diff --git a/lib/player.js b/lib/player.js
index 758045255e..4957b7a9e3 100644
--- a/lib/player.js
+++ b/lib/player.js
@@ -1099,10 +1099,12 @@ shaka.Player.prototype.onInitializeMediaSourceEngine_ = async function(
     has, wants) {
   goog.asserts.assert(
       has.mediaElement,
-      'We should have a media element when loading.');
+      'We should have a media element when initializing media source.');
   goog.asserts.assert(
       has.mediaElement == wants.mediaElement,
-      '|has| and |wants| should have the same media element when loading.');
+      '|has| and |wants| should have the same media element when ' +
+          'initializing media source.');
+
   goog.asserts.assert(
       this.mediaSourceEngine_ == null,
       'We should not have a media source engine yet.');
@@ -1142,18 +1144,19 @@ shaka.Player.prototype.onInitializeMediaSourceEngine_ = async function(
  */
 shaka.Player.prototype.onInitializeParser_ = async function(has, wants) {
   goog.asserts.assert(
-      this.networkingEngine_,
-      'Need networking engine to parse manifest.');
+      has.mediaElement,
+      'We should have a media element when initializing the parser.');
   goog.asserts.assert(
-       this.config_,
-      'Need player config to parse manifest.');
+      has.mediaElement == wants.mediaElement,
+      '|has| and |wants| should have the same media element when ' +
+          'initializing the parser.');
 
   goog.asserts.assert(
-      has.mediaElement,
-      'We should have a media element when loading.');
+      this.networkingEngine_,
+      'Need networking engine when initializing the parser.');
   goog.asserts.assert(
-      has.mediaElement == wants.mediaElement,
-      '|has| and |wants| should have the same media element when loading.');
+       this.config_,
+      'Need player config when initializing the parser.');
 
   // We are going to "lock-in" the factory, mime type, and uri since they are
   // what we are going to use to create our parser and parse the manifest.
@@ -1161,7 +1164,9 @@ shaka.Player.prototype.onInitializeParser_ = async function(has, wants) {
   has.mimeType = wants.mimeType;
   has.uri = wants.uri;
 
-  goog.asserts.assert(has.uri, 'We should have an assert uri when parsing.');
+  goog.asserts.assert(
+      has.uri,
+      'We should have an asset uri when initializing the parsing.');
 
   // Store references to things we asserted so that we don't need to reassert
   // them again later.
@@ -1199,34 +1204,34 @@ shaka.Player.prototype.onInitializeParser_ = async function(has, wants) {
  * @private
  */
 shaka.Player.prototype.onParseManifest_ = function(has, wants) {
-  goog.asserts.assert(
-      this.networkingEngine_,
-      'Need networking engine to parse manifest.');
-  goog.asserts.assert(
-       this.config_,
-      'Need player config to parse manifest.');
-
-  goog.asserts.assert(
-      this.parser_,
-      '|this.parser_| should have been set in an earlier step.');
-
   goog.asserts.assert(
       has.factory == wants.factory,
-      '|has| and |wants| should have the same factory when loading.');
+      '|has| and |wants| should have the same factory when parsing.');
   goog.asserts.assert(
       has.mimeType == wants.mimeType,
-      '|has| and |wants| should have the same mime type when loading.');
+      '|has| and |wants| should have the same mime type when parsing.');
   goog.asserts.assert(
       has.uri == wants.uri,
-      '|has| and |wants| should have the same uri when loading.');
+      '|has| and |wants| should have the same uri when parsing.');
 
   goog.asserts.assert(
       has.uri,
-      '|has| should have a valid uri when parsing a manifest.');
+      '|has| should have a valid uri when parsing.');
   goog.asserts.assert(
       has.uri == this.assetUri_,
       '|has.uri| should match the cached asset uri.');
 
+  goog.asserts.assert(
+      this.networkingEngine_,
+      'Need networking engine to parse manifest.');
+  goog.asserts.assert(
+       this.config_,
+      'Need player config to parse manifest.');
+
+  goog.asserts.assert(
+      this.parser_,
+      '|this.parser_| should have been set in an earlier step.');
+
   // Store references to things we asserted so that we don't need to reassert
   // them again later.
   const assetUri = has.uri;
@@ -1347,7 +1352,9 @@ shaka.Player.prototype.onInitializeDrm_ = async function(has, wants) {
  *
  * Loading is defined as:
  *  - Attaching all playback-related listeners to the media element
- *  - Initializing all playback components
+ *  - Initializing playback and observers
+ *  - Initializing ABR Manager
+ *  - Initializing Streaming Engine
  *  - Starting playback at |wants.startTime|
  *
  * @param {shaka.routing.Payload} has
@@ -1355,26 +1362,26 @@ shaka.Player.prototype.onInitializeDrm_ = async function(has, wants) {
  * @private
  */
 shaka.Player.prototype.onLoad_ = async function(has, wants) {
+  goog.asserts.assert(
+      has.factory == wants.factory,
+      '|has| and |wants| should have the same factory when loading.');
+  goog.asserts.assert(
+      has.mimeType == wants.mimeType,
+      '|has| and |wants| should have the same mime type when loading.');
+  goog.asserts.assert(
+      has.uri == wants.uri,
+      '|has| and |wants| should have the same uri when loading.');
+
   goog.asserts.assert(
       has.mediaElement,
       'We should have a media element when loading.');
-  goog.asserts.assert(
-      has.mediaElement == wants.mediaElement,
-      '|has| and |wants| should have the same media element when loading.');
   goog.asserts.assert(
       wants.startTimeOfLoad,
       '|wants| should tell us when the load was originally requested');
 
-  // Copy over all the data from |wants| to |has| that we are going to use and
-  // therefore depend on.
+  // Since we are about to start playback, we will lock in the start time as
+  // something we are now depending on.
   has.startTime = wants.startTime;
-  has.factory = wants.factory;
-  has.mimeType = wants.mimeType;
-  has.uri = wants.uri;
-
-  goog.asserts.assert(
-      has.uri,
-      'We should have an assert uri when loading.');
 
   // Store a reference to values in |has| after asserting so that closure will
   // know that they will still be non-null between calls to await.