Inside The Huskies

UW Players Select 6 Captains, Many of Them Newcomers

The Huskies embrace noteworthy new team leadership.

Dan Raley

When a projected Top 20 football team spirals to a 4-8 record, injuries, fitness, schemes, coaching and any number of things could be factors.

Leadership apparently played a significant role in the University of Washington's 2021 demise, too, with the newly rebuilt Huskies revealing their six captains for the coming season — and four of them are portal transfer pick-ups.

On Friday, the UW revealed that its team leaders on game day, as voted by their teammates, will be linebacker Cam Bright, safety Alex Cook, offensive tackle Jaxson Kirkland, edge rusher Jeremiah Martin, quarterback Michael Penix Jr. and running back Wayne Taualapapa.

Bright comes to the Huskies from Pittsburgh, Martin from Texas A&M last season, Penix from Indiana and Taulapapa from Virginia. 

Each are fifth- or sixth-year players, which means they could be playing their final college seasons.

Bright, Penix and Taualapapa each served as captains last season at their previous schools.

Kirkland and Cook have been around so long each has the distinction of having been a starter for the Huskies in the 2019 Rose Bowl against Ohio State, a game they lost 28-23. 

Martin has used fall camp to become a focal part of the UW defense as a physical, run-stopping edge player.

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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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