Jake Browning says shoulder is ‘pain free,’ and rehab ‘going exactly how it’s supposed to go’
For the first time this spring, Huskies quarterback Jake Browning spoke with reporters. Here is everything he said.
(You’ve been ramping up your throwing the last couple weeks — back to normal now?) “It just feels good to be back — back in the full swing of things. It makes you appreciate it a little more when you’ve got to sit on the sideline and watch. So it just feels good to be back with everybody. I’m taking a bunch of reps now and just trying to get back to where I was.”
(Were you itching to get back out there?) “It makes you appreciate it. That’s why you play — you want to play, and I’m not on the only one who wants to play. I’m sure there are a lot of people on our team itching to play and everyone’s competitive. So I’m happy to be back playing.”
(Is the rehab schedule progressing the way you thought it would?) “It’s going exactly how it’s supposed to go. I was supposed to be just barely throwing at the beginning of spring ball, and by the end be going full go, which is what I’m at. It feels good, feels exactly how it’s supposed to, and it’s going exactly how it’s supposed to. Our training staff does a good job. Coach Pete, Coach Smith, they’ve been on top of it. I’ve been on top of it. It’s going how it’s supposed to go. I probably could’ve gone even a little bit sooner, but you want to take those things slow and not rush it.”
(Looking back at the end of last season, how difficult was it to play with that injury?) “I’m going to treat that like the rest of the questions I treat about last season. I think it’s last season — I’m not going to talk about last season’s stats, last season’s wins. I’m not going talk about any injury. We’re on to next year, and that’s this year and that’s what — I’m trying to get better right now.”
(What’s the next step for you in 2017?) “There’s a couple different things, but the main thing is right now I’m pain-free throwing, but I’ve still got to get my strength back and all that. It’s like a guy that runs sprints. You can’t three months off from running sprints and get right back into running without having to work through some kinks and stuff like that. That’s kind of where I’m at right now, just getting my body used to a high-volume of throws. But like I said, it’s going how it’s supposed to. I’m happy be back out there. It sucks watching. And I’m pretty happy with where it’s at.”
(On value of watching from 20 yards behind line of scrimmage as other QBs take snaps) “Yeah, I think you can kind of reflect on some different stuff, but we have end-zone tape so it’s kind of the same stuff. I think there’s some little things you notice here and there, but I wasn’t happy just sitting out there. You try and help out a little bit and coach it up. I know when I’m playing, Tony Rodriguez is a guy when I come to the sideline he’s, ‘Hey, this look, blah, blah, blah.’ He’s on top of it, so I try to be that guy to him or K.J. I think there’s some stuff (you can see), but you’d rather be out there playing.”
(John Ross is off to the NFL, but the bulk of the offense is back …) “I think there’s just a standard set here for how you’re supposed to work and how you need to improve. That’s true for me too. There’s a lot of things I need to work on; there’s a lot of things everybody needs to work on. If you feel like there’s not stuff you need to work on, you’re not watching enough film of yourself and you’re not critiquing yourself hard enough. That’s just the standard around here: Everybody’s going to work hard and not take a practice for granted, not take a day for granted, and just get better.”
(Playing a defense like Alabama’s, how much can that help you down the road …) “Obviously, a really good defense. And I thought for me, that made me want to get more in the weight room and stuff like that. I didn’t think there’s anything scheme-wise or mentally that they had on top of me. I just thought, I got out there and they were bigger, stronger, faster than me personally, so that’s something I want to work on — more weight-room stuff. I think freshman year going to my sophomore year, my freshman season I had a bunch of mental busts and I was throwing some of these picks where they tricked me. So I thought, OK, film is what I need to get better at. And I think obviously you still have to watch film (now), but if I have 30 minutes of extra time it’s probably, OK, I’m going to do some weight-room stuff and eat healthier and stuff like that. I know from seeing Budda and those guys going to the NFL, something they had to change right away was they were on top of their nutrition a lot more. So that’s something I try to do, because it’s something I never did. I just ate whatever.”
(Your daily menu?) “I don’t have a daily menu, I just try to avoid certain things and eat healthier. I not going to say I’m great at it, but I’m trying. It’s on my a little bit more. Before it was, eat whatever, do our lifts, do our running and then go watch film.”
(On what the summer will look like) “I kind of have a rough draft of it. I think after spring I’ll probably have a better plan of what it’s going to be. I know for me, I usually have to take a class during the summer, and I’m ahead in credits so I don’t have to take a class or anything and no internship or anything, so it’s pretty much football all day.”
