With Renewed Voice, Penix is Ready to Pen Final Season

Washington's Heisman Trophy hopeful spent this summer sharing his story and working with high school quarterbacks.

Michael Penix Jr.’s tone hasn’t wavered since he arrived at Washington in January 2022.

The volume of people saying his name certainly has though. After leading the Huskies – with essentially the same players from a 4-8 season in 2021 – to an 11-2 season capped off with an Alamo Bowl victory over No. 20 Texas, the southpaw silenced some doubters.

Questions remained because prior to last season Penix never played more than six games in a season. Each of his four seasons at Indiana University was marred by injury, including tearing his right anterior cruciate ligament twice in 2018 and 2021.

So, his ascent to the top of the list of college quarterbacks last season — passing for a school-record 4,641 yards and 31 touchdown passes — certainly warranted praise. 

The question for NFL scouts was this: could he duplicate his success in 2023?

Penix had all day to sit in the pocket and mull whether or not to declare for the 2023 NFL draft or return to the UW for one final season after defeating Washington State in late November.

Much like his presence on the field, Penix gave his answer with the same smooth, firm delivery that he does with every throw on Saturday. 

In between interviews Michael Penix Jr. broke Cam Rising's high score on the target simulator at Pac-12 Media Day pic.twitter.com/Q4z1pv8xSC

— Lars Hanson (@LarsHanson) July 21, 2023

“When he told us it wasn’t like, ‘Why? Why?! It was like, okay, how you feel about it?' He was like, ‘I feel good about it,' ” his father, Michael Penix Sr., said a week after Penix announced his decision to return on Dec. 4.

“One thing I want people to know about him is if you’ve seen little Michael how calm he is in the pocket,” his father continued. “His mom brought up to me that he can be so calm in the pocket and he never had an offensive line.

“Most times quarterbacks that don’t have an offensive line, they get antsy feet. But for him to stand in the pocket, regardless of people rushing and hitting him, I mean it’s remarkable. It shows you his confidence he has in people in front of him. And it shows you confidence he has in his talent.”

From the first few days of spring ball last year, it was clear Penix, if healthy, was a perfect match with the wide receivers UW possessed — Rome Odunze, Jalen McMillan and Ja’Lynn Polk among others — and reuniting with his former offensive coordinator Kalen DeBoer.

Penix spent last summer working on his body and building chemistry with his new teammates with the goal to beat out Dylan Morris for the starting quarterback job in fall camp.

His calendar looked much different.

The sixth-year senior spent three days as a counselor at the Elite 11 finals June 14-16 in Redondo Beach, California, before flying down to Thibodeaux, Louisiana, with over three dozen other college quarterbacks to the Manning Passing Academy from June 22-25.

Less than a month later, Penix accompanied DeBoer and fellow sixth-year senior linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio to represent the UW at Pac-12 media day in July.

“That perspective of being somebody that’s helping others when it comes to that standpoint, it just opened my eyes to how impactful my voice is,” he said, speaking about his experience at the Manning Passing Academy.

“I didn’t realize how impactful my voice was until you go out there with thousands of kids. They’re all out there calling you coach and you running drills and they’re doing everything to the best of their ability. It was definitely a pleasing sight.”

With the attention and praise heaped upon Penix heading into the 2023 season, he was asked if this is what he deserves given his perseverance to get to a point where he could contend for a national championship and the Heisman Trophy.

“I wouldn’t say I feel like it’s everything I deserve,” he said. “I just feel like it’s everything I worked for. I put in so much work behind the scenes that a lot of people don’t know about. I feel like it all makes sense and it’s all that I worked for.” 

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