What Will It Take for Penix to Receive Quarterback Acceptance?
As more and more people, fans and media alike, buy in to what Kalen DeBoer is doing in his remaking of University of Washington football, one loose end still persists.
The acceptance of Michael Penix Jr.
In all of the preseason magazine and internet quarterback listings, national and Pac-12, the Indiana transfer doesn't appear anywhere. No mention. No acknowledgement of his existence. Nothing.
Even stubborn Husky fans shun this guy, finding more to pick at with Penix than celebrate.
He's injury prone. He was ineffective last season. He's no Sam Huard or Dylan Morris.
When considering his full body of work, this is all more than a little mind-boggling.
Penix originally hails from a league getting a lot of attention these days. In 2020, Penix was the second-team All-Big Ten quarterback, better than everyone in arguably the nation's second-most powerful college football conference except for Ohio State's Justin Fields.
He was the second-best player among those 14 different QBs, which meant whomever was at Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Penn State and Nebraska, to name a few who typically have highly talented guys running the huddle, had to move over for him.
Yet Penix can't make a top 50 national ranking at his position with his new football team, let alone a top 5 listing in the Pac-12.
Again, Penix directed Indiana on consecutive weekends to 38-21 and 24-0 victories over Michigan and at Michigan State, respectively, and he walked into Ohio Stadium the following Saturday and put on a dazzling performance that stunned Ohio State.
On that day, Penix completed 27 of 51 passes for 491 yards and 5 touchdowns in a 42-35 road loss for Indiana. For that matter, Penix threw for 191 more yards and 3 more scores than Fields in their head-to-head match-up.
Yet slow-to-warm-to-him UW fans point out that he didn't get it done for a 2-10 Indiana team last season.
Penix played five games before he suffered a season-ending injury. He was leading the Big Ten in passing yards, touchdown passes, yards per game, completions and attempts when he went down.
People conveniently forget that Indiana for much of the past quarter century was rarely competitive with the better teams of the Big Ten until Penix joined the roster. The football program in Bloomington was a consistent loser until he helped start a resurgence.
Then there's that constant reminder that Penix is injury-prone, like it's all his fault. Yes, he has suffered a season-ending injury in all four of his previous college football seasons, which is hard to dismiss. No, he didn't do anything reckless to deserve it.
We will always quibble with that label — injury-prone. The ones who beat that drum incessantly likely have never been in the middle of a football game. It's like standing on the freeway, with cars zipping past at 70-plus miles per hour. It's scary.
Things happen so fast out there, you often never know what hit you. Never see it coming. Can't believe it happened. Plus, dirty players are lurking at every corner, looking to cause you damage to get an edge.
Penix collectively suffered two shoulder and two knee injuries at Indiana. Penn State hurt him twice.
Last season, a Nittany Lions linebacker named Brandon Smith drove the quarterback's shoulder into the ground and consequently separated it, which was totally unnecessary.
In 2018, Penix tucked the ball under his arm and ran 13 yards for a first down against Penn State, only to get hit in a manner in which his right ACL exploded and, yes, a targeting penalty was called.
The third injury that ruined his glorious 2020 season came against Maryland at the end of a 21-yard scamper. It was bad luck all the way around. He took an awkward step while trying to get out of bounds and his previously injured right knee crumpled on him again.
Penix comes into fall camp with a 12-5 personal ledger as a college quarterback starter. He's played in all of the big stadiums in the Big Ten and was not intimidated the least bit, though the pandemic kept them empty at times. He's extremely cool and mobile under pressure, extending plays longer than most signal-callers.
Who throws five touchdown passes at Ohio State? On one Saturday alone?
He has a track record better than most quarterbacks in the Pac-12, yet people still act like he doesn't exist.
Yes, he's from Tampa, Florida, by way of the Midwest, so apparently it's going to take some time for the hometown fans to get to know him, to welcome him and to warm up to him.
UW QUARTERBACK DEPTH
1) Michael Penix Jr., 6-3, 214, Jr., Tampa, Fla.
2) Sam Huard, 6-2, 194, R-Fr., Bellevue, Wash.
3) Dylan Morris, 6-0, 202, Soph., Puyallup, Wash.
Huard and Morris, of course, hail from suburban Bellevue and Puyallup, Washington, providing that hometown connection that some Husky followers so demand and expect from their football players.
Morris is 7-8 as a UW quarterback starter, Huard 0-1. They've been tested, are being retrained by the DeBoer staff and, unless Jake Haener was an anomaly at Fresno State, they should be much more dependable when needed.
Penix granted is a little worn, but he's a fearless player and a dual threat. Again, he beat Michigan, which Morris couldn't pull off. He toppled Michigan State on the road, whereas Huard couldn't keep the Huskies within 27 points of Washington State at home.
He might remind people a little of Michael Vick as he breaks out of the pocket and runs upfield, now protecting himself as best he can.
Conclusion: Penix has to feel like somewhat of a forgotten man right about now, but he has the opportunity to show the Big Ten it lost a big-time talent when he left and the Pac-12 that he belongs among the best out West. Michigan State, which comes to Husky Stadium on Sept. 17, probably isn't real thrilled about seeing him again.
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