Washington and Michigan will play in the College Football Playoff national championship game on Jan. 8 at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas.
Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. committed to Tennessee and head coach Butch Jones in April 2017. Jones was relieved of his duties as the Vols’ head coach on Nov. 12, 2017 by Tennessee athletics director John Currie.
Former Tennessee head coach Phillip Fulmer was hired to replace Currie as athletics director on Dec. 1, 2017. Fulmer hired Jeremy Pruitt as the Vols’ next head coach six days later.
Penix Jr. decommitted from Tennessee six days after Fulmer hired Pruitt.
Ahead of the Washington-Michigan national championship game, Penix Jr. was asked about Tennessee not retaining him in its recruiting class under Pruitt.
“Yeah, they took my offer,” he said.
Penix Jr. also discussed if he had extra motivation to prove himself after Tennessee rescinded the scholarship offer.
“I wouldn’t say it did anything,” he said. “At the moment I didn’t understand it, but at the same time, I knew the skill sets that I had, and I knew that I was going to be able to find a way to be successful wherever I went. I don’t look back on that and like, oh, I gotcha. It’s nothing like that. For me, it was just always trying to do whatever I can to help whatever team I was on win football games. It didn’t matter where I was. As long as it was somewhere I felt confident and somewhere that the team trusted me.”
READ: Michael Penix’s timeline from a Vols’ commit to national title game
