All Hands on Deck in Huskies' Fourth Fall Practice, One Made for Receivers

Rome Oduzen and his fellow Washington pass-catchers put on a show on Monday morning.

Coming off the opening weekend of fall camp, in which the University of Washington defense showed its prowess and the running backs did plenty of short-yardage grinding, the fourth practice on Monday had a whole different vibe to it. Things opened up quite a bit.

It was the Husky receivers' time to show off, and they did time and time again.

Right off the bat, second-year freshman Rome Odunze let everyone know it was look-at-me-time for the Husky pass-catchers when he ran onto the practice field wearing a yellow mesh laundry bag over his gold helmet. The kid from Las Vegas looked like he was outfitted in a mosquito netting or working as a beekeeper. 

Smirking and enjoying himself, Odunze even wore this strange get-up through the receiving line before it was time for everyone to get serious and raise their hands — and that they did.

Watching all of this unfold, senior running back Sean McGrew remembered how tough his first couple of preseason camps were for him.

"Fall camp was something I wasn't ready for," he said. "It was a lot on the body and a lot on the mind."

Leave to the young Husky receivers to find a another way to make everything bearable and memorable. Whether coming out in disguise such as Odunze or simply turning overly athletic at times, they it made fun under the hot Monday sun. 

Michigan sophomore transfer Giles Jackson, clearly the fastest guy on this Husky team, got downfield in a hurry and made a tough two-handed grab of a Sam Huard pass, beating true freshman Zakhari Spears and drawing a reaction from his peers. 

Freshman wide receiver Sawyer Racanelli ran an out route to the left sideline and, under extremely tight coverage from Kasen Kinchen, got behind his defender, stuck up one of his paws and made a sensational catch of a Huard pass before crashing to the ground.

Rome Odunze brought a different look to practice.  / Dan Raley

A few minutes later, All-America tight end candidate Cade Otton was next to supply receiving heroics. With safety Asa Turner draped all over him, the junior from Tumwater, Washington, pulled in a pass from Dylan Morris in close quarters, winning the high-degree-of-difficulty battle. 

Turner was so flustered by the pass completion, he chased after Otton and tried to punch the ball out of his hands, only to have the older guy yank it away from him. Otton next held the pigskin up triumphantly and uncharacteristically stopped and signaled first down as players on the sideline laughed at this.

Sophomore tight end Jack Westover got into the act, drifting over the middle and, similar to Racanelli, he stuck up a lone hand and made a big-applause catch.

Flippin’ into Monday 😎@RomeOdunze pic.twitter.com/KShONA6XhT

— Washington Football (@UW_Football) August 9, 2021

Finally, the 6-foot-3, 200-pound Odunze, with a definitive height advantage he put to good use, beat defensive backs Michael Powell and Kamren Fabiculanan on separate leaping catches, fully extending himself each time. 

By now, his attention-getting headdress was tucked away somewhere, but it was inspiration for what had just happened in practice No. 4: The receivers took out the laundry and cleaned up.

  

Find Husky Maven on Facebook by searching: HuskyMaven/Sports Illustrated

Follow Dan Raley of Husky Maven on Twitter: @DanRaley1 and @HuskyMaven