” Browning said. “Football is one of those games where we’re put in similar situations, so you kind of feel like you know someone when you really don’t.

“I’ve only met him twice, but I feel like I kind of know him, because we both played football here, played quarterback here under similar circumstances, similar situations. There’s a connection there.”

As a part of the program’s present, Browning spends his Saturday’s trying to block out the noise as he tries to create moments that will give fans opportunities to celebrate. However, toward the end of last season’s 45-10 Apple Cup win over Washington State, he allowed himself a few moments to look into the crowd.

His reaction: “Wow. There are a lot of people here.” In that moment, he let the noise wash over him.

And, in that moment, Lambright’s words would have meant as much to Browning as they did to Huard.

“Go make them proud. Go finish.”

That is Washington football at its best, finding success playing “blue-collar football” in front of 70,000 fans in the college football’s most scenic venue.