Inside The Huskies

Leading With His Chin: UW Wide Receiver Looks for More Action

The Husky pass-catcher has had big-play moments but not nearly enough of them. He'll try to do more in his final season.

Dan Raley

Jordan Chin hasn't accumulated a lot of wide-receiver stats for the University of Washington in three seasons, but he's made them count.

He has four career receptions.

Two for touchdowns.

Not in non-conference mismatches, but against top Pac-12 teams.

In his upcoming senior season, whenever that plays out because of the ongoing pandemic, Chin looks for significantly more touches, hence a corresponding number of game-day heroics should follow.

"Jordan has made some big plays for us in critical situations," UW wide-receivers coach Junior Adams confirmed.

Chin certainly has nimble moves to get the job done, as he and graduated teammate Andre Baccellia so rhythmically choreographed at practice and showed off in this tweet.  

This is another in a series of profiles on prospective UW football starters. While spring practice has been canceled or postponed because of the pandemic, Husky Maven/Sports Illustrated continues to provide uninterrupted coverage.

Chin, a product of San Fernando, California, came to Washington after originally committing to San Diego State, receiving a late offer from the Huskies.

He'd played at Chaminade College Preparatory alongside strong safety JoJo McIntosh and wide receiver Breyden Lenius, who came to the UW and can be found in the NFL and CFL, respectively.

Chin's depth-chart progress for the Huskies has been laborious -- appearing in 25 games, he's started once as a redshirt freshman, three times as a sophomore and once more last year.

His receptions have come at big moments; there just haven't been nearly enough of them.

Chin started and caught his first pass in the 2019 Rose Bowl against Ohio State, a 15-yarder.

Last season, he pulled in a 39-yard gainer on the road against Arizona.

He next scored on a 48-yard strike against Oregon, pausing a moment to watch the replay on the Husky Stadium big screen in the east end zone. 

On the other end of a Jacob Eason heave, as shown in the photo, he found the play against the Ducks surreal. It was really him.

"It was like, 'Dang, that was me,' " Chin said of the video moment. 

His other grab last season went for an 11-yard touchdown against Utah.

While fast enough to get on the field, Chin carries a slight 6-foot, 171-pound frame that sometimes makes it difficult for him to stay out there for long stretches. 

It's been a challenge to gain separation from the more physical defenders on a consistent basis, a drawback found throughout the receiving corps in recent seasons.

As his career winds down, Chin is penciled in behind promising younger receivers such as Puka Nacua and Terrell Bynum on the Husky depth chart.

He can play at this level. How much once again will depend on him.

SUMMARY: Chin has shown the speed and the hands to make a secondary pay. His challenge will be to increase his minutes and catches.

GRADE (1 to 5): He gets a 2.5. He's had an unusual Husky career -- a great play here and there. He needs to increase his output to a great game here and there.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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