ARLINGTON — The Lakewood football team sees itself as a family and when a few older members came home for winter break recently the patriarch, Cougars head coach Dan Teeter, saw an opportunity.
Teeter rounded up six Lakewood alums who are currently playing college football at various levels and brought them back to their old stomping grounds Monday night to talk to the current Cougars and give them advice about football, recruiting and whatever else they asked about.
“It’s a blast. We like to build a family atmosphere and when these guys come back it’s just a lot of fun to see them and talk to them and hear about how their experiences are going,” Teeter said. “When I asked if they’d be willing to come do something like this they all jumped at the chance.”
Central Washington players Justin Peterson and Justin Lane, Eastern Washington’s Dylan Donohue and Jerrod Jones, Dustin Stanton (Oregon State) and Brandon Stott, who plays for Whitworth University, followed up a question and answer session by showing a few drills that they do at their respective schools.
Teeter, who along with his staff is barred from coaching after the season, just sat back, watched and took photos with his cell phone. The coaches also took notes on drills they might incorporate into the Lakewood football team next season, while making sure not to do any coaching.
“I had one coach that started to say, ‘Hey! Keep your eye —’ and I said, ‘Coach! You can’t say anything!’” Teeter said. “I had to remind him. But it’s fun just to sit back and let them do it and we can relax and just have fun.”
For the former players, it was an opportunity for them to return to Lakewood and give back to the program that helped them pursue their dreams of playing at the next level.
“If we can give back to the community a little bit that’s always a great time,” Peterson said. “We love the coaches. They would do anything for us. This isn’t very much that we’re doing but when we can do something with them we’d love to.”
“I love it,” said Donohue, a lineman at Eastern. “I spent four years here so it’s a big part of my life. It’s fun to come back and see all the younger kids and help them out a little bit. … As long as you show them respect they’re going to respect you. They’re open and receptive to everything and I hope we helped them out a lot. I wish we had more time with them.”
The idea came to Teeter when he saw Donohue and Jones working out in the weight room one afternoon. He realized a few other former Lakewood players were home and asked the duo if they would be interested in putting on a little clinic.
“It’s winter break. I don’t have any plans,” Jones said. “We were down.”
A lot of players make it a point to reconnect with their old coach when they’re back in Snohomish County, including Lane, who went to Illinois State University before transferring to Central.
“Every time I come home for Christmas, or for a week in the summer, I always try to get back together with coach Teeter,” Lane said. “It’s always fun. He was my mentor in high school. He did a lot for me so it’s nice to give back to the program.”
Each player discussed their respective path to college football and gave advice to the younger Cougars. Whitworth’s Stott focused on academics.
“For me, it’s grades,” Stott said. “I’m going to a small (Division III) school where they don’t give away athletic scholarships. Not everybody is going to be the next (Division I) superstar where they get a full-ride scholarship. Grades were the only reason I was able to continue on playing football.”
Stanton, who was a 220-pound all-league tight end for Lakewood before becoming a 270-pound starter on the offensive line late in Oregon State’s season this year, told the Lakewood players how he got to where he’s at.
“Work hard in any aspect of life because if you work hard enough and you care about stuff enough you’re going to be successful,” said Stanton, a 2012 Lakewood grad. “That’s my biggest message when I come to Lakewood to talk to these guys. Just work hard, no matter what it is, whether it’s football, in the classroom, anything.”
Lakewood junior Jordan Jira remembered a younger Stanton, who was affectionately known as “Noodle.” Jira — who, like Stanton, is a lineman — said talking to the college players was an invaluable resource for the Cougars.
“Dustin was really helping me with my stance,” Jira said. “It’s awesome, just to see where you need to be. It’s crazy seeing him. My eighth grade year he was ‘Noodle,’ he was so skinny. And now he’s like, ‘Boom.’ He’s a big boy. My question was I was just wondering how he put on so much weight so fast.
“My goal is just to be at the next step. To play there. They’ve showed us the drills we might do and how to perform.”
The Cougar alums all had similar approaches to the discussion. Which wasn’t surprising, considering the teacher they all had.
“It’s awesome for them to see guys who are currently there and some of the names that are all over our record board, coming back and sharing with them,” Teeter said. “They have the well-deserved credibility. And they’re saying a lot of the things we’ve been telling them but it’s good to hear it from another voice and from someone who’s at the next level.”
The former players aren’t surprised by the fact that Lakewood, a 2A school, keeps putting out college players.
“We have a good program and guys work hard here,” Jones said. “It just shows what hard work does for a school.”
Teeter said he would love to make the get-together an annual Lakewood tradition. The former players were more than happy to come back next Christmas.
“Oh heck yeah,” Stott said. “Anything I can do to give back to this community is awesome.”
Stanton, too, provided he isn’t needed elsewhere.
“Hopefully, I’ll be at a bowl game somewhere,” Stanton said with a laugh. “But any time I can get back here, I do. This is our home. This is our family. This is where we came from. Whether I know the upcoming guys or not, they’re part of my family.
“I love coming back here.”
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