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In Wide-Open Offense, Polk and UW Teammates Pass the Test

No one has been able to stop the Husky air attack yet.
Dan Raley|
In Wide-Open Offense, Polk and UW Teammates Pass the Test
In Wide-Open Offense, Polk and UW Teammates Pass the Test

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Washington Huskies

If it's not abundantly clear by now, University of Washington wide receivers regularly are engaged in a Game of Thrones — each week, a different guy gets to sit on one.

Jalen McMillan led the Huskies with two touchdown passes in the opener against Kent State.

Giles Jackson topped the UW in catches against Portland State.

Ja'Lynn Polk found the end zone a season-high three times with receptions against Michigan State.

Rome Ondunze, last year's leading receiver, is still waiting on a big game after sitting out one of the early outings.

Opponents find this like stirring up a bee hive and being unable to keep from getting stung.

"We all believe we're the best in the room and that's how it should be," Odunze said. "We're happy to see everybody out there being talented and able to make plays. That just makes it easier for us when the defense has to worry about so many people — we all get the ball and get to see our brothers eat."

If you recall, Polk regrettably broke his collarbone on the first play of the season against Montana but somehow made a 13-yard catch with his body caved in before heading for surgery.

Today, the 6-foot-2, 199-pound redshirt freshman from Lufkin, Texas, has been as healthy as can be for three Husky outings and ranks second on the team in receptions with 12 for 245 yards and he has a team-best 4 touchdowns.

In overall catches and yardage, Polk trails only McMillan, who has accumulated 16 receptions for 308 yards and 3 scores.

Ja'Lynn Polk caught 3 touchdown passes last weekend against the Michigan State Spartans, the first scoring trifecta for a Husky wide receiver since Dante Pettis did this in 2017 against Oregon State. 

Native Texan Ja'Lynn Polk has scored four times for the UW this season, with his first touchdown coming on a 12-yard pass from Michael Penix Jr. against the Portland State Vikings in Week 2.

Jalen McMillan and Ja'Lynn Polk rank 1-2 among University of Washington receivers with 16 and 12 catches, respectively, while combining for 7 touchdowns already through just three games. 

Meeting in midair, Ja'Lynn Polk and Jalen McMillan celebrate a McMillan touchdown catch, one of two he had in the second half against Kent State in the season opener. He scored on 10- and 13-yard throws from Michael Penix Jr.

With Michigan State safety Angelo Grose draped all over him, Jalen McMillan caught an 8-yard touchdown pass from Michael Penix Jr. to open the scoring in a 39-28 victory over the Spartans.

In the third quarter, Ja'Lynn Polk found only open spaces as he settled under a 53-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Michael Penix Jr., the UW's second-longest scoring throw in three games so far.

Jalen McMillan has the UW's longest touchdown catch of the season after going 84 yards for an instant score in the second quarter against Portland State, a 52-6 victory at Husky Stadium. 

Ja'Lynn Polk played as a freshman for Texas Texas and was injured for much of his first season at the UW. Things are coming together for him now, with 12 catches for 245 yards and 4 scores. 

Ja'Lynn Polk pulls away from a Portland State defense to score his first touchdown of the season, coming on a 12-yard pass from quarterback Michael Penix Jr. in Week 2 at Husky Stadium.

These two Husky players, Ja'Lynn Polk and Jalen McMillan, know where the end zone is after combing to score on seven passes just three games into a new season. 

Behind those two is Odunze, who has a 10-catch, 132-yard and 1-TD stat line while taking into consideration he sat out the Portland State game with some minor ailment that has limited his numbers some. 

Fifteen different Huskies, counting tight ends and running backs, have caught at least one pass in Kalen DeBoer and Ryan Grubb's high-octane offense, with the team collectively holding up 76 receptions for 1,166 yards and 10 touchdowns.

"We're spreading the wealth around," DeBoer said. "It makes it even harder for teams to figure out who to stop."

Polk remains an interesting case study because the native Texan transferred from Texas Tech after a successful freshman year (28 catches, 284 yards, 2 scores) to join Jimmy Lake and John Donovan's pro-style offense that emphasized the run, hoping for the best.

Rather than bash the previous offense now, the always polite Polk prefers to acknowledge the good things that came out of that prior relationship.

"All love to Coach Lake, for allowing me to come here and play for this university and I appreciate the opportunity," he said. "We didn't have the offense that we really wanted last year, but we stuck to the process and trusted everything that came with this."

Polk was the first one to publicly declare his allegiance to DeBoer's newly arrived staff, followed by Odunze and McMillan, which they felt were important steps to take rather than transfer.

"It was a decision that was made," Polk said. "We just wanted to let Husky know that we were not going nowhere, that we're fully committed to this university, to this team and this brotherhood."

And surely dedicated to catching every last ball that comes their way, which promises to be an abundance.

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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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