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Inside The Huskies

DeBoer Reveals Four New Husky Captains

Team leaders, two on offense and two on defense, were decided by player vote.
Dan Raley|
DeBoer Reveals Four New Husky Captains
DeBoer Reveals Four New Husky Captains

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Washington Huskies

After addressing the season-ending loss of three players to injuries and the departure of athletic director Jen Cohen to USC, University of Washington coach Kalen DeBoer said he had some good news to share.

On Tuesday, the second-year Husky coach revealed his four team captains for the upcoming season, as voted on by his players the day before: quarterback Michael Penix Jr. and wide receiver Rome Odunze on offense, and edge rusher Bralen Trice and linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio representing the defense.

"Just like last year, I think our guys did a great job of realizing the importance of great leadership," DeBoer said. "They chose guys who live it every day."

All but Penix have come up through the program ranks as Husky recruits, with Ulofoshio now in his sixth season and coming back from a pair of injuries to play again after arriving as a walk-on in 2018.

Odunze and Trice, both juniors, on Monday were selected as preseason first-team All-America players by the Associated Press. 

And Penix, back for his second season after transferring in from Indiana, is the only repeat captain and is a serious candidate for the Heisman Trophy.

"I can definitely vouch for those four," DeBoer said. "They're definitely solid choices."

A year ago, DeBoer's team voted in six players as captains in running back Wayne Taulapapa, linebacker Cam Bright, edge rusher Jeremiah Martin, safety Alex Cook, offensive guard Jaxson Kirkland and Penix.

Four of them were transfers at some point, with DeBoer's first-year staff bringing in Taulapapa from Virginia, Bright from Pittsburgh and Penix from Indiana, while Martin arrived from Texas A&M during the Jimmy Lake era. Kirkland and Cook, of course, were program holdovers. 

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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