Michael Penix Jr. is having an unforgettable season with the Washington Huskies. But the road to becoming a Heisman Trophy finalist as the FBS leader in passing yards with a team in the College Football Playoff was hardly easy for the 23-year-old quarterback.
A top NFL Draft prospect, Penix has overcome a heartbreaking injury history throughout his college career, including four consecutive season-ending injuries.
Before transferring to Washington ahead of the 2022 college football season, Penix played for the Indiana Hoosiers. After completing passes in three games in 2018, the freshman quarterback tore his ACL in October and was out for the rest of the season. He made a recovery and returned to the field as a redshirt freshman for the 2019 season, but he was ruled out for the season in November with a sternoclavicular joint injury to his right (and non-throwing) shoulder.
Penix played in six games in an unusual 2020 season before suffering a second ACL tear in November that year, and then in 2021, he had an acromioclavicular joint separation in his throwing shoulder, sidelining him for the rest of that season.
He never played in more than six games in a single season for Indiana before transferring to Washington following the 2021 season. Since then, Penix has been healthy and flourished into one of college football’s best quarterbacks.
In his two seasons with Washington, he’s thrown for more than 9,000 yards and 66 touchdowns, and he put on an absolute clinic against No. 3 Texas in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Sugar Bowl.
