Inside The Huskies

Huskies Have a Believer in What They're Doing in Joel Klatt

The college football analyst calls UW "the scariest team in the country."

Dan Raley

In this story:

Deion Sanders and Joel Klatt have a lot in common these days. One's the very high-profile Colorado football coach, the other a former Buffaloes quarterback, both with a lot to say.

While the University of Washington football program won't encounter Sanders this season because of the way the schedule worked out, the seventh-ranked and unbeaten Huskies won't be able to avoid Klatt as long as they keep winning.

On Wednesday, the college football analyst on his well-heeled podcast sounded the alarm for those underestimating Kalen DeBoer's 4-0 team, suggesting the UW might be something out of the ordinary on the national landscape.

"The Washington Huskies are the scariest team in the country for everybody else," Klatt said, beginning his breakdown. "That team easily is one of the two or three best teams in the country, hands down."

   

For those who don't know Klatt all that well, he grew up as coach's son in Colorado, was drafted in baseball's 11th round, chased that dream for a couple of years and returned home to walk on with the Buffaloes football team in 2002, then coached by Gary Barnett, Rick Neuheisel's successor.

Klatt would work his way up to starter and scholarship worthy, leading Colorado to a pair of Big 12 divisional championships. He got hurt against Washington State. He completed 690 of 1,228 pases for 7,708 yards and 46 touchdowns in his career.

After giving a couple of NFL camps a try, Klatt turned to a media career, becoming best known for his college football work with FOX Sports.

Joel Klatt is high on the 2023 Huskies.
Joel Klatt was a college football fixture for FOX Sports :: Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY sports

As a former quarterback, Klatt, 41, is well-versed on the intricacies of the position and doesn't hide his admiration for the play of the Huskies' Michael Penix Jr.

"They have a quarterback that, right now, would have my Heisman Trophy vote," he said on the podcast. "Michael Penix Jr. has been the best player in college football. Not a lot of people have been watching."

For Klatt's full three-minute diatribe on the UW football team, listen to the Twitter video above.

Joel Klatt was a Colorado quarterback, beginning in 2002.
Joel Klatt was a Colorado quarterback, beginning in 2002 / USA TODAY Sports

Go to si.com/college/washington to read the latest Inside the Huskies stories — as soon as they’re published. Not all stories are posted on the fan sites.

Find Inside the Huskies on Facebook by searching: Inside Huskies/FanNation at SI.com or https://www.facebook.com/dan.raley.12

Follow Dan Raley of Inside the Huskies on Twitter: @DanRaley1 or @UWFanNation or @DanRaley3

Have a question, direct message me on Facebook or Twitter.

Published
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.

Home/Football