Penix Scores Big, Goes As the First Husky Drafted at No. 8

The UW quarterback proved a lot of analysts wrong with his high pick.

They tried to call him damaged goods, an unbridled freelancer behind center, anything but an NFL Draft first-rounder.

However, Michael Penix Jr., after resurrecting his football career over the past two seasons at the University of Washington, had the last say on who he is when the left-hander was selected No. 8 overall on Thursday by the Atlanta Falcons -- becoming just the second Husky quarterback chosen on the first day of the draft in Detroit.

The 6-foot-3, 215-pound Penix joined Jake Locker, who went to the Tennessee Titans also with the eighth pick overall in 2011,

Penix was the fourth quarterback taken at his position over those first eight picks on Thursday and he went as the first of consecutive Husky picks, preceding his top UW receiver Rome Odunze, who ended up with the Chicago Bears at No. 9.

This Husky standout now will make his pro football home in the capital of the South, not far from his hometown in the Tampa, Florida, area, where he watched the draft with family and friends while wearing a smart light blue suit and garish white-framed sunglasses.

After what he'd gone through in his college career -- suffering four season-ending injuries at Indiana before joining the UW -- the Falcons certainly are a team willing to give out second chances. Penix will join a franchise that has former Husky head coach Jimmy Lake, fired the year before the QB arrived in Seattle, as its defensive coordinator. It's not clear if they've every met before.

Atlanta is getting a swash-buckling player who led the nation in different passing categories in each of the past two seasons while guiding the Huskies to a 25-3 record, which included a run to the College Football Playoff national championship game against Michigan.

There were times that even Penix wondered if he could continue with his football career after suffering a pair of knee injuries and a pair of shoulder injuries, each leading to surgery. However, his stay at the UW enabled him to build unshakable confidence in his play and become an elite college quarterback.

At Indiana, he completed 342 of 576 passes for 4,197 yards and 29 touchdowns. At the UW, he was good on 362 of 554 attempts for 4,641 yards and 31 TDs in 2022 and he completed 363 of 555 atempts for 4,903 yards and 36 scores last season. Total numbers: 1,067 of 1,685 passes for 13,741 yards and 96 TDs.

Getting drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft had to be extra satisfying for Penix, who, in spite of all of his football success in Seattle, came in second a few times in big moments that had to be tough. He dealt with the disappointment of finishing as the runner-up in the Heisman Trophy voting to LSU's Jayden Daniels and coming in second to Michigan in pursuit of a CFP national championship and an unbeaten season.

Yet he's the No. 8 player in this NFL Draft and no one can argue his worth anymore.

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