A New Role in The Brotherhood
Alex Semadeni
Demitri Washington has always had a pretty good sense of what he wanted to do following his football career.
The Solana Beach, Calif., native was not shy in telling people that he wanted to stay involved in the game once he hung up his cleats. He had not specified whether that would be coaching, scouting or another role – he just knew he wanted to be around the game of football. One of the main reasons the three-star recruit, according to 247sports.com, selected Boise State was the amount of players that jumped into the coaching ranks immediately following their careers.
As he entered his sixth and final season with the Broncos prior to the 2023 season, that commitment hadn’t wavered. He had preliminary, informal conversations with the coaching staff during fall camp and the early parts of the season, gathering intel on what his next steps should be career-wise once his eligibility ran out.
That process got sped up when Washington suffered an injury against San Jose State on Oct. 7.
On the very first snap he played against the Spartans, he heard a pop in his knee as he exploded out of his stance. He was able to finish the drive, and initially, Washington thought it was going to be an injury that would only keep him out for a couple of weeks. Disappointed, he worked diligently to prepare to find his way back on the field for his final season.
As the season’s end crept closer, the likelihood that he would take the field again slowly decreased. And suddenly, the idea of figuring out what came after football became overwhelming.
“Everyone said you should always have a plan outside of ball,” Washington said. “I always knew I wanted to coach and I always knew I was going to be around football. It’s what I love to do. This sport shaped who I am. All of that stuff is great until that moment hits when it’s done. Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. That’s when you really start to realize how tough it is that you’ll never play football again.”
The reverse-senioritis was one of the most difficult things he had to work through.
“That messed with me for a long time,” he said. “I trained and spent all this time for one last shot for something that I was never going to have. That’s probably something that’s going to shape who I am forever. You never know when it’s going to be over.”
At this point, Washington’s position coach, Jabril Frazier, stepped in. While Washington was still training for a possible return to play, Frazier encouraged the sixth-year to do what he does exceptionally well: lead. A natural commander on defense, Frazier wanted Washington to not only stay engaged, but to help the program win games.
“He started helping me when he was hurt last season,” Frazier said. “He was doing a lot of different things and doing a really great job at it. I remember sitting back thinking, ‘Oh, this guy can coach’. He has something unique about him. He played the position for so long and so well that he could coach technique. He could talk about what a first step needs to look like and that respect from the players was already there.”
Not only was Washington a natural, but he had caught the coaching bug. Already respected by the guys in the locker room, he was known by coaches and staff alike as someone who genuinely cared about his teammates. He spent time perfecting techniques with his fellow defensive ends - teammates that would be replacing him on the field.
“When guys start playing well and you start seeing them do things that you helped with, yes it’s addicting,” Washington said. “That feeling is hard to beat. When you see the guys that you care about make plays, you see the stuff translated from the film room onto the field and you see the joy in their face, you’re kind of living through them. After I got hurt I was like let’s get this thing started. All of us want to keep playing football but the next best thing is helping them achieve their goals and their dreams on the field.”
The 6-foot-3 defensive end made his desire to the coaching staff known. He had numerous discussions with Frazier and other members of the staff, and in the first week of the new calendar year got called into the office by Danielson himself.
“He told me to come in and we would talk,” Washington said. “Next thing I know he says, ‘here’s your desk, here’s your computer and you have a recruiting dinner in a few hours.’ I left my house thinking I’d be back in an hour and I got back around 9 p.m. that night. It was just one of those things.”
ROLE MODELING
In contrast to Washington, Frazier never envisioned himself as a coach. As a standout performer with NFL aspirations, he was no stranger to the long hours that a coaching staff puts in.
“I would think ‘man, these guys never go home,’” Frazier said. “I would watch film at night and they were still in the defensive staff room. I was always wondering what their families thought and what they did outside of football.”
Frazier was an incredible player for the Broncos, leading a stout Boise State defense that won a Mountain West Championship in 2017. A two-time All-Mountain West honoree, including a first-team selection as a redshirt senior in 2018, Frazier recorded 18 career sacks among his 24.5 tackles-for-loss.
Following his career with the Broncos, he signed a free agent contract with the New York Jets in 2019. Knee injuries derailed his stint with the squad, and like Washington, Frazier was left wondering what his future held. He moved back to Los Angeles, but he could not stay away from the game.
He began training outside linebackers while still regularly keeping in contact with the Boise State brotherhood. He had regular conversations with Danielson, then the defensive line coach with the Broncos, about the possibility of returning to coaching.
“I got done playing with the Jets and I remember I was a little lost and trying to figure out what’s next,” said Frazier. “Coach D is my mentor and such a great coach. He told me that I should get into coaching. In my head, I was thinking about the long hours.”
Frazier joined the Bronco coaching staff in 2020 as a graduate assistant coaching tight ends – the opposite side of the ball from his natural playing position. It was a tough transition, but Frazier fell in love with the profession once he transitioned to the defensive side of the ball in his second season.
Frazier points to two current staff members, now in different roles, who helped him with the transition from player to coach. Danielson and Stacy Collins, who joined the Broncos as the EDGE coach in 2021.
“Coach D took me under his wing and taught me everything I needed to know,” Frazier said. “The biggest thing that he taught me was how to be all about the little details. He didn’t want me to let anything slide. I learned a lot of different things about organization which helped me out a lot as a young coach.”
