Jimmy Lake Praises Huskies Senior CB Jordan Miller as Fall Camp Begins
SEATTLE – Jimmy Lake told senior Jordan Miller before practice Friday that he wasn’t going to get a rep. He could, but he wouldn’t.
The 6-1 cornerback missed the Huskies final six games last season after suffering a left leg injury against Arizona State, a 13-7 defeat and one of only two losses in 2017. Now back healthy, and still surrounded by a plethora of other talented defensive backs, UW has the luxury to ease Miller back into the fold.
“I remember the moment after it happened,” Lake recalled Friday after the Huskies finished their first practice of fall camp. “We were in the locker room at the end of the game. We’re all hurt because we lost the game, but then we’re hurt because we lost one of our best players.
“And he looked at me dead in the eyes and said ‘coach, I’m going to be back. I’m going to be back.”
Smiling ear to ear explaining the benefits of having an established player return like Miller, it’s clear that Lake has more tools than ever at his disposal. Conveniently it’s also his first season as the Huskies full-time defensive coordinator.
In his first year Lake has the task of integrating the three freshmen he signed as part of the 2018 recruiting class, along with returning redshirt sophomore Byron Murphy and Miller, both starters last season, from injury.
The duo finished atop the leaderboard for interceptions, Murphy a team-high three picks and Miller tied with linebacker Tevis Bartlett with two, while playing as many games combined as UW played in total (13).
“He attacked his rehab,” Lake added on Miller. “For him, to be out there moving around in the way he did in our drills, and I told him straight up I said ‘you can be mad at me all you want, you’re not getting a rep today. I know you could get a rep today, you could get a rep today, but guess what you’re not getting one’.
“He understood. He went out there and he did his thing in our DB drills. Looked awesome. We’re just kind of spoon feed him as we go. We’re in no rush. He’s played a lot of football, but he looked great today.”
The benefit of not rushing Miller, or any player for that matter, back from injury is two-fold. One, it gives the underclassmen valuable reps with an in-season mindset that will help when they are starting in 2019, 2020 and beyond.
And second, there simply is zero reason to do so.
UW signed four-star recruits Julius Irvin (safety) and Kyler Gordon (corner) in February, and three-star athlete Dominique Hampton, who can play at several positions in the secondary. Irvin, the son of eight-year NFL veteran LeRoy Irvin, came up from Anaheim, California during the spring to get a head start on learning the playbook.
Gordon, one of six in-state signees in 2018 from Archbishop Murphy High School (Everett, Wash.), made the shorter trip down I5 the same week. Both players made their fair share of freshmen mistakes while displaying a glimpse of the potential that Lake sought when he recruited both players.
“Any extra information, any extra meeting these guys can get is going to benefit them. We had an extra meeting with those rookies last night. We’re going to have more extra meetings after practice, and before meetings. The more information they want, it’s available,” Lake said.
“Coach Harris is here. I’m here. Coach Washington, our new graduate assistant defensive backs coach, but those guys are hungry. They’re doing fine for their first day.”