DeBoer Does His Husky Homework and Awards Mishael Powell a Scholarship
It seems as if the University of Washington football program, in this newfound era of player free agency, practically has had to beg guys to stay.
Mishael Powell has not been one of them.
The 6-foot-1, 200-pound sophomore from Seattle was never going anywhere but to this team.
Powell joined the Huskies to prove a point, several of them — that he deserved to play, even start and, hey, how about an athletic scholarship?
On Friday, Powell's new football head coach Kalen DeBoer, his third since joining the program, made the walk-on cornerback one of the program's paid-for players, rewarding him with a full scholarship in front of his teammates and sending everyone into a welcome frenzy.
DeBoer, standing in front of a blank screen that would soon light up, did the honors in well-scripted fashion.
"We celebrate people that put in the work, people who are well respected because of who they are as a person," the coach said. "There's someone in this room, OK, that has been brought to my attention over and over and over and over again by all of you guys right here."
Building things to a crescendo, DeBoer continued on with his presentation, saying, "I've got goose bumps right now thinking about the things he told me, as well as all of the things you've told me in this room. I want to recognize an honor: Mish Powell you're on scholarship!"
Powell had made the ultimate sacrifice to get to this point, coming out of O'Dea High School and turning down Ivy League scholarship offers from schools such as Columbia, to become a walk-on and, similar to inside linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio and tight end Jack Westover, earn team financial assistance.
From a distance, congratulations flowed in to Powell from people such as former UW defensive backs coach Will Harris, now Georgia Southern's defensive coordinator, who reacted after seeing the corner's good fortune posted on social media.
"Almost brought me to tears, well deserved bro!!!" Harris posted. "Love you fam!!! If people only knew how hard you work behind the scene!!"
Powell started three games for the Huskies this past season, almost unheard of for a non-scholarship player, drawing the opening assignment against California, Stanford and Washington State. The UW won two of the three. He also played special teams.
He showed himself to have the right smarts, savvy and speed to play at the Pac-12 level, finishing with 11 tackles, 3 pass break-ups and one forced fumble.
Entering the upcoming season, Powell will have every opportunity to start again, only on a full-time basis, since Husky teammates and All-Pac-12 cornerbacks Trent McDuffie and Kyler Gordon have passed up remaining eligibility and made themselves available for the NFL draft.
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