Wins come first, Heisman hype follows for Penix Jr., Huskies

Despite the storied history of the Washington football team, college football’s most prized individual award, the Heisman Trophy, has never resided with a Husky. 

Thanks to senior quarterback Michael Penix Jr., there’s reason to believe that the 88-year stalemate could be broken in 2023. Returning to UW after an eighth-place finish in the Heisman voting in 2022, Penix Jr. can be found among the top of preseason Heisman odds lists, and will enter the season as one of the top candidates for the award.

An eye-opening campaign launched Penix Jr. onto the national radar in 2022 with 31 passing touchdowns, eight interceptions, and a whopping 4,641 passing yards. Additionally, Penix Jr. will have the luxury of throwing to his top two receivers from last season, returning juniors Jalen McMillan and Rome Odunze, who combined for over 2,000 receiving yards in 2022.

Adding in the fact that offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb has returned for a second season at the helm of the offense, and the scorching pace in which the Huskies finished the 2022 season, the Heisman campaign has been on full throttle for Penix Jr. 

However, Penix Jr. hasn’t been consumed by the preseason expectations. For him, it’s all about following the same process that got him to this point in the first place. 

“I’m not responsible to make anybody's predictions about me true,” Penix Jr. said. “I’m responsible for pushing myself extremely hard each and every day, responsible for helping this team win football games, responsible for helping this team get better each and every day — as far as the Heisman thing, for me, it’s just football.” 

The Heisman Trophy may follow for Penix Jr., but it’s not the hardware he’s focused on securing in the upcoming season. 

“I’m looking for a national championship,” Penix Jr. said. “The national championship comes with those big awards, so if we get that national championship, whatever comes with it — it is what it is.”

Winning comes first, the Heisman stuff can fall into place later. Not only is Penix Jr.’s team-oriented mindset admirable, it’s also historically accurate in terms of Heisman voting. Since 2010, there has been just one Heisman winner whose team won fewer than 10 games that season (Lamar Jackson’s Louisville squad won nine in 2016). Six times since 2009, the Heisman winner has also won a national championship in the same year.

The Heisman hype/team success correlation has also been historically true for the Huskies. The last time they had a top-6 Heisman finisher, Jake Browning in 2016, they won 12 games and made the College Football Playoff. In 2000, 16 years earlier, quarterback Marques Tuiasosopo finished eighth, as UW won 11 games, including the Rose Bowl, and finished No. 3 in the nation.

The Huskies’ best Heisman finish ever — defensive lineman Steve Emtman’s fourth place in 1991 — happened to come during their best season ever — a 12-0, national championship campaign.

Of course, Penix Jr. wouldn’t have reached his top-10 finish in 2022 had the Huskies not scorched the second half of their schedule, winning their final seven games, including an Alamo Bowl win over Texas, to finish in the top 10 of the AP Poll. 

Moral of the story: team success and Heisman consideration go hand in hand. If the Huskies find themselves near the top of the AP Poll, there’s a good chance Penix Jr. will be found atop the Heisman rankings. Winning will always rightfully be the focus for Penix Jr., but that won’t stop the influx of hype, articles, and social media posts heralding the Huskies’ quarterback as a Heisman favorite in the coming months. 

Luckily for Penix Jr., he’s comfortable managing it all. 

“It’s just a button,” Penix Jr. said. “I just click retweet.” 

Reach Sports Editor Ethan Kilbreath at [email protected]. Twitter: @EthanArles

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