Inside The Huskies

UW's Rosengarten, Polk Receive Freshmen All-American Accolades

The big tackle and elusive receiver each have three more seasons to play for the Huskies.

Dan Raley

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In a vote for the Husky football future, University of Washington redshirt freshmen offensive tackle Roger Rosengarten and wide receiver Ja'Lynn Polk earned freshmen All-American honors from College Football News.

On Tuesday, Rosengarten was named to the first team, Polk to the third team, by the publication.Β 

Both have played as redshirt freshmen this season for the 10-2 Huskies team, with the 6-foot-6, 303-pound Rosengarten starting all 12 games and Polk, used in different game-opening alignments, starting seven times.

Rosengarten, a star in the making with three more years of eligibility remaining if he chooses to use it, began the season by beating out two-season, starting right tackle Vick Curne.

"He's a smart player," UW coach Kalen DeBoer said. "He's got a mindset you like from an offensive-line standpoint. He's going to get after you. He's a finisher. He's got a little of that bully-ness to him when he's playing."

The Huskies often ran through the right side of the line behind Rosengarten's kick-out or pancake blocks while averaging 521.7 yards per game, including a season-high 703 against Washington State in a 51-33 Apple Cup victory in Pullman.

Ja'Lynn Polk scored three times against Michigan State.
Ja'Lynn Polk celebrates his 3-touchdown catch day against Michigan State / Skylar Lin Visuals

Polk, who began his career at Texas Tech before transferring to the UW and missed most of 2021 with a broken collarbone suffered in the opener, ranks as the team's third-leading receiver with 38 catches for 649 yards and 6 touchdowns.Β 

He was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week for his 6-catch, 153-yard, 3-touchdown outing in a 39-28 victory over Michigan State at Husky Stadium.

"He's a juice guy," DeBoer said. "He's a guy from what everyone told me really motivated the wide-receiver corps."

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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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