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Inside The Huskies

For Stretch Run, Here's UW's Top Options for All-Pac-12 Honors

The Huskies have at least five players worthy of individual accolades.
Dan Raley|
For Stretch Run, Here's UW's Top Options for All-Pac-12 Honors
For Stretch Run, Here's UW's Top Options for All-Pac-12 Honors

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Washington Huskies

As the University of Washington football team enters the final third of the schedule, mostly filled with Northwest rivals, the Huskies will push to finish strong, earn an attractive bowl matchup and cement the reputations of several players.

Hosting Oregon State in a dampened Husky Stadium on Friday night, the UW will trot out a solid handful of guys capable of earning first-team, All-Pac-12 recognition, nearly all of them on offense.

In no particular order, the Huskies offer up junior quarterback Michael Penix Jr., sophomore offensive tackle Troy Fautanu, sophomore wide receiver Rome Odunze and senior offensive guard Jaxson Kirkland for all-conference consideration while defensively sophomore edge rusher Bralen Trice has moved his way into the conversation.

Fautanu, Trice and Odunze might have the best opportunity to land top-line accolades. The tackle is a rising star, while Trice ranks third in the Pac-12 in sacks with 6.5. and Odunze ranks first in the league in receiving yards per game (108) and second in catches per outing (7.14).

Penix, while leading the nation in total passing yards (2,943), faces stiff competition at quarterback in USC's Caleb Williams, UCLA's Dorian Thompson-Robinson and Oregon's Bo Nix in securing a first-team reward. Often times, the league championship QB gets the nod here and the Huskies are hard-pressed to make that happen.

The Huskies' left tackle might have the best opportunity to become first-team All-Pac-12 this season. He's a rising star who unseated Jaxson Kirkland as the NFL money position.

The Indiana transfer was selected second-team All-Big Ten in 2020 and easily is a candidate for top honors in the Pac-12. He just faces stiff competition, foremost USC's Caleb Williams.

Just because he changed positions this season, that doesn't mean Kirkland isn't a first-team All-Pac-12 candidate. He's pursuing his third consecutive all-conference reward. 

The sophomore wide receiver has been slow to be put on lists highlighting the nation's top wide receivers, but his production has made him worthy. He's rolling up some big numbers. 

Similar to Fautanu, Trice is the Huskies' rising star on defense and could be headed for ultimate all-conference rewards. He has 6.5 sacks with likely a bunch more on the way.

Kirkland's drawback is time and change. The former two-time, first-team All-Pac-12 tackle began the football season late after sitting out the first two games because of NCAA mandate and injury recovery, and then swapped positions to guard. Still, the 6-foot-7, 340-pound Kirkland lately has pancaked a lot of opponents, in particular at California.

The 6-foot-4, 312-pound Fautanu comes off possibly his best game as a Husky, according to his coaches, even while drawing a pair of holding penalties in a 28-21 victory at California, with one of the flags considered highly questionable. 

"I'm constantly trying to get better at my craft," he said. "Hopefully the reps come on my side."

People had to know Fautanu was bringing considerable skill up front when Kalen DeBoer's staff made the surprising decision to keep him at left tackle, the NFL money position, and move Kirkland back to guard.

Fautanu and Kirkland, who have a nice working relationship side by side, form an almost impenetrable wall for Penix to operate behind.

"Jaxson has been that guy for a long time — he's such a vet," Fautanu said. "I'm always looking to him for certain advice."

Depending how everyone finishes up, wide receiver Jalen McMillan and tight end Devin Culp similarly stand a chance to earn second-team All-Pac-12 honors, while offensive guard Henry Bainivalu and defensive tackle Tuli Letuligasenoa could match their previous honorable-mention accolades.

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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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