Washington Football quarterback Jake Browning stats declined in 2017. Back with a team loaded with upperclassman, he must answer the biggest qustion of his NCAA football career: Can he lead a national champion team?
The Washington Football team has recharged, restocked, and reinvigorated. Now, the hope for the team is they will compete and ultimately claim the ultimate prize in NCAA football, the national championship. That’s a huge undertaking. Still, that same goal is running through the weight rooms and practice fields of practically every NCAA football team right now.
Some teams get an edge simply from having competed before. Teams like Alabama know the way and the requirement. Familiarity plays a huge part in finding a way. Likewise, coaching plays a key part in preparing a team to compete for the title. But on the field, from the moment the season begins at the fist kickoff, it comes down to execution on the field.
From that moment, it falls squarely upon the team. And no player has more responsibility than the quarterback. For the Washington Huskies? That player remains quarterback Jake Browning. Returning for his senior season, he is once more captaining the Huskies offense. How the team, and his future football career, turn out falls upon this final season.
A year ago, we raised the belief that Browning was playing for an NFL contract. While that is not the way the season turned out, his 2017 performance is likely why he did not jump to the NFL last season. His passing yardage fell from a 2016 high of 3,430 to 2,955 yards. Likewise, his passing touchdowns plumetted from 43 down to an abysmal 16. While part of that reason can be attributed to team injuries to WR Chico McClatcher and to offensive line anchor Trey Adams, Browning never seemed comfortable in the passing game.