Late in the 3rd quarter against the Arizona Wildcats, on first and ten from the Arizona 38 yard line, former 5-star quarterback Sam Huard, signaled in the play to Michael Penix. On the ensuing play Penix found Giles Jackson near the Husky sideline and Jackson took a score. The touchdown put the Huskies up 41-24.
Problem is that the score was negated by a Jaxson Kirkland hold.
1st and 20 from the Wildcat 48, no problem.
Down on Washington’s sideline, not far from Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer, Huard gestured in the next play to Penix.
“I was on the other side of the play. Mike had a good read,” said Ja’Lynn Polk. “He looked the safety off. I had a feeling that he was going to throw it to me at one point. But when he looked at me and turned around and seen Rome (Odunze) wide open. Everything was right there. It was amazing seeing things like that happen.”
What he saw was Penix see Odunze come open, “wide open” about the 12 yard line of Arizona and Odunze took the ball into the endzone from the Wildcat 2.
Also seeing things happen was Huard.
“Honestly, it’s no surprise to me,” receiver Ja’Lynn Polk said about Penix’s record-setting 516 passing yards. “He comes in and works his butt off every day.”
And that’s my point: witnessing the preparation, the mind-set, the trust that Penix has in the scheme might be the most important component is the heir-apparent to Penix’s job.
Polk went on to say he saw a performance like Penix’s record-setting performance coming long before Saturday afternoon.
“We seen it before it happened. Through the process of summer workouts, spring ball,” he said. “Everything just leading up to this moment.”
And that is best-case scenario for Huard’s development. From Haurd’s vantage point he can see that the team’s mantra of “no limits” isn’t just a catchy slogan but words the pass by.
“Huard has all of the tools of a 5-star QB,” said RealDawg.com’s Kaila Olin. “However, the importance of being mentored by Penix is immensely important, as well.”
To Olin’s point, being coached up is one thing, but having the most important position on the field being modeled right before his eyes, and modeled at an extremely high level will help Huard elevate Huard’s game once Penix moves onto the NFL.
Sure, Penix’s national-leading 2,560 passing yards has quieted the, “what’s wrong with Sam Huard” crowd, but the brief damage caused by ineffective coaching and problematic scheme should now be a thing of the past. Clearly, Penix is elite as a passer but his impact on the quarterback position will echo for years as it pushes Sam Huard’s ceiling even higher.
