Michael Penix Jr.’s wait is complete. The 2023 Maxwell Award winner and former Washington quarterback finally knows where he’s going to begin his NFL career.
The 2023 Heisman runner-up, Penix was the Atlanta Falcons with the eighth pick of the first round becoming the fourth quarterback off the board in the 2024 NFL Draft on Thursday. He’s the second quarterback in Washington history drafted in the first round, joining Jake Locker, the eighth overall pick in the 2011 draft.
Penix was the first Washington player selected in the first round.
“I’m just ready to see where I’m going so I can help a team win football games,” Penix said March 28.
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Penix spent two years at Washington rewriting the program’s record books. He set the single-season passing record in 2022 after arriving from Indiana, then broke it again by throwing for 4,903 yards in 2023. He had a 25-3 record while wearing the purple and gold, and led the Football Bowl Subdivision in passing yards during both his seasons on Montlake.
The left-handed signal caller from Tampa, Fla. owns almost all of Washington’s junior and senior passing records. His 9,544 passing yards rank third all-time in program history, behind only Jake Browning and Cody Pickett. Penix played in 28 games for the Huskies — 25 fewer than Browning and 12 fewer than Pickett.
Penix led Washington to their first Alamo Bowl victory in 2022, beating Texas 27-20. A year later, he guided the Huskies to their first College Football Playoff win, beating the Longhorns again, this time in the Sugar Bowl, 37-31. Penix threw for 430 yards and two touchdowns while adding 31 yards rushing to lead Washington to its first CFP championship game.
He was undefeated in three games against archrivals Oregon, including a 34-31 win against the Ducks during the final Pac-12 championship game.
“It did fly by,” Penix said March 28. “Coming here, I didn’t know what to expect. I just expected to find a way to win football games and get back to having fun, and I was able to do that. I was super blessed about that. That’s what’s been keeping me going, having people that supported me through the whole journey, through the whole process no matter what.”
Despite the accolades, championships and program records, Penix’s stock fluctuated throughout the pre-draft process. His medical history, in particular, worried draft analysts.
The 6-foot-2, 217-pound quarterback suffered four season-ending injuries during his four years at Indiana. He tore his right ACL during his freshman and redshirt freshman seasons. A fractured right clavicle ended his sophomore season, before he separated his right AC joint as a junior in 2021. He transferred to Washington the next season and didn’t miss a game during his two-year tenure with the Huskies.
Following Washington’s 34-13 loss to Michigan in the CFP championship game, Penix participated in the Senior Bowl where he was named a starter before opting to sit out of the actual game.
At the NFL combine, Penix was one of the only top quarterbacks who went through the throwing drills, along with Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy and Oregon’s Bo Nix. Penix also threw at Washington’s pro day on March 28, and ran the 40-yard dash, registering an unofficial time around 4.5 seconds. He also had a 36.5-inch vertical jump and a broad jump reaching 10 feet, 5 inches.
“I just wanted to show I’m athletic, and I can do it with my legs if I have to,” Penix said at pro day.
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