UW Wide Receiver Primer: Who's In and Who's Out and Why
For the longest time, the University of Washington lined up in a two-wideout, two-tight end formation, and none of the Husky pass catchers squawked.
Not a transfer portal peep.
So the UW comes out in three wide and one fewer tight end and seemingly more opportunity to get a pass thrown your way and look what happens — guys couldn't find the exit door fast enough.
Five in all.
Two starters.
One way out.
Many different reasons could be responsible for this mass departure, but we'll have to come up with some astute reasoning on our own.
That's because none of the exiting players chose to publicly voice any displeasure with the UW, the offense, offensive coordinator John Donovan or wide-receivers coach Junior Adams.
They just up and left.
One could assume that some of them prefer a more wide-open offense, particularly with UW coach Jimmy Lake wearing that seemingly anti-WR hat these days that says "Run the Damn Ball."
Puka Nacua said his mama wanted him home in Utah.
Ty Jones moved a level down, going to Fresno State, maybe to pad his stats for NFL consideration.
Jordan Chin dropped down lower than that, to Sacramento State.
Marquis Spiker and Austin Osborne gave it three seasons, caught four passes among them and no doubt realized their time for elevation had come and gone.
As a result, the Huskies lost about half their WR depth chart.
So?
A lot of guys sign with Washington and don't play.
Fact of life for every Power 5 program.
Rather than bemoan the fact that these wide receivers left all at once, consider that it might have been a normal weeding-out process
Spiker was supposed to be star quality. He wasn't. The Huskies missed on him.
Jones, for that matter, looked overly athletic. He still wasn't John Ross or Dante Pettis.
Probably the biggest thing that happened to everyone involved here was the arrival of Rome Odunze, Jalen McMillan and Sawyer Racanelli.
Each of them played as a true freshman. Odunze and McMillan started a game. Coming off a knee injury, Racanelli appeared in two games.
Odunze and McMillan were considered such offensive threats, they not only caught passes but they ran the ball three times each on fly sweeps.
Their rise up the depth chart probably started the transfer portal exodus, a process made far easier than before because of the pandemic.
The transfer of Ja'Lynn Polk from Texas Tech likely accelerated it.
Similar to Odunze, McMillan and Racanelli, Polk played as a true freshman in the Big 12 and piled up a lot of stats.
Now add in Jabez Tinae, considered one of the nation's top receiver recruits and Sam Huard's top high school target, and the minutes stretch only so far.
Returning Husky senior Terrell Bynum and second-year freshman Taj Davis and the outgoing Spiker, Osborne and Chin each redshirted their first year in the program, while Jones took what amounted to a redshirt, maybe for injury, as a junior in 2019. His absence that season was never fully explained.
The Husky young guys have showed they aren't going to redshirt. Some of them might not stay four years because of their talent level.
While the number of WR departures has some fans concerned, they should actually celebrate it,
This means the talent level has gone up from what it once was.
As a wide receiver, you either make it happen or you don't.
There's not much in between.
Get open or stay covered.
Make them throw the ball to you and feel obliged to open up the offense more to use your talent.
Don't be surprised if the Huskies rely on the transfer portal to add yet another receiver before next fall, just to stretch out the numbers.
It's like a drive-through window.
Here's what's on and off the shelf right now.
Who's In
Terrell Bynum, Sr. — the only senior, has the most career receptions in the room, 39 catches for 498 yards and 2 scores, after he pulled in 8 balls for 172 yards in 2020.
Taj Davis, Red. Fr. — opted out after a redshirt year, but he's back, untested.
Jalen McMillan, Red. Fr. — one of the speediest of the bunch, he caught a single pass for 16 yards and ran the ball 3 times for 14 yards.
Rome Odunze, Red. Fr. — at 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds, he's the tallest WR and might have the most upside, after catching 6 balls for 72 yards in 2020.
Ja'Lynn Polk, So. — started 7 of 10 games at Texas Tech and caught 28 passes for 264 yards and scores against Oklahoma (not against Bookie Radley-Hiles) and TCU.
Sawyer Racanelli, Red. Fr. — another big receiver at 6-foot-2 and 210 pounds, he appeared in 2 of 4 games in his first season.
Jabez Tinae, Fr. — comes to the collegiate level with big schoolboy numbers, 163 catches for 3,463 yards and 22 TDs.
Who's Out
Jordan Chin, Sr. — started 5 of 29 games and caught 5 passes for 116 yards and scores against Oregon and Utah.
Ty Jones, Sr. — opened 12 of 33 games and finished with 44 catches for 702 and 6 touchdowns, with 6 for 140 yards coming in 2020.
Puka Nacua, So. — had 16 career catches for 133 yards and scores against Hawaii, Oregon and Arizona, the latter going 65 yards, with 9 for 151 yards in 2020.
Austin Osborne, Jr. — he left with one career catch for negative yardage, appeared in just one game in 2020.
Marquis Spiker, Jr. — he caught three balls for 68 yards in his UW career and didn't appear in a game in 2020.
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