Over the spring and early summer, there was a lot of talk about the implications of the term “OKG”, spurned by local 5-star linebacker, Sav’ell Smalls’ elimination of Washington from his list of schools.
Smalls, who is from Kennedy Catholic High School, certainly has the right to go wherever he wants to go — and that’s not what this article about.
Two weeks before Smalls dropped Washington, a subscriber on Realdawg.com had brought up the term “OKG” and said it was “elitist”. Also, there were tweets and posts from fans of rival schools suggesting that “OKG” was “biased” and it implied a certain high-brow aspect to the kinds of guys Washington recruits. Even a West Coast recruiting expert used the term as a punchline to a distasteful joke on Twitter.
We saw words used such as “preppy”, “silver spoons”, “elitist”.
This was shocking, to say the least, in the eyes of anyone who has been around Husky Football in the modern era and egregiously insulting to the kind of culture that Chris Petersen and his staff have tried to bring to Washington since he was hired.
The fact is that the coaching staff has no control over upper campus when it comes to whether or not a player can get into the University of Washington, no coaching staff has that control.
It’s well-known that Cal, Washington, Stanford, USC, and UCLA are the hardest schools (academically) to get into in the conference. In fact, Washington and Stanford can’t even dip too far into the juco ranks because of admittance standards.
Again – the coaches have no control over this.
While watching Pac-12 media day this week, it really hit home what the idea of “OKG” means. Chris Petersen could have brought two other players such as Trey Adams (an Outland contender) or even the 5-star all-world quarterback transfer, Jacob Eason.
But instead, he chose Myles Bryant and Nick Harris.
Bryant was a walk-on and paid his own way at the outset of his Husky career. He was slept on by many schools because of his size and stature.
Nick Harris was an unknown guy on the recruiting networks; one D1 offer (Washington), ranked 1323 overall in the nation as a recruit, and was a three-star guy who most fans were scratching their heads about.
The recruiting networks — the “experts”, that is — didn’t feel they were worthy of much in terms of their durability and trajectory at the collegiate level. Yet these two players sat next to Chris Petersen on the day that college football celebrates the unveiling of the 2019 season.
Chris Petersen represents the defending Pac-12 champions too — and these are the two players who he felt represented the image and culture of Washington football.
These two players will go to the draft — it’s become habit now for this staff to produce NFL talent every year, but when Chris Petersen talks to recruits and sends his coaches out on the road to eyeball the nation’s talent, he isn’t looking at them through the lens of some guy who fancies himself an “expert”.
Indeed, Petersen looks at what these players can become. What he knows his staff can get out of these them.
This, my friends, is what “OKG” is really all about.
It doesn’t matter where you’re ranked, how many stars you have, whether you were brought up in poverty of next to a golf course, it’s about buying in to a philosophy that challenges you to reach your full potential.
Will you strive to be the best student you can be?
Will you strive to be the best teammate you can be?
Will you strive to be the best football player you can be?
Will you strive to become the best man you can be?
Petersen always tells recruits that nothing is promised; he lets kids know that they will have to work harder than they have ever worked before, and he also will often say “this isn’t for everyone”.
But the reason Petersen has had such great success as a head coach is that he is secure in his own identity as a coach, and secure in his own ideals as a coach.
He won’t apologize for this — and it’s a system and ideology that has proven time and time again to breed success on and off the field with his players.
It doesn’t matter what rival fans try to say — they may attempt to sully the idea of “OKG”, but it only shows jealousy and contempt for the success that Chris Petersen has had as a football coach.
Nick Harris started in the college football playoffs as a true freshman against Alabama, and no one in the fanbase or on the recruiting networks had one scintilla of belief in this kid — but Coach Pete did.
Myles Bryant could have taken a scholarship offer, could have walked on to schools closer to home, but the Husky staff knew they could work him into the type of player who is more than worthy of a full-ride. He answered the call and earned that scholarship.
It wasn’t the easy way out for Bryant — not financially or logistically — going to Washington wasn’t ideal for this young man.
When Coach Petersen first arrived at Washington he inherited players and recruited others who fit into his system poetically; Shaq Thompson, Will Dissly, and Danny Shelton are three that come to mind.
Thompson played safety, then moved to linebacker, and his third year at Washington he played linebacker and running back — buying into doing whatever he had to do to help a re-invented Husky team.
Shelton had an opportunity to head to the NFL his junior year but decided to stay and help his team. He was a player that younger guys would look to as a mentor to this day.
Will Dissly was a two-star — he was one of those guys like Greg Gaines who had been recruited by Boise State under the Petersen staff, and then would wind up being offered by and committing to Washington under Coach Petersen.
Dissly is another guy who came in at one spot, (DE) and then moved to another spot (TE) and is now playing in the league (he was on a terrific first year with the Seahawks until he was injured).
Chris Petersen doesn’t care about rankings — he cares about guys who will buy in to the “OKG” philosophy. It’s not about one thing; it’s about the whole package.
Nick Harris and Myles Bryant flanked Petersen at Pac-12 Media Day as a representation of what Petersen wants.
“When you talk about OKGs, our kind of guys in our program, these guys are exactly that. They are big-time players that are great teammates and awesome people…When we chose to bring these two guys down, it was, ‘Hey, who deserves to come down here? Who has played a lot of football for us? Who does everything right?’ These two guys jumped out. Then you kind of look back and you’re like, ‘Hey, this is their backyard.’ ”
— Chris Petersen at Pac-12 Media Day
What’s the problem with that? It should be embraced by every coach in college football, sadly it’s not.
