Film Study A Huge Part Of Browning’s Success
October 05, 2017 | Football
By Rich Myhre
Every game day of the college football season, University of Washington quarterback Jake Browning enjoys all the benefits of his high-profile position – cheering crowds, media acclaim, and the chance to put his name into record books and Heisman Trophy conversations.
The other six days of the week? Not quite as glamorous.
From Sunday to Friday of a typical week, Browning puts in the difficult and usually unseen work that gives him the opportunity to shine on Saturday. It begins with team practices and individual workouts, and then extends to the film room where Browning often devotes as many weekly hours as he does to the practice field.
In particular, contends UW offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Jonathan Smith, it is Browning's off-the-field regimen that is truly special.
"With the mental preparation piece, Jake is elite," Smith said. "He loves it and he works hard at it. In that regard, he's the best I've ever been around, for sure."
For a lot of college kids, the chance to stare at a movie screen is a pleasant reprieve from the rigors of schoolwork. But for football players, and especially for quarterbacks like Browning, film study is an essential part of the weekly schedule. The foundation, if you will, for every good thing that might happen on game day.
"As a quarterback," Browning explained, "you have to have some baseline of film knowledge. … It just makes you feel prepared."
The good news, he added, "is that I enjoy it."
According to Smith, Washington quarterbacks are expected to spend time each week watching tape of the upcoming opponent while also reviewing the UW offense in various game situations, such as first and second downs, third down, and in the red zone (inside the opponents' 20-yard line).
Browning, though, is never content to do only what is required. In addition, he typically watches tape of the daily practice, which he can do in the gap between the team's morning workout and an afternoon meeting with Smith and the other quarterbacks. He also looks at games from last season along with tapes of National Football League quarterbacks he wants to study.
And if all that isn't enough, Browning frequently returns in the evening to spend a few hours with the coaches, sitting in on their meetings as a way to see additional film. In total, he can spend up to three hours a day in the film room, putting in longer stints early in the week and then tapering off as game day approaches.
"He enjoys it," Smith said. "He'd rather be doing that than sitting around playing Xbox or something (like that)."
As further evidence of his diligence, Browning keeps a notebook with entries for each day of the season. Since he is a true junior, he is now on Notebook No. 3.
"He has bullet points on his practices – this was good, this was not," Smith said. "It just starts to fill up, and then he can go back later and read his own notes as a refresher."
In every aspect of football, Smith added, Browning "just has a great work ethic. Whatever he does, he works hard at it."
Paired with his physical gifts, that hard work has so far paid off handsomely in Browning's college career. In the fall of 2015, he broke new ground at Washington when he became the first true-freshman QB in school history to start his initial college game. He then went on to start every game in his first two seasons except one (as a freshman he missed the Stanford game due to injury), and he blossomed from a so-so first season to be named the Pac-12 Conference Offensive Player of the Year as a sophomore while also placing sixth in voting for the Heisman Trophy. It was the second-highest Heisman finish in UW history; defensive lineman Steve Emtman was fourth in 1991.
More importantly, Browning was a catalyst for a resurgent Washington team that soared to a 12-2 overall record in 2016, a campaign highlighted by a 41-10 victory over Colorado in the Pac-12 championship game and then a spot in the College Football Playoffs, where the Huskies finally saw their season end in a 24-7 semifinal defeat against top-ranked Alabama.
But as good as last season was for Browning, there were also disappointments. Foremost, no doubt, was the loss to Alabama, which kept the Huskies from playing for a national championship.
And for a player who thrives on motivations, that outcome has likely provided a nice dose of incentive for the current season.
"The way I describe it, Jake's always got to find a way to have a chip on his shoulder," Smith said. "And he had a couple of chips coming into this year. … He really wanted to be stronger physically. He wanted to be in better shape so he could stay healthy and move around even more, and he's really (worked hard) in that way."
Indeed, Smith said, "he's never been in better shape in his life."
