Damon Huard: UW Huskies’ Michael Penix ‘is ready for the NFL’

We’ll get to see Michael Penix Jr. start at quarterback at least one more time for the UW Huskies.

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Penix, who finished second in Heisman voting this year, helped guide Washington to a perfect 13-0 record so far and now the Huskies will take on Texas in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1.

Whether or not the Sugar Bowl is Penix’s last game with UW remains to be seen, but once his season is done, Penix will be NFL bound.

“Hopefully, Damon, they win and seven days later (Penix gets to) sling it one more time at NRG Stadium down there in Houston for the national championship, so (then) he’ll get two more games and then the full evaluation will be on,” Brock Huard said to his brother Damon, who is also a former NFL and UW Huskies quarterback. “He will be picked apart, he will be discussed, he will be analyzed.”

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Brock Huard said he’s been looking at NFL Draft big boards, and he often sees Penix tabbed as a late-first or early-second-round pick.

“I’m curious, I’m not going to ask you about draft standings, I’m just curious about his NFL play,” Brock Huard said. “Are there things that he does in his game no that maybe he’s gotta sharpen up gonna be a little bit different at the next level? Or do you think the game just totally translates and he could be Year 1 starter in the NFL?”

Replied Damon Huard, “I think it’s gonna be all about the system, the team he goes to as far as playing early.”

As far as Penix’s skillset, Damon Huard doesn’t see there being any issue with him translating to the NFL level.

“He has the arm talent and the ability to be accurate deep down the field, which you have to do in the National Football League. He has the anticipation skills, and even more than anything else, he’s played so much football,” he said. “You kind of look back these last few years these guys these Mitchell Trubisky (types where), ‘Oh, he’s really good one year (in college).’ Michael Penix is a six-year player. He’s 23 years old, and he’ll be 24 as a rookie and he’s played a lot of football. And with his arm talent if he goes to the right place, he’s gonna be just fine.”

That being said, there will be an adjustment for Penix, but it’s one that all players have to deal with going from college to the NFL.

“The biggest adjustment for every quarterback going to the NFL is the speed of the game,” Damon Huard said. “But he is ready for the National Football League.”

Listen to the conversation at this link or in the player near the top of this story.

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