Inside The Huskies

We Asked Penix If This Could Be His Final Husky Stadium Game

The Indiana transfer quarterback had a ready but typical answer for him.
Dan Raley|
We Asked Penix If This Could Be His Final Husky Stadium Game
We Asked Penix If This Could Be His Final Husky Stadium Game

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Washington Huskies

It seems as if Michael Penix Jr. showed up in Seattle just the other day. Unpacked his bags. Hung his shirts in the closet. Introduced himself all around.

Yet 10 games into his University of Washington football career, the immensely talented quarterback faces the very real prospect of saying good bye, as soon as Saturday night against Colorado — that he's likely playing his final game at Husky Stadium.

After all, a player as productive and as healthy as he's been in a purple shirt during a memorable UW football season has to be overly attractive to NFL franchises everywhere and leaning more and more to first-round status. 

While he has yet another year of college eligibility available to him, Penix realistically is down to playing three or four more games for the Huskies, with all but this weekend's outing held at opposing or neutral sites, and then it's off to a promising pro career.

Penix, of course, sidestepped this question like the did those two mad dog Oregon pass rushers he cleverly evaded at Autzen Stadium last weekend when he scrambled for 15 yards and a first down.

"It really hasn't crossed my mind," Penix said. "I really don't really think about what I'm doing now past college, to be honest. I put it in God's hands and you know, right now, I'm here for this team. I'm 100 percent in. That's all my focus is right now."

Focus is one thing, but his high pro football regard that's fast evolving is another. 

The Huskies will send the following scholarship players through pregame Senior Day ceremonies in left offensive guard Henry Bainivalu, linebacker Cam Bright, safety Alex Cook, kicker Peyton Henry, offensive guard Jaxson Kirkland, center Corey Luciano, edge rusher Jeremiah Martin, linebacker Kris Moll, cornerback Jordan Perryman, punter Kevin Ryan and running back Wayne Taulapapa, plus walk-ons in edge rusher Gage Harty and wide receiver Brennan Holmes.

They'll be saluted and applauded before kickoff. Penix should get the same treatment.

In his fifth college season, Penix has turned a lot of pro scouts into big fans of his by leading the Huskies' to their hard-pressed and exciting 37-34 victory over the Ducks on the road. 

He had them furiously scribbling in their notebook s after he effortlessly made that NFL cross-field throw to wide receiver Taj Davis that seemingly traveled from Eugene to Portland.

As the trigger man for a resurgent 8-2 and 15th-ranked Husky football team that holds signature victories over Michigan State and Oregon, the 6-foot-3, 213-pound Penix has turned himself into a high-level pro prospect.

He ranks No. 1 in the nation both in overall passing yards (3,640) and passing yards per game (364),  No. 2 in completions per game (28.6) and tied for 10th in touchdown passes (25).

Penix holds UW school records for game passing yards (516), game total offense (529) and game completions (36), with others no doubt on the way.

He's one of 21 semifinalists, including six from the Pac-12, for the Davey O'Brien Award, given to the nation's top quarterback. He's twice been named Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week, most recently this week.

At this rate, the gifted left-hander from Tampa, Florida, by way of Indiana University, really doesn't need to play in Husky Stadium again following the Colorado game because he has little left to prove. 

At two FBS schools, he's a proven winner and a clutch player who can stay healthy now after four season-ending injuries in the Big Ten.

Still, he rightfully is not ready to make any pronouncements about his future intentions until this likely lone glorious season at the UW is complete. 

It should be no surprise if he joins Husky running back legend Corey Dillon as the ultimate one-and-done players in Montlake, guys who spent just one season at the UW doing wondrous things. 

Penix will just do without any ceremony this weekend, leaving it to the others to take a bow and get sentimental. Yet he deserves some sort of tribute. Instead, he presses on in preparing for Colorado, nothing more.

"I treat every day like my last game," Penix said. "I want to go out and put it all on the field, leave it all out there, for my brothers. I'm going to be excited. It's going to be the same excitement I had for the first game. I'm always going to have that each game. I just know what I have to do to come out and help this team, to lead this team to a win."

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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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