Skip to main content
Inside The Huskies

Odunze Draws High-Profile Attention, Won't Be the Last

The Husky wide receiver came back to build a bigger reputation and he's on his way.
Dan Raley|
Odunze Draws High-Profile Attention, Won't Be the Last
Odunze Draws High-Profile Attention, Won't Be the Last

In this story:

Washington Huskies

Rome Odunze isn't all that different from a year ago. His hair is still as bright yellow as a flag tossed in the direction of an overzealous defender.

His hands remain as impressive as the Husky Stadium matching decks.

His footwork is still as smooth as if he was a contestant on "Dancing with the Stars."

What's changed is people now know who he is. That he's the No. 1 receiver for the nation's leading passing attack in 2022. That he can play.

On Monday, Pro Football Focus named Odunze to its 2023 Offense All-Returning Team, which is another way of saying preseason All-American.

This reputation-building process is every reason the 6-foot-3, 201-pound junior from Las Vegas chose to return for yet another University of Washington football season after giving it longer thought than any of his teammates who reached the same conclusion. 

Odunze always has been an elite receiver in the making since he drew his first Husky starting assignment as a freshman, with the pandemic raging, and caught 5 mostly acrobatic catches for 69 yards.

A collarbone injury and a bad offense got in his way as the UW sank to a disheartening 4-8 record, which typically robs players of individual honors, though cornerback teammates Trent McDuffie and Kyler Gordon were able to overcome the meltdown.

The Husky wide receivers drew no preseason attention a year ago, leaving Odunze and Jalen McMillan to start over in re-establishing their football reputations. They went a long way to doing this by each coming up with a 1,000-yard season.

"We've always understood what the statistics are going to say and what people say," Odunze said before last season. "We're going to go out there and grind. We know that we're special. This team is special. We've known that since we got here. We're trying to put the world on notice."

In speaking with him in December, Odunze seemed intent on becoming a first-round draft pick or waiting until he is. So he's back for the 2023 season. And people are noticing him.

Go to si.com/college/washington to read the latest Inside the Huskies stories — as soon as they’re published.

Not all stories are posted on the fan sites.

Find Inside the Huskies on Facebook by searching: Inside Huskies/FanNation at SI.com or https://www.facebook.com/dan.raley.12

Follow Dan Raley of Inside the Huskies on Twitter: @DanRaley1 or @UWFanNation or @DanRaley3

Have a question, direct message me on Facebook or Twitter.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations

Published
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.

Home/Football