The Details: McIntosh Focused On We More Than Me
August 11, 2016 | Football, General
By Mason Kelley
GoHuskies.com
Ask Jojo McIntosh about the offseason and he doesn't mention himself.
"The team is working really, really hard," he said.
Ask the safety about spending his summer working in the weight room and, once again, he talked about the Huskies as a whole.
"We've all been working," he said. "We're all getting better."
As Washington works its way through the first week of fall camp, McIntosh faces an opportunity. With the graduation of Brian Clay, one of last season's starters at safety, McIntosh looks to take on a larger role in the Huskies' secondary. But, ask him about that and, again, he will spend more time talking about Washington's defensive backs as a position group.
"Corners, safeties, we all compete against each other," he said. "We all believe we're the best, so we're going to play like we're the best. We treat each other like the best.
"We all push each other to be the best we can be, so everyone will keep getting better and we'll all keep moving forward."
When McIntosh did talk about his desire to "step up," he quickly mentioned a few of his teammates.
"We're brothers," he said. "We're all competing for a spot and we're all going to eat. "We're really tight and I feel like that's why we're so good. It's the power of the unit, like coach Pete says. We're really strong in our unit."
With a secondary that features a preseason All-American in Budda Baker and veteran corners like Sidney Jones and Kevin King, among other talented contributors, McIntosh's desire to talk about the secondary as a group makes sense.Â
Washington's DBs have found success individually because of their willingness to work as a unit.
"We make sure nobody is taking a day off," he said. "If one person is taking a day off, the whole DB crew is taking a day off, so if someone messes up, if someone gets caught lollygagging on a deep ball, that's on the whole DB crew.
"It's on all of us."
But, while McIntosh prefers to talk team, he did trade we for I when asked about the personal growth he's experienced during his time with Washington.
He has gained 20 pounds. He has gotten faster. He has become a more complete football player. But that's not the type of growth he really wanted to talk about.
When he first arrived on campus, he was coming from a team that won a state championship in California.
"I'm thinking I'm good," he said.
That first year he realized he had a lot to learn. When asked about his development, McIntosh pointed to defensive backs coach Jimmy Lake.
"Coach Lake has taught me so much I didn't know in high school," McIntosh said "He's always teaching me new techniques, so I feel like I've grown a lot.
"He made sure I was on top of things, pushing me to be the best I can be."
So here he is, a sophomore who played in all 13 games last season, a safety who will play a pivotal role in Washington's secondary this season, a standout whose has placed the success of the team above any individual goals. Â
"We're confident in each other, so we play confident," he said. "The DBs are ready."
