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In July 2014, I ran into Chris Petersen after his first-ever go-round at Pac-12 media days as he waited for his flight back to Seattle. Eight months earlier, he'd taken over as Washington's head coach for "Seven-Win Steve" Sarkisian, who had replaced Tyrone Willingham, who once went winless at U-Dub. Still, Petersen had a simple blueprint to return the Huskies to prominence after a quarter century of obscurity. "Bringing it back to a championship level will be dictated by our ability to recruit and to develop defensive linemen," Petersen told me. Two and a half years later, he has proved prophetic. Here's why the Petersen principles work.
He hoards homegrown talent
On Dec. 20, 2013, Washington native and ESPN 300 safety Budda Baker committed to Oregon. But nearly three years later, on Oct. 8, 2016, on the first play from scrimmage, Baker intercepted those same Ducks to set up a three-play touchdown drive -- the first of 10 scores for his Huskies offense.
That play was made possible in February 2014, when, two months into his tenure, Petersen persuaded Baker to abandon his Oregon pledge, stay local and become a Husky. At the time, Baker was a four-star defensive back and the top-ranked prep in the state of Washington -- and top-ranked Washington preps did not stay home. In 2013, QB Max Browne fled to SoCal (USC). In 2012, O-lineman Joshua Garnett headed to NorCal (Stanford). So Petersen set out to do what his predecessors -- Rick Neuheisel, Keith Gilbertson, Willingham and even Sarkisian -- failed to consistently do: build a hedge around Washington to keep top recruits home, then dip into California, Oregon and Hawaii, as necessary.
In all, Petersen kept four of Washington's top 10 recruits in-state for his first recruiting class in 2014, six in 2015, four in 2016 and four and counting for next year (compared with two and three, respectively, in Sark's last two years). And it all began with a D-back from nearby Bellevue, the Swiss Army knife of the Huskies' secondary, who intercepted the very program he spurned for his hometown team.
No one is bigger than the team ... no one
Nine months after landing Baker, his first marquee prep, Petersen dismissed Marcus Peters, his marquee holdover from Sarkisian. Peters was a long, athletic D-back who could shut down anyone. (The Kansas City Chiefs would go on to draft him in the first round in 2015.) But he also shut out Petersen's brand of discipline. Peters clashed with the new staff, and in early November 2014, Petersen booted the three-year starter. He was the eighth player suspended or dismissed in Petersen's first year in Seattle.
Nearly two years later, UW still feels the aftershock of Peters' departure. Case in point: In Husky Stadium after a workout in the summer -- 21 months later -- several upperclassmen told me they cite Petersen's dismissal of their star player as the moment the program began to mend itself after the chaotic, undisciplined end to the Sarkisian era.
He found a right-handed Kellen Moore
Like Moore, the winningest quarterback in FBS history (50-3 as a starter for Petersen at Boise State), sophomore QB Jake Browning withstood early whispers of arm-strength concerns. Also like Moore, Browning's prolific numbers have quelled doubts. Through six weeks, he was the most efficient FBS passer (204.9 rating) and second only to Louisville's Lamar Jackson in QBR (89.7), with 23 touchdowns and two interceptions. Browning, of course, is not the first talented QB to come through Seattle this decade (see: Jake Locker). But what elevates him is a Moore-like chemistry with Petersen.
From the jump, in the season-opening 48-13 win over Rutgers, Petersen gave Browning autonomy in the huddle and the freedom to adjust to defensive looks. In QB parlance? He gave the gift of advantage reads. "There were a handful of [checks] that he left alone, that he needed to leave alone because they weren't showing a different look," Petersen said after Browning torched Rutgers for 287 yards and a 94.6 QBR. "There were a lot of checks going on out there." Even Sark, a former QB, never shared that level of trust with his triggermen.
He's a master of trench warfare
Outside of that gang in Tuscaloosa, there isn't a front in the country better than D-coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski's war daddies: In all, his line has 18½ of UW's Power 5-leading 24 sacks. The front four's dominance is so complete -- in the bloodbath vs. Stanford, the Huskies made all eight sacks without ever rushing more than four men -- Kwiatkowski is sending an extra defender on only 5.7 percent of snaps. And the math behind Petersen's success is the same in Seattle as it was in Boise: mixing high-profile names (Sarkisian-era legacy recruits like Vita Vea and Elijah Qualls) with lower-visibility projects (onetime Broncos commit Greg Gaines).
As disruptive as the unit has been thus far in 2016, it has proved similarly versatile. Against Stanford, the Pac-12's physical, smashmouth bully, the Huskies played in a phone booth ... and allowed 0.97 of a yard per rush. In Eugene, taking on Oregon's blur attack, they prevailed in space and allowed 5.3 yards a play, the Ducks' worst clip all year. USC's pro style and Wazzu's air raid still loom, but Petersen's ability to develop his trenches has produced the Huskies' best line in -- count 'em -- 25 years.