Germie Bernard Has No Problem Retracing His Football Steps

The talented receiver has returned to the UW and next year he'll be in the Big Ten again.

Face it, Germie Bernard runs a different route than everyone else.

The wide receiver left the University of Washington football team after a brief stay, played his freshman season for Michigan State, which included a game against the Huskies, and Bernard returned to Montlake this past spring.

He simultaneously exited the Big Ten and will rejoin that conference in 2024 as part of college football's never-ending realignment and the unfortunate dismantlement of the Pac-12.

Be rest assured, if Bernard just broke up with a serious girl friend, he probably can figure she'll  be back into his life sooner than later.

Now that last one got a big laugh from Germie, amid gentle protestations that he's still real solid in his personal relationship.

Yet the point was made that Bernard repeatedly has found himself in the unique position of retracing his football steps if not restoring once-severed connections more than once.

"I'm ready for whatever that's going to be thrown at us," Bernard said. "I feel like as a team we're able to accomplish a lot, so going to the Big Ten, yes, it's exciting for us, like it's going to be like a team accomplishment. Once we fully get to the Big Ten and are able to play, I feel it's going to be good competition for us and we'll be able execute at a high level."

This 6-foot-1, 203-pound sophomore from Las Vegas should be at his best whether he's catching his passes in the rapidly disappearing Pac-12 or the bigger-than-everyone-else Big Ten.

Bernard comes back to the Huskies with receiving headliners Rome Odunze, Jalen McMillan and Ja'Lynn Polk holding down the starting jobs and each potentially making a final run through the college game should they choose to leave eligibility on the table.

However, this understudy from Nevada has made a lot of things happen in UW spring and fall camps over the past five months and stands to command plenty of playing time when everything gets started for real against Boise State on Sept. 2.

"With this offense, if you're a playmaker they try to get the ball in your hands," Bernard said of his UW role. "They know what I can do."

He's demonstrated a knack for going deep and getting behind the Husky secondary in practice. The offense is familiar rather than foreign to him now and he knows what he's doing and what's expected from him. The older guys both help and push him.

After that flurry of retracing his football steps, Bernard is positioned to push ahead into uncharted territory, which is finally launching his Montlake football career and becoming a big name on the UW marquee out front as soon as possible. His girlfriend most likely will be close by to see it all happen, too.

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