PASADENA, Calif. – The player Jake Browning could most depend on over his four-year career was there to meet him as the UW Huskies quarterback walked off the field one last time.
Dante Pettis.
The two connected 148 times over three seasons from 2015-17. Pettis, who just ended a strong rookie season with the San Francisco 49ers, hauled in 23 touchdowns and totaled 1,997 yards in the three years Browning was under center for the Huskies.
Pettis embraced the UW senior on the field moments after the loss. Browning, exiting for the last time with 39 victories to his name as a four-year starter, lightened the mood quickly by joking with his former receiver that he couldn’t come back for one more season, 2018.
“Me and Jake have a really good relationship. I don’t know, I mean I love that guy,” Pettis told TheDawgReport.com after the game speaking to his relationship with Browning.
Pettis, never shy for a (positive) lack of words as a popular fan-favorite on social media, added the dynamic of their relationship is hard to encapsulate into words.
But then, he continued “When you, you and quarterback, you have to go through – we almost had four years together. He grew a lot. It doesn’t really matter like what you do off the field, you go through a lot on the field, too. I have a lot of respect for that guy.
“The stuff that he’s gone through, the way he’s grown. I’m happy to see him go through all this and grow through it all. Obviously I wish the outcome would have been a little bit different, but he’s a fighter. And I’m really excited to see what he does next.”
Inside the UW locker room after the game, Browning, now done with his college football career, acknowledged that the moment he knew was coming had finally hit. But he wasn’t going to let that moment be soured.
“Yeah. I mean I think it kind of clicked a little bit, as I’m walking in here, is ‘ya we lost’ but I don’t want to be bitter and all that,” Browning said, when asked about the moment he shared with Pettis on the field.
“Last time I see a lot of these guys. Not the last time, but I’m not going to see these guys as much as I’m used to. So trying not to let the game and the result dictate how I said goodbye and stuff like that.
“So I think with Dante, kinda of saw him and said hi and stuff like that. Still sucks that we lost, but try to say the right way: not be bitter.”
Roughly an hour later, after players spoke to the media, Pettis stood next to another former Husky now playing in the NFL, Seattle Seahawks tight end Will Dissly. The two were congratulating players and coaches as they exited the locker room.
That included UW offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan, who was one of the last to leave the locker room area along with graduate assistant Tyler Osborne. Pettis and Hamdan shared a brief 30-second exchange, the former receiver sharing his thoughts on the game with UW play-caller.
Following the 28-23 loss to No. 6 Ohio State in the 2019 Rose Bowl, Browning, exits as the most accomplished QB in school history, holding the record for most TD passes (94), yards (12,296) completions (958) and wins (39).
His last game ended in a manner almost too befitting to encapsulate his UW career.
Buckeyes sophomore safety Brendon White picked off Browning on a two-point conversion attempt to seal the Leishman Trophy for the Big 10 champs. Hamdan was asked if Browning going out ‘guns’ a blazing’ was a fitting, symbolic conclusion to his time at UW.
“There’s probably two things you know out of every one of his outings: he’s going to be one of the toughest guys out there on the field and he’s going to give you everything he has,” Hamdan responded.
“I think there’s 100 guys who wanted to do everything they could to send him out, and send these seniors out on the right note. It’s tough.”
Since the Huskies loss on Jan. 1 several players and coaches have shared their final goodbye on social media. Late Friday night, Browning delivered his via Instagram and shared on Twitter.
To conclude his four-year career at the University of Washington, TheDawgReport.com has penned an ode to Jake Browning . . . highlighting some of the better quotes delivered by the now former Husky QB, and comments from others about Browning.
Dec. 26: On not having to deal with the media after the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1…
“(laughs). Yeah. I mean hopefully I have to deal with it a lot. Hopefully playing in the NFL for a long time but who knows. Definitely appreciate all the work everybody in the media does and I get sometimes that’s… people have disagreements over everything. But I mean it’s not something that’s really crossed my mind. Like I said I’m more thinking about this is my last game with a bunch of guys I’ve played a lot of football with.”
Dec. 26: On the player(s) he felt closest too over the last four years…
“Obviously Myles (Gaskin). JoJo (McIntosh). I mean it’s kind of weird because we don’t really have like – everybody hangs out in different groups and stuff like that. But I think it’s just a common understanding that we all play on the same team. And I think its more now like who’s going to put in the effort to reach out to somebody now that you don’t see them every single day. But we see the same people every single day and I’ve definitely enjoyed my time here mostly because of the people.”
July 26: On the current world of college football recruiting getting to be too much…
“I think some of it there’s too good and too bad. So I think that some guys maybe 20 years ago no one would know their name because they didn’t play a ton. But all of a sudden they have some funny videos or something like that. It’s like that’s great, you got a platform, but I think for me I’m not going to get all over Twitter because at the end of the day people are crazy. People are going to say some crazy stuff to you, and it doesn’t make any sense. There’s no credibility behind it at all. But they got Twitter and they know my Twitter handle, so they’re going to say “@ blah blah blah. You’re the worst person ever. I hate you. Blah blah blah. Whatever they’re going to say. You kind of have to look at it like, I kind of relate it to; parents are really sane until they start talking about their own kids. That’s how Twitter is. People are really sane until they can literally type anything they want to because you don’t actually know what they look like. And people will say ‘oh that person has no followers, blah blah’ and it is still kind of weird to have someone you don’t know say I hate you. Well, [chuckles], okay well I hate you too. Whatever. Have a good life. And so I just kind of ignore it. Best way to go. Or see some people that it effects him. I think the guy that started before me, I think he read into a lot and it effected how he played.”
Dec. 30: Ty Jones on the notion that Browning doesn’t get enough credit…
“No. He doesn’t get enough credit for sure. When there’s something going wrong with the team he usually takes the downfall for it. I give credit to him. He’s a tough guy. Mentally he’s there. He just takes it in stride and keeps going.”
Aug. 15: Archie Manning on Browning spending time at the Manning Passing Academy…
“Jake had that good year two years ago (2016) and I just reached out to see if he wanted to come. He did. We really enjoyed having him. That was two years ago. It’s so far for him to come for a three nights, four-day thing. I wasn’t sure Jake would come back. So it made us, made me feel good. We like to invite the kids back that still have eligibility that do a good job and 99 percent of them do a good job. But behave well, do a great job with the kids, seem to have a good time with it. So it’s great to have him back for a second year because they know what we’re doing. They’re familiar with the process that we go through with our high school kids and so forth. So Jake is, first of all, he’s just a great young man. You can tell he’s a leader. We’re not out there trying to see who’s better than the other guy. They throw as a group about three times. All kind of under the eye of Peyton and Eli, and maybe a few more pro people that we have there. We had Mike Shannahan this year. So Jake does well. He mixes well with everybody. Seems to enjoy himself with the other guys and just great for them to meet 30 something other quarterbacks, get to watch them perform. They compete a little bit. We have one little contest where they are throwing and competing, so it’s just really been a delight to have him for the last two years. Washington is, they’re in good hands with him. With his experience and ability he’s just a real fine quarterback.”
