Huard: Lofty stats have UW’s Jake Browning in Heisman conversation

Jake Browning is a 20-year-old sophomore quarterback for the University of Washington, and with a soft-spoken demeanor and 6-foot-2, 209-pound frame, he’s a fairly unassuming one at that.

But that’s before you look at his stats.

Browning has led the No. 5 Huskies to a 6-0 start by throwing 23 touchdowns, which leads the nation. He also has thrown just two interceptions and completed 72.2 percent of his passes (104 for 144), giving him the country’s top quarterback rating for passer efficiency at 204.9. And though it’s just the seventh week of the college season, he’s already vaulted his name into consideration for postseason awards.

“He’s in the Heisman conversation right now. … I think you would see him in anybody’s top five right now in the Heisman race,” 710 ESPN Seattle’s Brock Huard told John Clayton on Monday, days after Browning set a school record with six touchdown passes in a 70-21 blowout over Oregon. In fact, Browning set a Pac-12 record with eight individual touchdowns in the win over the Ducks, earning him the conference’s offensive player of the week honor.

Browning’s numbers are so lofty that they’re making Huard think of another quarterback that has led a Chris Petersen offense: Washington state native Kellen Moore, who threw for over 3,400 yards in each of his four seasons at Boise State.

“I tell you, he’s reminding me more and more of Kellen Moore, and what Kellen Moore meant to that Boise program as year after year they were in the national title hunt. I went back and looked at Kellen’s numbers there in Boise, they were as remarkable as Jake’s when it came to one season having 39 touchdowns to four interceptions, and that’s the kind of pacing that Jake is on.

“It is just absurd, what he is doing. He has had the best first half of any quarterback in Husky history, and statistically speaking, it’s really not even close right now.”

So how has Browning developed so much from his freshman season in which he threw 16 touchdowns to 10 interceptions? Huard said part of the reason are two intangibles he possesses that are especially tricky to teach.

“There’s nothing there physically that overwhelms you (about Browning). You watch him warm up or practice, you don’t sit there and say what an unbelievable arm or tremendous athlete or great size,” Huard said. “If he’s a baseball player, he doesn’t have five tools, but he has the two most important tools and that’s accuracy and decision-making, and those two things are very difficult to coach if you don’t have them.”

It also helps that he’s been practicing against one of the best defenses in America since he arrived on campus.

“These games are easy compared to the practice,” Huard said.

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