Behind Washington State’s ‘juice men’ tradition — and why players love it so much

PULLMAN – One evening this summer, Jake Dickert was having a beer with a Washington State booster at a CougsFirst! event, a networking environment designed to give WSU alumni chances to connect with each other.

Between sips, the booster brought up an idea for Dickert, the Cougars’ head man. Dickert had already established a post-practice tradition called the juice men, a system where Dickert chooses two players who display high energy and rewards them with a Hi-C juice box. Why not add a T-shirt to the mix, the booster wondered?

Dickert loved the idea. He got in touch with Brent Vernon, WSU’s chief of staff, and they spawned the black T-shirts. On the front, a cartoon drawing of a juice box. On the back, this saying in white letters: If you’re juiceless, you’re useless!

“And boom, here comes the idea,” Dickert said. “You never know when inspiration’s going to hit you.”

That conversation helped Dickert and WSU complete this tradition, which Dickert started in 2022 at the beginning of his first full season at the helm of the program. This summer, he brought it out at the end of each of the Cougars’ 14 fall camp practices, gathering players in a semi-circle and announcing the winners in a booming voice.

Most of the time, two players earn juice men honors, but it fluctuates. After the Cougs’ practice on Aug. 18, Dickert handed out six juice men awards. After their scrimmage on Saturday night, he distributed four. The selection process is entirely up to Dickert – “There’s very few things I still control around here,” he laughed – who looks for consistency and effort, attitude and resilience.

“It’s, hey, when something bad happens to you, what’s your body language like?” Dickert said. “We talk about juice as far as EGBs – energy-giving behavior. So high-fives, celebrating other people’s touchdowns, encouraging people when something bad happens. There’s a lot that goes into that.”

By all accounts, the system is working as intended: It’s giving players a little extra fuel during practice, a reward for showing the type of body language Dickert hopes to build his program around.

“Winning juice is a big thing,” redshirt freshman defensive back Javan Robinson said. “You win juice, you were juice man of the day – you had one of the best days out here. So I feel like it really is a good thing for guys, especially in our group. We take pride in winning juice. It’s been three guys in our group that have won it so far, so we take pride in that.”

“It means a lot to get the juice, man,” offensive lineman Brock Dieu said. “We come out here and we work hard, and it’s kinda like getting recognized for your hard work.”

What the players actually do with their shirt and juice box is up to them, and college kids are nothing if not unpredictable. Some guys drink the juice when they return to their locker. Others keep it sealed, transforming it into a reminder of their hard work.

Take Taariq Al-Uqdah, a redshirt freshman linebacker who goes by Buddah. He won juice men honors back on Aug. 14. He loves the juice itself – “Hi-C is my favorite juice,” he said – but he cared more about making sure he gave himself the fuel to earn the honors again. So he stuck his juice box in his locker, so he can see it every day.

“I’m probably not gonna drink it,” Al-Uqdah said. “Just keep that as a reminder, motivation to keep working. It’s being seen. I gotta keep doing it. So I keep that as a reminder for me.”

Place kicker Dean Janikowski – whose specialist group of he, punter Nick Haberer and kicker Cole Theaker won the juice after WSU’s first scrimmage back on Aug. 12 – did the same.

He laughed when he recalled what he did with his juice box: “I just taped it to my locker,” Janikowski said, “and it’s just sitting up there. It’s kinda funny. I didn’t drink it. It’s sitting there, marinating.”

Turns out, the tradition started years before it became tangible. This was back in 2014, when Dickert was working as the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Minnesota State-Mankato, whose coaches emphasized a few values: Juice. Energy. Bringing your best to practices and games.

“We talked about your energy dial,” Dickert said. “Are you an energy giver or an energy catcher? Just wanted to really emphasize and reward guys that are doing it the right way.”

The funny part is that since the selection process is Dickert’s, he’s free to choose whoever he likes, and it doesn’t have to be players. Back on Aug. 9, the juice men winners were as follows: Defensive back Chau Smith-Wade, wide receiver Lincoln Victor, defensive back Chris Jackson and… offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle.

Arbuckle had about as much idea that he was about to get the juice as the players: Zero. Dickert didn’t tip him off just because he’s another coach. That’s another part of what makes the tradition so energizing for the players: It’s a complete surprise, and they accept the juice box from Dickert, who embraces them in a quick hug in front of the rest of the team – which applauds every winner.

The juice men tradition, though, hasn’t just taken on a life of its own. The language seeps into the lingo of players and coaches, who talk about bringing juice to practice, whether or not they’re rewarded with a physical juice box.

They might not even realize they’re doing it, either, which might be the most compelling part.

“I thought the juice actually picked up throughout practice, and that’s what you want to see,” defensive coordinator Jeff Schmedding said back on Aug. 5.

“The juice, all around, has been flowing,” linebacker Kyle Thornton said on the same day.

“It just brought the juice,” defensive line coach Pete Kaligis said after Saturday’s scrimmage, referring to the way players’ schedules are broken up into meetings, lifts and more throughout fall camp.

It’s even spread beyond Washington State’s program and into its orbit. One day this summer, Dickert was at a baseball practice for his sons, Jett and Jace, when he noticed something happening after practice.

“They’re giving out sauce awards,” Dickert said with a grin. “I was like, hell yeah. This is awesome. It was good. It’s fun. The guys like it. They cheer for it. It’s just something that brings some cheer to practice.”