Husky Roster Review: With Odunze, Anything Goes for This Elite Player

The UW receiver appears headed to another big-production season.

Dan Raley | May 3, 2023

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Washington Huskies

Rome Odunze has been sensational since his earliest days with the University of Washington football team, notably starting his fourth game as an eager freshman wide receiver and making all sorts of acrobatic catches that day against Stanford. He made this happen in the middle of a pandemic, no less.

The following season in 2021, however, did him no favors whatsoever, same as Jimmy Lake, Zion Tupuola-Fetui, Edefuan Ulofoshio and countless others, with all of these program headliners either getting fired or injured as the Huskies tanked.

Odunze missed the first three games during that 4-8 downturn after suffering a shoulder separation and, combined with all of the losing, seemed to drop off the national radar some.

Leave it to a new football coach with an unstoppable offense to jumpstart this pass-catcher's reputation and put him back on the college football map.

"Through adversity, through the struggles, I think it's definitely made me a better person," Odunze said. "I think it's probably made me a better person than it has a football player because when you're going though those troubles, it's hard. ... That's football and why I love sports so much in general because it teaches you those lessons."

Odunze stands to be a generational player for the Huskies, maybe the school's second-greatest receiver of all-time, ranking behind only the legendary Reggie Williams (2001-2003).

Going down the roster from No. 0 to 99, Odunze, in jersey No. 1 on offense, is next up in a series of profiles about each of the Huskies' scholarship players and assorted walk-ons, where we sum up their spring football performances and surmise what might come next for them.

Rome Odunze has everyone believing he's headed for a big 2023 season after his spring showing that outdid everyone on his UW football team.

Rome Odunze waits for the snap in the final spring scrimmage and a chance to make JC transfer Thaddeus Dixon scramble to cover him.

In the final scrimmage, Rome Odunze gets a step on Husky edge rusher Sekai Asoau-Afoa while dropping out in the flat to make the catch.

Rome Odunze and Jabbar Muhammad, wearing the same number, had some memorable spring battles, with the receiving holding the upper hand.

After a fourth UW season, Rome Odunze will turn to the NFL draft intent on being a first-round draft pick next April, matching his jersey number.

Rome Odunze breaks free from Husky cornerback Jaivion Green and goes up to make this catch of a Michael Penix Jr. delivery in the final spring scrimmage.

DIVE BOMBER :: Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports

In the Alamo Bowl against Texas, Rome Odunze finished with 5 catches for 57 yards, hanging on here while getting knocked off his feet.

APPLE AUDITION :: James Snook/USA TODAY Sports

Rome Odunze was at his best in the Apple Cup, catching and running for touchdowns. He went 47 yards to score with this Michael Penix Jr. toss against Washington State.

Rome Odunze made an incredible juggling catch against Arizona and turned it into a 48-yard touchdown play in a 49-39 victory over the Wildcats.

YOUNG PUPS :: Scott Ecklund/UW Athletics

As a freshman in 2020, Rome Odunze wore No. 16 and red hair, white seated next to quarterback Kevin Thomson (7), Jalen McMillan (11) and Richard Newton (6).

After enjoying a 75-catch, 1,145-yard and 7-touchdown output last fall for an 11-2 Husky team, Odunze gave the NFL draft a lot of thought before choosing to come back, win again and solidify himself as a first-round selection in 2024.

He wasted no time is showing where his mindset is after putting on 15-17 pounds, taking advantage of every UW defensive back who tried to guard him and enjoying the best spring practice of anyone on the roster.

With a 6-foot-3, 217-pound frame and 4.39 40 speed, Odunze resembles another guy in Seattle with the same job requirements yet gets paid for it — the Seahawks' DK Metcalf. He's following that pro blueprint.

"I'm a bigger-set receiver, so being compared to DK Metcalf, that's a dream come true," Odunze said in September. "That guy's a beast, though. I've got to put on a few more LBs, a little more muscle, to be like that. But, yeah, I think DK's a great receiver and I'd love to be as strong as that."

For now, he'll remain Rome Odunze and see how many more wins the Huskies can get this coming season and how many more catches he can make.

He's already been pegged as a preseason All-America player, same as Williams, maybe becoming the nation's second-best receiver behind Ohio State's Marvin Harrison Jr. Or even better than that.

ROME ODUNZE FILE

Service: Odunze has played in 25 Husky games, starting 16, with his game-opening assignments much lower primarily because the coaching staff tends to use situational lineups with different personnel early on.

Stats: He enters his fourth season in Montlake with career numbers of 122 receptions for 1,632 yards and 11 scoring catches, plus a rushing TD last fall. He turned in five 100-yard receiving games in 2022.

Role: Odunze comes off a first-team All-Pac-12 season looking to have it all as a consensus All-American and first-round draft pick. He's gone from 6 receptions in 2020 to 41 a year later to 75, with maybe 80 to 85 a strong possibility this fall. He'll keep everything fun this season.

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Published May 3, 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.