Inside The Huskies

Relaxed, Wise-Cracking Penix Reappears for Pac-12 Title Game Week

The Husky quarterback has been analyzed and dissected nonstop since the Apple Cup.

Dan Raley

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Michael Penix Jr. met with media members this week and he seemed like his old self, offering the occasional wisecrack while gently deflecting questions that didn't quite register with him.

Probably the most amazing thing he did while chatting up everyone holding out an iPhone or TV camera was keep his gold helmet balanced on the back of his head for nearly 20 minutes without it falling off. 

For multiple days now, people have tried to dissect and analyze the University of Washington quarterback following a pressure-packed Apple Cup in which the Huskies beat Washington State 24-21 on Grady Gross' 42-yard field goal as time ran out.

As the kick sailed through the uprights, Penix was seen with his head buried in a UW equipment box, unable to watch everything unfold. Escorted off the field while wearing a heavy, hooded jacket, he seemed totally spent. Later, in the postgame interview session, he seemed a little detached.

"In a moment like that, I'm sure it's incredibly emotional," Husky offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb said. "That probably wore on Mike as much as it did any of the guys."

Asked about Penix's physical well-being, Grubb suggested his senior quarterback was suffering from a lingering illness and nothing more. For sure, the offensive leader continues to sound stuffed up and cough intermittently, which has been the case for multiple weeks now.

Yet if there was something more that was wrong with him, Penix nor the coaching staff most certainly wouldn't be revealing anything heading into Friday's Pac-12 championship game against Oregon at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

It's interesting, however, to hear the wide range of diagnoses of Penix coming from afar, largely out of pure conjecture or wild speculation. 

Someone suggested Penix's throwing motion has changed because of a shoulder injury, hence all of the overthrown passes lately.

Another said by the way he holds himself at times, Penix might be suffering from a rib cartilage injury, which could account for his recent fall-off in accuracy.

Yet someone else intimated his late-game reaction in hiding his head at the Apple Cup was possibly caused by a panic attack.

To all of which Penix replied, "I ain't playin' hurt. I'm good."

What is easy to lose sight of is the inner toll that a pristine 12-0 season filled with the past two months of close, pressured-packed games can have on an 18- to 23-year-old kid wearing a purple shirt right now.

In particular, Penix feels the weight of his own expectations, plus that of a Seattle community that's come along for the glorious ride and, most of all, the desire to please his Husky teammates.

"I think Mike has a heart of gold," UW coach Kalen DeBoer said. "He just cares so much. I've just said all along how much of a a team player he is. He wants if for his teammates more than he even wants if for himself."

As Penix gets ready to face the 11-1 Ducks, he's been named as one of three finalists for each of the following college football accolades: the Davey O'Brien Award, the Maxwell Award and the Walter Camp Player of the Year bauble, joined by Oregon's Bo Nix and LSU's Jayden Daniels. All of these players, of course, are in the running to the end for the Heisman Trophy.

Each award salutes the college game's top player, with the exception of the O'Brien recognition, which goes to the nation's top quarterback.

All of that attention, though, has been pushed way off to the side with more pressing matters ahead this week in Nevada.

"I told him to just lose himself in the prep," Grubb said. "Just focus on playing a fun football game against a team he's already beaten twice and lose yourself in that."

Lose probably was not the best choice of words here, but Penix seems to be in a good place, providing his arm doesn't fall off. He seems to understand how to keep things on the lighter side again as that Oregon game fast approaches.

He event went all the way back to his days as a yearling high school football player in Tampa, Florida, to illustrate a point.

"Nah, it's just another game, another week," Penix said, breaking into a smile. "We're not playing on Saturday, we're playing on Friday. I'm used to playing Friday night games. I was doing that a couple years ago — more than a couple years ago. I'm just super excited for the opportunity. It's just another game. Obviously, the Pac-12 championship is at stake, so it's definitely a big one."

Penix, it appears, is in a good place, a good mood, ready to go. 

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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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