Skip to main content
Inside The Huskies

Rome Odunze's Juggling Act Helps Huskies Go for the Jugular

The UW wide receiver shoots up the national stat rankings.
Dan Raley|
Rome Odunze's Juggling Act Helps Huskies Go for the Jugular
Rome Odunze's Juggling Act Helps Huskies Go for the Jugular

In this story:

Washington Huskies

Open behind the Arizona secondary, Rome Odunze reached over his right shoulder to try and pull in a Michael Penix Jr. pass and proceeded only in slowing its flight. 

He later said the sun was in his eyes and his hands were out of place.

With his left palm, he reactively tapped the ball and kept it airborne long enough for him to snatch it with both hands, and he fell into the end zone for a touchdown that drew high marks for its improvisation.

Which begged a pressing question for this talented University of Washington wide receiver in the aftermath of a 49-39 victory with the following admission:

"I do juggle. I don't bring it out to parties, but I do it personally. They might call it lame if I do that at parties, I don't do it generally. But unless I do it with five tennis balls, that's pretty hard. I can do three. For hand-eye coordination I do it. Yeah, it was a bit of a juggling act out there."

His patty-cake touchdown catch of 45 yards in the third quarter enabled the Huskies to build a 28-14 advantage and help this pass-catcher set a UW record for four consecutive 100-yard receiving outings.

In order, Odunze has recorded games of 161 yards against Michigan State, 116 against UCLA, 115 against Arizona State and a career-best 169 yards against Arizona.

Overall, he has 44 catches for 693 yards and 6 touchdowns in six outings, all elevated numbers from 2021, when he finished with 41 receptions for 415 yards and 4 scores in nine appearances.

He credits the Kalen DeBoer/Ryan Grubb offense and Penix, a teammate he refers to as 'Pen,' for making it happen.

"He's a great guy," the quarterback said of Odunze. "I'm glad he's on my team. I'm glad I'm on his team."

Odunze enters a new week as the nation's fourth-ranked receiver in receiving yards per game at 115.5, with Old Dominion's Ali Jennings tops at 129.2 an outing.

The Husky sophomore stands sixth nationally in receptions per game with 7.3, with Iowa State's Xavier Hutchinson the leader at 9.6.

Odunze also makes the top 10 in receiving yards, ranking ninth nationwide with 693 even after sitting out a game and playing only in six, leaving him 88 yards behind Nebraska's Trey Palmer, who's appeared in seven contests.

Before the season began, Ondunze envisioned himself and his fellow UW receivers such as Jalen McMillan and Ja'Lynn Polk each doubling their 2021 individual stats with the new high-powered offense and they appear well on their way. 

Odunze has five regular-season games left to see where the numbers take 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

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