Washington Huskies football recent comings and goings
Between coaching hires, the early signing period, and the transfer portal, the Washington Huskies football team is going through a period of huge change.
Change is the only constant in life. Right now, the Washington Huskies football program is the embodiment of that mantra. UW brought in Kalen DeBoer as the new head football coach on November 29. Since then, it’s been a whirlwind of coaching hires, signing recruits, and transfer portal activity. We take a look at the Huskies’ recent comings and goings.
Inbound
Whether it’s from new hires, new transfers, or new recruits, there will be plenty of new faces donning the UW purple and gold in 2022.
The Portal Giveth
On December 14, Indiana University quarterback Michael Penix Jr announced his transfer to UW. At Indiana, Penix went through four injury-plagued seasons with the Hoosiers. Over his four seasons at IU, Penix played 20 games. In 2019, he had his best season. That was also the year DeBoer was Indiana’s offensive coordinator. Penix had his highest completion percentage, passing yards-per-attempt, rushing yards-per-carry, and QB rating. It’s obvious the two have good chemistry.
For his career, Penix completed 342 of 576 attempts for 4,197 yards, 29 touchdowns, and 15 interceptions. When you take his injuries into account, and the fact that Indiana isn’t one of the Big Ten’s better programs, those are good-looking numbers. He also has wins over marquee programs such as Michigan and Michigan State. That’s the big-game experience that Dylan Morris and Sam Huard lack.
Like Morris, Penix is left-handed, and given his experience, he should have an excellent chance to be the starter in 2022. Due to a redshirt and extra year of eligibility given by the NCAA, Penix has two more years of college eligibility.
The day after Penix joined the program, cornerback Jordan Perriman from UC Davis transferred in. Even if Perriman doesn’t start, he adds some valuable experience to a potentially young group of corners. The Huskies will likely lose three cornerbacks, Third-team All-American Trent McDuffie, Kyler Gordon, and Brendan Radley-Hiles, to the NFL.