With Polk Joining WR Holdovers, Huskies Are in Good Hands

The motivated Texas Tech transfer has worked his way into the starting lineup.

Five University of Washington wide receivers ran an out route once the 2020 season ended. They got up and left.

A couple of them were deemed 4-star recruits. Some of them realized they couldn't crack the Husky starting lineup or maintain a back-up role, let alone pad their receiving stats. They needed fresh starts for their college football careers. They had to go.

Amid all of the hand-wringing over the mass exodus of pass-catchers, Ja'Lynn Polk passed these guys coming through the door, arriving from Texas Tech, where he had his own issues.

The wiry 6-foot-2, 190-pound player from Lufkin, Texas, told others he didn't feel a brotherhood connection in Lubbock. As a true freshman, he played in all 10 games for Tech, started seven, and caught 28 passes for 264 yards and a pair of scores, but he wanted more than that.

Caleb Berry, a Lufkin High teammate and a freshman Husky tailback, persuaded him to come to Seattle where he presumably could find what he was looking for as a serious-minded player. 

Polk, who will start against Montana on Saturday, challenged everybody's work ethic across the UW football team, even that of hard-driving linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio, who practically lives in the coaches' offices.

"He has put so much work in," Husky coach Jimmy Lake said of Polk. "It might go back and forth as to who's first in the building, either Eddie or Ja'Lynn Polk. He's here first thing in the morning ready to grind. He's ready to learn. He's ready to watch his reps from the day before, and it's how can he get better?"

With his returning players mixed in with newcomers such as Polk and Michigan transfer Giles Jackson, Lake says the UW receiving corps took a huge jump overnight in talent.

The coach even made the glib admission that a mundane receiving corps was one of the things that held the Huskies back in previous seasons when they faced Alabama, Ohio State and Penn State in playoff or bowl games, all losses.

Ja'Lynn Polk wore No. 23 in the spring before switching to 12 / UW Athletics

Polk arrived for spring practice and went head to head with one-time starters Rome Odunze, Terrell Bynum and Jalen McMillan, plus Sawyer Racanelli and Taj Davis, who played in reserve role and opted out, respectively. 

Switching from No. 23 to 12 from spring football to fall camp, he's a proven talent who was ready to move up when McMillan went out with a hand injury that required surgery. 

"What I love about him is the mentality he brings every single day to practice," Lake said of the Texan. "He's tough. He goes up and make the tough catches with DBs draped all over him, grabbing him and pulling his jersey off, and he still makes those catches."

Ja'Lynn Polk went 60 yards to score against TCU / USA TODAY Sports

Polk remains the unusual recruit, someone fully developed and ready to play because of his brief stop at Texas Tech, and still holding four seasons of eligibility.

Besides the talent add, Lake really  likes the guy's football toughness, not all that surprising for Polk, considering his obvious Texas "Friday Night Lights" background. 

"I told him with his mentality he could play DB for us, he really could," the coach said. "He could play safety, play nickel, play corner. I want all of our receivers to be that way. He's also game-changing in catching the football. It's hard to rip the ball out of his hands."

Lake, it appears, made a nice catch.

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