Who Says Ja'Lynn Polk Has to Be the Huskies' No. 3 Passing Target?

The Texan has caught more long balls for touchdowns than anyone else.

Dan Raley | Feb 9, 2023

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Washington Huskies

Real simple, Ja'Lynn Polk makes things happen for the University of Washington football team.

He often is regarded as the Huskies' third passing option behind fellow wide receivers Rome Odunze and Jalen McMillan, but who's to say he doesn't leapfrog his other more-publicized teammates this fall and become the team's leading target?

Consider over two seasons in Montlake, the 6-foot-2, 199-pound sophomore from Lufkin, Texas, has more home-run touchdown catches than anyone on the UW team [see chart below] — and he missed three-quarters of the 2021 campaign with a broken collarbone.

Add to this the 60-yard scoring strike Polk hauled in for Texas Tech, his original college stop as a freshman, against TCU in 2020 and we see real pattern for instant points from this guy.

LONGEST HUSKY TD PASSES in 2021-22

84 yards — Jalen McMillan from Michael Penix Jr., Portland State, 2022

76 yards — Ja'Lynn Polk from Michael Penix Jr., Oregon, 2022

75 yards — Jalen McMillan from Michael Penix Jr., WSU, 2022

62 yards — Taj Davis from Michael Penix Jr., Oregon, 2022

55 yards — Ja'Lynn Polk from Dylan Morris, Colorado, 2021

53 yards — Ja'Lynn Polk from Michael Penix Jr., Michigan State, 2022

48 yards — Rome Odunze from Michael Penix Jr., Arizona, 2022

45 yards — Rome Odunze from Michael Penix Jr., Arizona, 2022

Odunze and McMillan are proven Husky football talents. Polk more often is the overlooked one.

An 11th-ranked Michigan State team lost sight of him this past season and paid deeply for it. He came away with a 6-catch, 153-yard and 3-touchdown performance, all career-high numbers, in a 39-28 victory at Husky Stadium.

In Eugene, Polk scorched No. 6 Oregon for a 76-yard scoring strike and a 27-24 lead in the third quarter that kept his team believing it could win and it did, 37-34.

Th0se were huge plays in arguably the two biggest games of the season, considering the opponents' rankings, as coach Kalen DeBoer established some football roots and his high-octane offense.

Ja'Lynn Polk has established himself as a valuable member of the UW football team over his two seasons in Montlake.

Ja'Lynn Polk gave the Arizona Wildcats fits as this Husky receiver caught 4 balls for 95 yards in a 49-39 victory.

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN / Skylar Lin Visuals

Enjoying a career day against Michigan State, Ja'Lynn Polk celebrates his 6-catch, 153-yard, 3-TD outing with fellow receiver Rome Odunze.

HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT / Skylar Lin Visuals

An Arizona defender just gets a hand on this ball intended for Ja'Lynn Polk in their Husky Stadium battle.

MORE APPLAUSE PLEASE / Skylar Lin Visuals

Everyone was congratulating Ja'Lynn Polk during his huge game against Michigan State, including fellow wide receiver Jalen McMillan.

Ja'Lynn Polk scored the first of his 6 touchdowns last season with a 12-yard scoring catch against Portland State.

DIVING FOR PAY DIRT / Skylar Lin Visuals

Getting around the corner, Ja'Lynn Polk finishes off his scoring catch against Portland State by plunging into the end zone.

ARMED AND DANGEROUS :: Joe Nicholson/USA TODAY Sports

Ja'Lynn Polk prepares to stiff-arm an Oregon State defensive back during their closely-contested game, a 24-21 Husky victory.

In his first UW season, Ja'Lynn Polk wore No. 12 before switching to 2 this past campaign.

HIGH TECH :: Andrew Dieb/USA TODAY Sports

Ja'Lynn Polk gets loose as a freshman for a 60-yard touchdown catch against TCU in 2020 with teammates cheering him on.

Odunze, McMillan and Polk entered the college ranks in the same recruiting class, yet the latter is designated as a sophomore rather than a junior such as the others because of that broken collarbone in 2021 that forced him to take a redshirt season.

Consequently their experience goes like this: McMillan has played in 27 college games, starting 17; Polk has appeared in 26, likewise opening 17 of them; and Odunze has 23 games under his belt, with 18 starts.

Polk, of course, had the misfortune of getting hurt on the first play of his Husky debut against Montana, catching a ball and taking a fateful hit over the middle, and he ended up across the street at UW Medical Center having surgery before the day was done.

In December, Polk played in the Alamo Bowl against Texas long enough to catch 3 balls for 45 yards, but he didn't finish because he got banged up again. If anything, he's not afraid to stick his nose into contact and deal with the consequences.

He had a productive 2022 season of 41 catches for 694 yards and 6 TDs, well behind the receiving stats for Odunze (75-1,145-7) and McMillan (79-1,098-9), but he's capable of getting a lot done.

Polk might have to wait until 2024 to be the main man on the receiving end of the UW passing attack, when the others no doubt have moved on. Then again, maybe not.

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Published Feb 9, 2023

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.