Having a more robust Browning surely bodes well for this season, both for himself and for the team. Indeed, he has already compiled an impressive array of personal statistics in his two-plus seasons at Washington. He came into the 2017 season fifth on the school's all-time list for career passing yards with 6,385 (he has since moved to fourth), and he has an outside chance this season of catching career leader Cody Pickett (10,220 yards, 1999-2003).
Likewise, Browning was fifth in career completions entering this season with 476. Surpassing Pickett, the career leader (821), would seem a long shot this season, but certainly attainable a year from now.
To date, Browning's most significant impact in the UW record book is in touchdown passes. He already holds the single-game TD passing mark with six, which he did against both Oregon and California a year ago, and the single-season record with 43, with the latter also tying a Pac-12 record. With 71 career touchdown passes coming into this week's game versus California, he has Keith Price firmly in his sights for career aerial TDs (75, 2010-13).
And when it comes to passing efficiency ratings, Browning will spend all of 2017 trying to better his own UW records for both one season (167.5, 2016) and a career (154.0).
But to appreciate Browning fully is to understand that statistics and records are merely a byproduct of what really pushes him to excel – winning.
"He's very competitive," Smith said. "And when he competes, there's no back-down, no slow-down. He's in his third year now and it's been awesome to see. He's talking more to people than he ever has before, so if a wideout butchers a route, Jake's going to let him know about it. Maybe as a freshman he wouldn't do that so much."
UW wide receiver Dante Pettis says his quarterback is "extremely competitive," and that passion was on display this year in one of the team's preseason rituals – Husky Olympics. To break up the tedium of fall camp, the coaches divided the roster into 10 teams for a daily series of post-practice, non-football events. Among them, contests in bowling, basketball free throw shooting, soccer kicks, and a "Home Run Derby" with tennis balls and racquets.
It's the sort of thing that's supposed to be good-natured, and with a heavy emphasis on the team-building camaraderie that will carry over into the season. Some players, perhaps, approached it with a not-so-serious attitude, but those guys weren't named Browning.
"At Husky Olympics, it didn't matter what the event was, he was always trying to figure out different ways to get the best advantage for his team to win," Pettis said, laughing at the memory. "He doesn't like to lose at anything, and it doesn't matter what it is."
Asked about his competitiveness, Browning showed a slight smile. As if to confirm, "Guilty as charged."
"No one likes losing," he explained. "You're always trying to win and you shouldn't be afraid to let people know that you want to win. … Some guys don't want to be the guy who seems too intense, but I don't really care. I just want to win."
And in Browning's world, the path to success includes no shortcuts. He is faithful in both his practice and his preparation, and he is likewise determined to correct every flaw and improve every shortcoming. When he watches tape of himself, he evaluates each aspect of his play, including his footwork and movements in the pocket, his decisions based on the defense, and his throwing motion.
"I try to be my hardest critic," he said. "I always watch practice before we have meetings so I kind of have an idea of what I think I need improvement on.
"I don't beat myself up over (occasional mistakes), but there are always things you can improve on. There are so many things you have to do as a quarterback, and no one's ever going to have a perfect practice or a perfect game. But you always have stuff you can do better."
Unlike every other UW quarterback before him, Browning never had a chance to ease into his college career. He graduated from Folsom (Calif.) High School at the mid-year semester and arrived on campus early enough in 2015 to participate in spring practices. A few months later, he was named Washington's starter for the season opener at Boise State.
At the end of that first season, which concluded with a victory over Southern Mississippi in the Heart of Dallas Bowl, Browning sat down with UW head coach Chris Petersen, himself a former college quarterback.
Recalled Smith: "Pete was talking to him and saying, 'Hey, the season's over, what did you think?' And Jake just talked about how hard it was.
"People talk about the quarterback position being glamorous, but it isn't (always) glamorous," Smith said. "It's a grind and you just have to grind it out. But Jake does that."
