Get Out the Checkered Flag, It Could Be Time for the Odunze 500

The Husky sophomore seeks a fifth consecutive 100-yard receiving game.

You can almost hear his souped-up engine revving all the way to Seattle. When the University of Washington football team and its standout wide receiver face the California Golden Bears on Saturday night in the Bay Area, they'll all try to turn this sporting venture into the Rome Odunze 500.

Indianapolis has nothing on this guy. The talented sophomore pass-catcher from Las Vegas comes off a school-record four consecutive 100-yard receiving games looking for a fifth.

Odunze will try to hit for the cycle, plus one, against Cal.

While his quarterback Michael Penix Jr. has been a Husky headliner since the opening game, the 6-foot-3, 201-pound Odunze is just now joining the national conversation as one of the nation's top receivers. He's taken things up another level after enjoying a sensational month of catching practically everything thrown his direction in four Pac-12 games.

Odunze dazzled everyone with a pair of clutch fourth-down touchdown catches at UCLA and then showed off his amazing hand-eye coordination aptitude by juggling and acrobatically pulling in a 45-yard scoring pass against Arizona.

Like a skinny DK Metcalf of the neighboring Seattle Seahawks, Odunze mixes impressive size with his exceptional speed and has a propensity for making the big play.

Yet there is so much more to this kid from Nevada than clutching passes and skipping into the end zone, and Husky offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb is more than willing to share all that he knows. 

"Rome has been, honestly, maybe one of the most mature kids I've seen since I got here," Grubb said matter of fact.

Got that 𝗗𝗔𝗪𝗚 in him 😤@RomeOdunze sets a Washington record with 100+ receiving yards in 4 straight games🔋#NoLimits #PurpleReign pic.twitter.com/FWNCRP0379

— Washington Football (@UW_Football) October 18, 2022

Odunze showed a side of himself to the new coaches that impressed them in ways they hadn't necessarily expected. 

Once Jimmy Lake's staff was fired, he gave a lot of thought to going elsewhere. Yet he straightforward in his dealings, not needing them to fawn all over him and beg him to stay.

"When Rome was considering the transfer portal when we first got here, just the mechanics on how he handled that, I mean, was wildly mature," Grubb said. "He stayed in his business, went through it, just really tried to get to know me and coach DeBoer. Once he settled on a decision, he moved on. To see a kid operate that way, and then stay in that type of thinking, just supportive, great teammate, great guy, smart, amazing student, I mean, he's as good as it gets."

So now Odunze has rattled off games of 161, 116, 115 and 169 yards, which is even more impressive when you consider he plays alongside three other guys who have topped the 100-yard mark for the Huskies in Jalen McMillan (127), Ja'Lynn Polk (153) and Giles Jackson (105).

Penix, with so many players to choose from, settled on Odunze as his go-to guy without giving it much thought.

"I think any quarterback naturally finds the guys, and nobody says that they have favorites, but their favorites are the best guys," Grubb said. "It was pretty obvious early on that Rome was going to be a really, really good fit in this offense."

Cal is going to have its hands full preventing the Odunze 500, especially with all those pace cars around him.

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