RJ Young
FOX Sports National College Football Analyst
After two seasons as a Husky, Michael Penix Jr. has a chance to leave Washington as one of the most decorated quarterbacks in school history and perhaps the best player the university has ever produced in that short timespan.
But when he takes the field against No. 1 Michigan in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game on Monday (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN), seeing him in Washington purple could remind some of one of the greatest QBs in the history of football: Warren Moon.
In 2006, Moon became the first Black quarterback and undrafted quarterback to reach the Pro Football Hall of Fame, following success as a QB at Washington and then a long road to the top.
Moon has high hopes for Penix as a pro, while acknowledging there are those who doubt his ability to succeed in the NFL. Penix, 23, is older than Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson, 21. Plus, Penix suffered knee and shoulder injuries throughout college.
“He’s not being looked at that highly right now. It really surprises me,” Moon said of Penix. “I think the top three quarterbacks right now though, two of those are African-Americans (2022 Heisman winner Caleb Williams and 2023 Heisman winner Jayden Daniels), and I think Michael would be right there as the next one.”
In some ways, Penix’s path to this moment mirrors Moon’s. But really, Moon walked so Penix and other Black quarterbacks could run.
I asked Moon just how often someone falls over themselves to tell him how grateful we are to him for what he’s done for the sport, for Black folks like us.
“I do get that a lot,” he said. “And I really feel such gratitude from it. It wasn’t something I started out to do. But as I got deeper into it, I felt like, OK, maybe I’m one of the chosen ones that helps turn this whole thing around and change people’s perception of where we are as leaders and what we are as quarterbacks. And so I kind…
Source link : https://www.foxsports.com/stories/college-football/what-warren-moon-sees-in-michael-penix-jr-and-his-own-journey
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Publish date : 2024-01-05 17:49:09
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