Jimmy Lake signed seven defensive backs in his first recruiting class at Washington almost five years ago.

The crop, comprised of one four-star and six three-star prospects according to Rivals.com rankings in 2014, has produced two second-round NFL draft picks with the potential for a third in 2019.

Now, with both starting cornerbacks Jordan Miller and Byron Murphy returning from injury, and a young talent pool with valuable game experience behind them, Lake has designed the Huskies DB room effectively without a roof.

“Well that’s a good problem to have, for sure. I wouldn’t want it the other way. But the guys got to come in and compete,” Lake said back in March, when asked how he balances playing time and talent.

“It makes the whole room better when we have talented players, and we have to reward talented players coming in this summer. But the cream rises to the top. Injuries happen, just like they did last year. We lost both starting corners last year. Guys had to come in and step up and play.”

One of the Huskies three DB signees in the 2018 class, former four-star and Archbishop Murphy (Everett, Washington) cornerback Kyler Gordon, has been training since February with that very same mindset.