(On being the guy who organizes offseason workouts) “I think everybody wants to. I’m just the guy who says, OK, how’s this time work for everybody? But I don’t think it’s anything where I’m dragging people out there. Everybody wants to get out there and throw. You just need one person to say OK, here’s the time. That’s kind of all I do.”
(On whether last year made him hungrier to get back to the playoff) “I don’t think it really changed how much I want to win games, but I think yeah, you get a little taste of it. Didn’t get all the way, but took a step to that next level. You get a taste of it, you want some more. I still want to win games just as much as before.”
(On if he senses this team is just as hungry) “I think we were hungry last year, hungry again this year. Everybody’s just working right now. In spring ball, you don’t want to start thinking, OK, here’s Rutgers. It’s more, OK, what do you need to work on? It’s more working on yourself, trying to beat our defense and more just worried about your own game, much less who your first game is.”
(On the defensive backfield with Budda, King, Jones gone) “Everybody has their strengths and weaknesses. I think Byron Murphy’s been doing really well and Jordan Miller’s been doing really well. Taylor Rapp, I think he’s coming into his sophomore year and kind of knows what ti expect a little bit more. Jojo McIntosh played a lot, Zeke Turner played a lot. We still have some guys that have played and maybe you haven’t seen them on the field as much, but they’ve gotten a lot of reps, for how long our season was last year. And I think they’re going to be good. They obviously have stuff they need to work on, but so does everybody.”
(Considering John Ross’ overall impact on the offense last year, will the passing game look different this season?) “I think the bigger influence would be we hired Coach Lubick, and he’s brought in some different stuff. Obviously, John Ross was a very special player and we have to work to replace him and all that, but I think it’s a challenge that a lot of the receivers – I know there are some guys that came in with me that are on their third year here and are kind of ready to step up and take on a bigger role. I think they’re pretty excited about it.”
(Which receivers should we be talking about more?) “I don’t really read your guys’ stuff, so I don’t know who you guys are talking about.”
(If you were me, who would you be talking about?) “I think Quinten Pounds has shown some stuff. Aaron Fuller is a guy that’s had kind of a supplementary role last year, play a bigger role. Andre Baccellia, really good. Obviously, Dante Pettis coming back for his senior year, he’s going to be really good. Ty Jones has shown some promise. He got here the first day of spring ball, and I know it was hard for me the first day of spring ball, and I had a whole quarter to learn all the stuff, so I think he’s going to make a lot of strides. We’ve got some young guys coming in this recruiting class that will get here in June, and I think the culture, the way it’s set up here, if you’re the best player, you’re going to play, and I think everybody knows that and is kind of excited for the opportunity.”
(On limitations and expectations for Chico McClatcher) “I don’t know how many limitations the guy has. I think he’s a little more Xs and Os smart than we give him credit for. Obviously really fast. I think you guys know that. Really electric with the ball in his hands. I think every year it’s just a little progression to get better, and I think he watches his own game and knows what he wants to improve on, and obviously a guy I like throwing the ball to. I think he’s going to have a big role in the offense but you don’t truly know until we’re there. It’s only spring ball right now, so everybody’s getting reps and everybody’s working in, and you’re kind of, OK, we’ve got the 1 o-line and the 2 quarterback and throw in receivers, and everybody’s kind of working together. That’s why you really need to work on your own craft right now and kind of get the whole offense going, get a little bit of juice going into the summer and get ready for fall camp and Rutgers.”
(On Matt Lubick) “He’s a guy that has a lot of experience coaching receivers and obviously had a lot of success at Oregon. He just brought in some different stuff, just fresh eyes. I think a lot of the guys that were here last season were kind of Boise guys, so they all kind of spoke the same language. Well, he comes in with a whole new language and a new set of things that he brings to the table, schematically. Just, this different route, let’s try to do this thing a little differently. So it’s just, the more ideas you have in the room, nobody really has an ego or anything. Everybody’s trying to find the best way of doing it. So he just brings in some more things – some of them we think are better, some of them we kind of like what we did last year better. I think it’s good, though.”
(You don’t seem to be talking as much smack with Azeem and Keishawn) “That’s on Azeem. They took his passion (laughs). I’m just kidding. I don’t know. I haven’t really been doing all of spring ball, so I was probably talking and you guys didn’t see it that much. You’ve got to keep it kind of light. I think when you only have like four weeks of practice compared to – I don’t even know how many we had last year, we were going on like week 30 probably – so by the end of that, you’re kind of ready to say something back and forth. But I think it’s all in good fun.”
This story was originally published April 19, 2017 at 12:00 PM with the headline "Jake Browning says shoulder is ‘pain free,’ and rehab ‘going exactly how it’s supposed to go’."