With Husky Football This Season, The Circus Has Come to Town

Here's nine UW high-degree-of-difficulty plays to remember.

Author:
Dan Raley
Updated:
Nov 21, 2022 5:22 PM EST
Original:
Nov 21, 2022

In this story:

Kalen DeBoer not only has made this University of Washington football team a big winner, with five consecutive victories and nine overall, he's unleashed the athleticism buried deep inside it, which was just begging to get let out.

Or have you not noticed all the style points that have come this season with some of the extraordinary completions, great escapes, high hurdles, first downs and touchdowns turned in by these Huskies?

The new winner in the clubhouse is Cam Davis' third-quarter, 6-yard touchdown run against Colorado, in which he suddenly turned into American gymnast Simone Biles and did reverse tuck and roll.

They refer to the UW track and rowing teams, among others, as Olympic sports. The way DeBoer's players are headed these days, Husky football deserves that designation as much as anyone.

Keeping all of this in mind, we present Davis' half-gainer and eight other pieces of UW football performance art that have wowed the masses, some simple in concept but all of them extremely well executed. Here's who gets the gold medals:

1. Cam Davis' Tuck and Roll

Hands perched on his knees, Davis took a step forward and accepted a handoff and charged up the middle with a full head of steam. Once he hit the 2-yard line and encountered Buffaloes free safety Tyrin Taylor, the Husky sophomore running back reactively launched himself into the air and did an extraordinary somersault in full pads.

Davis landed hard on his back, but he quickly got to his feet and spread his arms out wide as if he was trying to impress a table full of judges and encourage them to hold up flip cards that said "10" on them. We gave him one of those.

2. Rome Odunze's Juggling Act

Against Arizona, the Husky wide receiver got behind the secondary, turned and saw a Michael Penix Jr.pass coming at him near the goal line and found himself in trouble.

He was looking into the sun and a little out of position. No problem. Odunze turned circus juggler, tapping the ball into the air and keeping it alive until he could snatch it away for a 45-yard scoring catch and dive into the end zone in the 49-39 victory.

"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," Odunze said. "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."

3. Michael Penix Jr.'s Opposite Hash Throw

Late in the game at Oregon with the Huskies trailing, the Husky quarterback dropped back on the opposite hashmark and turned and fired one on a line to the left sideline. Every NFL scout who has seen these play has had their jaw drop. It was a precision laser beam that traveled 35-40 yards through a tight window to wide receiver Taj Davis, who hauled it in and raced the rest of the 62 yards to score and tie things up at 34-34.

Offensive guard Jaxson Kirkland and the rest of the Husky line stared at each other in disbelief on the way to a 37-34 win.

"I looked to my left and right, to Corey [Luciano] and to Troy [Fautanu], the center and left tackle, and said, 'Did he really just make that throw?' " Kirkland said. "From my viewpoint, you had that safety coming over the top and it was kind of close. Very rarely do you see a quarterback make an opposite hash to sideline [throw]. That's usually a cardinal sin throwing across the field. That's Penix exactly knowing his reads and Taj running a great route.

"Man, what a play. That's out there for one of the best throws I've seen."

4. Jalen McMillan and the Double Reverse Pass

The Husky wide receiver not only touched the ball twice on this play, as did Penix, he broke three tackles in getting to the end zone to score on a 27-yard touchdown pass in the 54-7 victory over Colorado. McMillan finished with 8 catches for 98 yards and this one highly bit of deceptive piece of play-calling for an impressive score.

“Grubb has the weirdest plays, but they’re awesome," McMillan said of his offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb. "They’re so fun to run.”

5. Devin Culp's One-handed Catch

One of the first times Grubb sized up his top two Husky tight ends, he described Devin Culp and Jack Westover as wildly athletic. Those two guys have done nothing to dissuade anyone of that apt observation.

Against Colorado, Culp found himself all alone on the right sideline in the second quarter, but had to reach up in a circus-like manner with one big paw to snag a Penix delivery. No problem. Give that man a 24-yard catch and a kewpie doll.

6. Michael Penix Jr.'s Great Escape

This might seem like an ordinary play, with the Husky quarterback spinning cleverly and evading a pair of Oregon pass rushers, but you have to appreciate the speed in which the two Ducks were coming up the middle and then the extra gear Penix used to evade them and make them look silly on a 15-yard run in the UW's 37-34 win in Eugene. It was bang, bang.

"It's about time he did that," Grubb said. "That's what I told him on the headset, 'It's about time we saw those size 14s get to work,' because the he can do that for sure."

7. Jalen McMillan's Simultaneous Catch

At Oregon from midfield, Penix sent a second-quarter pass deep in the direction of McMillan, who was well-covered by Ducks cornerback Christian Gonzalez. Both receiver and defender went up for the ball and came down with it. Tie goes to the offensive player. Instant 34-yard gain. McMillan stood up pounding his chest. He won that competition, hands down. Hands up. Every which way.

"I've seen him make those kind of catches from spring ball until now," Grubb said. "We've got a ton of trust in him."

8. Devin Culp's High-Wire Act

Late in the first quarter at California, the UW tight end made what seemed like a routine catch for him, hauling in a ball that would become an 11-yard gain. Yet halfway through the play Culp suddenly went airborne over Bears defensive back Tyson McWilliams, showing incredible hops in the 28-21 victory in Berkeley. The U.S. track team might consider using him as a high jumper, triple jumper, any kind of jumper.

Devin Culp shows his hops as he sails over a Cal tackler. — Devin Culp turns super hero, missing only a cape, as he leaps over tall Bears with a single bound.
Darren Yamashita/USA TODAY Sports

9. Jack Westover's High-Wire Act

Wildly athletic? The other Husky tight end has made good on that Grubb comment multiple times over this season. None was more entertaining than Westover's catch and subsequent hurdle over Arizona's hapless defender Christian Roland-Wallace for a 26-yard gain in the third quarter of that 49-39 victory at Husky Stadium.

Yes, indeed, the circus has come to town with the DeBoer era of Husky football.