The Huskies’ football debacle of 2021 is still hanging over the program like a lingering fog. But from the day he was hired in November as Jimmy Lake’s replacement, Kalen DeBoer has done everything he can to imbue the Huskies with a blast of fresh, cleansing air.
And now, as a new season dawns, there is the scent of change, of restoration, and of redemption hovering over the Huskies. And it comes at a fraught time when the very future of the Pac-12, and by extension the Washington program, hangs in the balance.
You never know how late-summer optimism will translate into autumn reality once the opponent is real and not just one’s own teammates on the opposite unit. But DeBoer, by all accounts, has succeeded in his first order of business, which is engendering total buy-in from his players, many of whom lived through last year’s underachieving 4-8 campaign, punctuated by the late-season firing of Lake.
That group of returnees has been supplemented by some highly intriguing transfers. Three of those transfers were elected captains, while Michael Penix Jr. has become the focal point of optimism surrounding the Huskies after winning a protracted three-man battle for the starting quarterback job.
Washington will need to improve in myriad areas to erase the bad vibes from 2021, when they lost their final four games, including a 40-13 humiliation in the Apple Cup. Their offense was unimaginative and poorly conceived, while their defense was far too susceptible to big plays, especially on the ground. But they have enough playmaking talent on both sides of the ball to at least envision a far more compelling result under a new regime with new tactics.
In DeBoer, they have a proven practitioner of the turnaround throughout his career. And in Penix, they have an explosive, experienced leader who has been stymied at every step by a series of injuries just when he seemed ready to step into stardom. But it is Penix’s perseverance through each setback — in addition to a résumé dotted with big-time, big-game performances at the highest level while at Indiana — that has won over his new Husky teammates. Penix is low-key, said offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, but don’t let that obscure a burning desire to win.
“[Penix] is his own kind of man,’’ Grubb said. “And what I mean by that is he’s reserved. He’s best at pulling the guy aside one-on-one, and he’s able to just relate to and talk to his teammates. … But when he has to step up and be the leader in front of the guys, everybody’s listening, because it’s not something that he does every second of the day.
“They know he experienced the big games, and the things that he’s overcome, the type of preparation that it takes. ”
As the Huskies prepared to open the season against Kent State and reverse the first vestige of gloom from 2021 — the loss to Montana that set a dark and foreboding tone from the outset — DeBoer was asked what a successful debut season would look like to him. As he has done consistently — and wisely — when asked similar questions throughout camp, he spoke not of wins and losses but of more esoteric things like growth and belief.
“What I want to see is the continuation of what we’re doing right now,’’ he said. “We know there’s going to be adversity. So, what’s that response look like to adversity, whether it’s in the course of a game or after a game, in between weeks. The guys know, I’ve put it this way: The national champions at every level, football or other sports, there’s adversity those teams face throughout the course of the year and a game.
“The key is you make that adversity, and that time you’re going through that, temporary. You do that by just having a mindset of, get it back on your side as quick as you can. Or working through it and sticking together if it’s a little tougher to work through.”
The Huskies ultimately crumbled under the weight of last year’s adversity. And now they’ll be playing the 2022 season in the context of a wildly unstable Pac-12 conference that was jolted by the pending departure of USC and UCLA to the Big Ten. That adds an extra element of gravitas to an already vital season on Montlake.
We’ll soon find out if this undeniable burst of fresh air gathering in the Husky program is permanent or just a precursor to the next storm.