Dante Pettis Knew How to Play for Chris Petersen Before Seeing a Down at UW
Dante Pettis got an important piece of advice before he ever played a down of college football under Chris Petersen four years ago.
His cousin, Austin Pettis, played for the two-time Bear Bryant Award winner when he was the head coach at Boise State from 2007-10 and still holds the all-time touchdown receptions record in school history with 39.
A third-round pick in the 2011 NFL Draft by the St. Louis Rams, No. 78 overall, Austin went on to play five years in the league (St. Louis 2011-14, San Diego Chargers 2015). Friday, Dante surpassed that selection as a second-round pick, No. 44 overall by the San Francisco 49ers in the 2018 NFL Draft.
During his recruitment, Dante was expected to follow the path Austin set before him and play for Petersen as a Bronco. Instead he carved his own path when Petersen left Boise to become the head coach at Washington, signing for the Huskies 2014 recruiting class and setting records of his own in purple and gold.
“He basically said like, ‘coach Pete likes things a certain way’”, Dante told Rivals in March at UW’s Pro Day, when asked if Austin gave him any tips about Petersen.
“And you do them that way because if you don’t, you probably won’t be playing or whatever. You might think that you know a better way to do it, but for the most part coach Pete knows exactly what he’s talking about. So just listen to him, that type of stuff.”
It didn’t take long for Dante to learn the Petersen way, playing in all 13 games as a true freshman in 2014 and finishing the season with 259 yards and one touchdown. Similar numbers as a sophomore continued his progression, but it wasn’t until the 2016 season when Pettis blossomed and hauled in a career-high 15 touchdown receptions.
With added versatility as a punt returner, taking back nine for a score in his four-year career at UW, his draft resume was as polished as any draft-eligible WR in the 2018 class. However, being a player that exemplified what Petersen wants his players to stand for on and off the field, Pettis used this spring to return to where it all began.
Austin returned to his high school alma mater last fall as the WR coach at Orange-Lutheran (Orange, California), and helping train players during the offseason in the area. When the two worked out this spring as Dante prepared for the draft it was like old times again.
“Whenever I could I would train with him,” Dante said. “Obviously if he was around [and] I was able to get some work in with him, I would. We’ve mainly been working on my routes. Just different ways to run routes and my releases. Some different things with releases I’ve been working on with Austin.”
Pettis finished his UW career with 163 receptions for 2, 256 yards and 24 touchdowns as a receiver, completing 60 percent (3 of 5) of his pass attempts for 125 yards and a 39-yard touchdown pass to Darrell Daniels in 2015, a 66-27 victory for UW.
“Oh yeah. It was great,” Pettis said of his time as a Husky. “Especially coming out here in Seattle and everything. Love it out here. Had a great time at the university. It was – I would do nothing different.”