“Coach Collins taught me to always bring energy to practice. As a young coach, you’re not going to get a job based on what you know, the X’s and O’s. There’s a lot of older coaches that have been coaching for a long time that are going to be smarter than you. One thing that can help you stand out is bringing energy and having a good relationship with the players.”
As Collins and Danielson did before him, Frazier now looks to mentor Washington, his former teammate-turned-assistant coach. The two workout every morning together, and Frazier instills coaching knowledge to Washington every chance he gets.
“In this transition into the coaching world, that’s the person I’m calling all the time,” Washington said. “You see what he’s been able to do in such a short time span as an assistant coach producing the type of guys he has. He builds a genuine relationship with our players. He did that to me when I first got to school. He shaped me and help me navigate the transition to college football and now navigating this role. That’s my guy.”
X’S AND O’S
With an official title of defensive quality control, Washington’s main role is to be Frazier’s right-hand man in the EDGE room. That involves clipping plays for film study, on-field assistance and taking diligent notes. He’s also working directly with Danielson on a lot of the team’s analytical work.
“I do a lot of different things,” Washington said. “The life of a graduate assistant really ranges. I’m part football coach, part assistant, part equipment manager. It’s a lot of different jobs and a lot of different hats. I’ve become a wizard at Excel, part-time printer mechanic, all that stuff.”
Though he’s only nine months into his tenure, Frazier has been blown away by how quickly Washington has been able to pick things up.
“He keeps me organized from Point A to Point B to Point C,” Frazier said. “Before I even ask questions, he can answer where things are. He’s so organized. There are times I ask him to get some dirty work done, work that has to get done, so that I can make sure I’m getting other things done. He turns it in and I’m looking at it and it’s better than I probably would have done it. Having a guy in my corner like that that has played the position, knows the defense and knows how I operate is very critical. I’ve told him so many times that he’s the man. He’s been working his tail off and I see his future being bright in this business.”
Frazier is also uniquely qualified to help Washington with one of the most difficult and unique challenges of being a young coach at your alma mater. One of the first tasks that Frazier established as a young coach was to set up a healthy boundary from his former teammates that he was now tasked with coaching.
“I had to separate myself from a lot of guys that I played with, especially my first year,” Frazier said. “I was only out of it for two years. I came back and some of the guys I played with were now seniors. Those players had to know that this is not a player-to-player relationship. This is a coach-to-player relationship. Especially being a young guy, it’s really hard. The biggest way to prove that is to let them see you putting in the work. They need to know this guy isn’t playing around. He’s here for a reason. He’s on a mission to get better each and every day.”
Washington admits that navigating the relationships with his former teammates is the most difficult challenge so far.
“It’s tough to navigate,” Washington said. “A lot of people on the team are my best friends. People I’ve played with for five-plus seasons are going into their final year. There are people on the team who I went on vacation with, people whose families I know, people whose houses I’ve stayed at. That’s definitely difficult to navigate.”
However, that same dynamic also makes his job easier when the whistle blows.
“They know that I already care about them,” Washington said. “We don’t need to rebuild that trust. When I show them how to do a specific technique, I’ve done it. I know what works and I know what doesn’t. I know if what I’m asking is hard or not. I’ve been in the shoes of a lot of the guys. We have the same experiences. Jabril would say the same thing about himself. I not only played this position, but I played this position in this defense. I’ve done it as a player for six years and now I get to teach it.”
That transition is playing out in real time. Defensive tackle Michael Callahan has been best friends with Washington since he joined the team in 2019. Callahan initially thought the coaching relationship was going to be awkward, but wasn’t surprised by the immediate display of Washington’s natural coaching ability,
“I thought it would be weird until I saw how natural it comes to him,” Callahan said. “The transition for him took a matter of weeks before he was full-on coaching. Right now he’s still an assistant but he definitely has shown that he’s advanced for being pretty new to the coaching world. It just came naturally over time and as we’ve gotten deeper in practices it has become more normal.”
Callahan credits the speed to which his best friend has adjusted to the coaching ranks to his work ethic as a player.
“He was the hardest worker in the building day in and day out,” Callahan said. “Whatever he did, I tried to model in how I prepare for a game. I knew that if I could even get halfway close to working as hard as Demitri worked, I would be successful. This role just fits naturally for him. The impact that he’s able to have on people, the ability to bring out the best of the people around him is unique. He’s just an outstanding dude and he’s definitely in the right industry.”
Far more humble, Washington is set out to prove that he belongs in the coaching ranks. To do so, he has embraced the same tactics and characteristics that he used as a player.
“My goal in this profession is to prove that I belong in this profession,” Washington said. “I want to be good at my job. I want to stand out in what I do. I want my work to be distinguished. That’s what I’m striving for every single day. I want our team to win. We have a special group, in our room and in our locker room. I’ve embraced a coaching mindset. We want the stuff we do, or the things that I help the coaches with, to apply to the stuff that can be the separator in winning or losing.”
As Washington prepares for his first game trotting the sidelines, he knows that despite his initial hardship, he’s surrounded by a special group of people that have demonstrated that they’re invested in his success. And now it’s his turn to pay it forward.
“It’s a blast every day,” he said. “Some of those early mornings and late nights are hard, but the moment you get on that practice field and you see the guys making plays, you can’t really compare it to anything else. The next best thing after playing football is coaching it. I couldn’t see myself doing anything else. I have people that have impacted me helping me out and I get to make an impact on the young guys around me. It’s incomparable to anything else. There’s a lot of love I have for this place and the people that fill it.”