We asked our Pac-12 football panel: Does the Kalen DeBoer-Michael Penix run at Washington feel like a one-hit wonder or the start of a new Don James Husky empire?
Matt Zemek, Trojans Wire: Kalen DeBoer is good. Assuming he can get a good spring portal pickup at quarterback, he should be able to keep things rolling on Montlake. However, this past season was unique at Washington. A lot of NFL-level talents decided to come back together for another year. That doesn’t happen very often. So many different factors converged to make 2023 Washington special. I doubt DeBoer will have a season as good as this one. It’s going to be his best season at UW. If DeBoer can regularly go 10-2 in Seattle, that would be great … and he has a strong chance of doing that.
Zachary Neel, Ducks Wire: I don’t think it’s fair to call the Huskies a one-hit wonder this year. I have too much respect for Kalen DeBoer and what he is doing up in Seattle to do that. He is among the best coaches in the nation and has proven that over the past couple of years. However, I think it is fair to question how good Washington will be next year without Michael Penix, Rome Odunze, Jalen McMillan, Bralen Trice, and all of their top players. The recruiting needs to pick up for Washington to continually play at this high of a level, but I think DeBoer can get them there.
Matt Wadleigh, Trojans Wire: This feels like a one-hit wonder to me. Kalen DeBoer has been magnificent (I followed him a lot at Fresno State). But, finding a player sich as Penix in the future might be tough, and this run feels like the Cincinnati Bengals’ Super Bowl run where they lost to the Rams — exactly a one-hit wonder. That’s not a bad thing by any means, but it does mean Washington faces certain limitations.
Don Smalley, Ducks Wire: Somewhere in between? DeBoer is a really good coach and a grand slam hire for the Huskies, but they’ll be down next season and will probably miss the playoffs next season. But they should be consistently good for a while.
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