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According to Kirkland, Here's Why Penix Is Such a Great Quarterback

The veteran Husky offensive guard break downs the play of his much-talked-about teammate.
Dan Raley|
According to Kirkland, Here's Why Penix Is Such a Great Quarterback
According to Kirkland, Here's Why Penix Is Such a Great Quarterback

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Washington Huskies

Michael Penix Jr., slowly being considered for a Heisman Trophy candidacy but fast developing a college football following, is tall for a quarterback, carrying a 6-foot-3, 213-pound frame, which is always a good thing.

He's fairly mobile when he wants to be, making Oregon edge rushers look silly when he wanted, yet another attractive attribute.

Then there's that cannon for a left arm, one that looks like it belongs in baseball's big leagues as much as it does the NFL, a very strong selling point for future employers.

But there is more to this University of Washington signal caller than meets the eye on Saturday afternoons or evenings.

Most importantly, Penix knows what he's doing at all times in the huddle, behind center and in making memorable plays happen. Leave it to one of the guys entrusted with protecting him to break that down.

"His preparation and his details," sixth-year offensive guard Jaxson Kirkland. "It's very rare that man makes a mistake when it comes to Xs and Os on the offense. As soon as we come out for practice, he's dialed [in] and ready to go for the week. It's not like, 'Dang, I'll get it right.' He's already prepared for the practice. He limits his mistakes and he's just extremely consistent."

Why not?

Before coming to Seattle in the transfer portal, Penix graduated from Indiana with a degree in sports marketing so, in essence, he's a graduate student working hard on his college football to NFL thesis.

Penix still has everyone talking about "the throw" at Oregon. With 3:07 left to play, he moved to the right hashmark, his weak side, turned and threw a strike across his body to Taj Davis on the opposite sideline, all of this resulting in a 62-yard touchdown pass and tying the game at 34-34.

Kirkland found himself totally mesmerized by what happened. He still has fun retelling the moment.

"I looked to my left and right, to Corey [Luciano] and to Troy [Fautanu], the center and left tackle, and said, 'Did he really just make that throw?' " the offensive guard said. "From my viewpoint, you had that safety coming over the top and it was kind of close. Very rarely do you see a quarterback make an opposite hash to sideline [throw]. That's usually a cardinal sin throwing across the field. That's Penix exactly knowing his reads and Taj running a great route.

"Man, what a play. That's out there for one of the best throws I've seen."

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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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