Tag: Jalen McMillan

Watch: Washington gets back in the game with a score before halftime

Michael Penix Jr makes it a one-score game with a touchdown pass in the National Championship game

Early on, it looked like the Michigan Wolverines would run away with the National Championship game. With a 17-3 lead, they looked dominant. However, just before halftime, the Washington Huskies put together a drive of their own, capped by a Michael Penix Jr touchdown pass to Jalen McMillan.

The drive started on the Washington 39-yard line. The drive spanned 11 plays and 61 yards. The Huskies Southpaw started to heat up as he led the offense down the field to get back within striking distance.

The touchdown pass came on 4th down after Michigan failed on a 4th down attempt of their own. With the Huskies getting the ball back after halftime, it could signal a big momentum shift in the game. Penix Jr will look to keep it up in the 2nd half.

Michael Penix Jr. points out penalty, throws TD pass on same play

Michael Penix Jr. did it all on his second-quarter TD pass for Washington

Michael Penix Jr. got Washington back in the CFP National Championship Game in Houston on Monday with a fourth-down TD pass in the second quarter.

Talk about poise. Penix takes the time to point out one of his receivers is being held/interfered with before throwing the TD pass on fourth down.

The pass to Jalen McMillan and the PAT brought the Huskies to within 17-10 at the half.

College Football Playoff semis could be a wide receiver draft showcase

A plethora of wide receiver prospects will be on display in the CFP semifinal games

It’s fitting that the four participants in the College Football Playoff have an abundance of future NFL draft picks on their rosters. This year’s final four is especially loaded at one particular position.

There will be many wide receivers who will be selected in the 2024 NFL draft on the field when Michigan faces Alabama and especially when Washington and Texas face off.

The Huskies have three draftable wide receivers. The headliner is Rome Odunze, a likely first-round pick with his blend of size, strength and downfield ability. Ja’Lynn Polk currently projects in the 75-125 overall range with his sticky hands and ability to win at any range of the field. Jalen McMillan is one of the top slot threats in the draft, if he declares, though he’s also capable of playing outside and is hyper-effective out of bunch sets.

Texas has a duo in Adonai Mitchell and Xavier Worthy that appears capable of each being top-40 overall picks. Worthy’s incredible speed is a great trump card; he had the fastest GPS-timed speed of any player in college football at 22.7 MPH. At just 172 pounds and plagued by drop issues and injuries, Worthy won’t be for everyone, however. Mitchell offers great size and thrived down the field after transferring from Georgia. He’s also a handful as a blocker.

Michigan’s Roman Wilson quietly improved his all-around game, enough that the speedy Wolverine is in the 3rd/4th-round conversation. His ability to work with QB J.J. McCarthy on broken plays will be mighty appealing for NFL teams with improvisational-type quarterbacks. Cornelius Johnson offers good size and the ability to make tacklers miss, and he projects as a Day 3 weapon.

Alabama is young at the wideout spot, but Jermaine Burton has the potential to be a middle-round pick if he declares for the draft.

Enjoy the games!

Texas vs. Washington will feature a bevy of talented pass catchers

Texas vs. Washington will feature a bevy of talented pass catchers looking to the 2024 NFL draft

The College Football Playoff matchup between Washington and Texas figures to be a track meet with offenses that can score points in bunches. It’s a matchup that will feature six pass catchers that could all end up being selected in the Top 100 when the 2024 NFL Draft rolls around. 

Rome Odunze, WR, Washington

Odunze passes the eye test with his size and athleticism. He’s able to vary his route speed to keep defensive backs off balance and has a lot of branches on his route tree. After enjoying a breakout campaign last season, Odunze heads into the matchup against Texas with 81 receptions for 1,428 yards and 13 touchdowns.

Projected round: 1st

Adonai Mitchell, WR, Texas

The Georgia transfer finished his first season at Texas with 51 receptions for 813 yards and 10 touchdowns. At 6-4, Mitchell is a long wide receiver with smooth body control. Mitchell accelerated quickly off the line of scrimmage and wins vertically with his long strides. Mitchell has strong, accepting hands and according to Pro Football Focus, Mitchell has just one drop on the season.

Projected round: Late 1st/early 2nd

Xavier Worthy, WR, Texas

A former track athlete, Worthy is a big-play creator with his instant accelerator. Worthy finished the regular season with 73 receptions for 969 yards and five touchdowns. He also returned a punt for a touchdown. It’s worth noting that Worthy exited the Big 12 Championship Game with an injury and later appeared on crutches, so his status for this matchup will be worth monitoring. 

Projected round: 2nd

Ja’Lynn Polk, WR, Washington

Polk has made a habit of making highlight reel-worthy catches all season. He has outstanding body control and strong hands to make catches in traffic look like a walk in the park. With Jalen McMIllan sidelined for the majority of the season, Polk has enjoyed a breakout season, with 60 receptions for 1,000 yards and eight touchdowns. 

Projected round: 2nd

Ja’Tavion Sanders, TE, Texas

Sanders finished the regular season with 39 receptions for 607 yards and two touchdowns. At 6-4 with the speed to win vertically, Sanders has the tools to be a mismatch nightmare working the middle of the field. He adjusts well outside his frame and has strong hands (zero drops). Once he reels in it he has some juice after the catch.

Projected round: 2nd

Jalen McMillan, WR, Washington

McMillan missed a good portion of the season due to injury. He still finished with 34 receptions for 468 yards and three touchdowns. He also added a rushing touchdown against Boise State in the season-opener. A former track athlete, McMillan is an explosive playmaker. With another strong outing, McMillan could cement his status as one of the top wide receivers in a loaded class.

Projected round: 2nd

 

5 Washington Huskies Oregon needs to watch for on Saturday

5 Washington Huskies Oregon needs to watch for on Saturday

In all honesty, we could have gone with a dozen of players for this 5 opponents article featuring the Washington Huskies. But we had to keep it down with the obvious for the No. 6 team in the nation and a team that will present Oregon’s biggest challenge of the season.

Unlike USC, the Huskies are very good on both sides of the ball. They also have a coaching staff that knows what it is doing, which is a far cry from the previous leadership under Jimmy Lake. Washington is a bonafide national championship contender and for the first time in the series history, both teams come into the game ranked in the Top 10 in both the AP and Coaches poll.

Fortunately, Oregon has a team that is very capable of going on the road and defeating a club such as this. But the Ducks will have to pay a little extra attention to these five Dawgs in Oregon to avoid the first loss of the season.

2024 NFL draft: Preseason WR watch list and early rankings

An early ranking of the receivers in the 2024 NFL draft class and WR watch list from Draft Wire’s Jeff Risdon

Wide receiver is generally one of the deepest positions in every draft. It’s also one where players can rise quickly, notably underclassmen or transfers who benefit from better QB play or a more conducive scheme.

These are very fluid rankings. In general, these are early impressions about the NFL potential of players who still have a considerable amount of football to play before they’re drafted.

With some feedback and info from a couple of team-employed NFL scouts and an active player agent, here is an early listing and my preliminary ranking for the wide receivers in the NFL draft class of 2024.

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Who has the most talented wide receiver room in the Pac-12?

Washington has Rome Odunze and Jalen McMillan. Oregon has Troy Franklin and Tez Johnson. Who in the Pac-12 has the most talented WR room?

It’s the offseason, which means that for a large majority of the college football world, it’s time to rank things.

Be it teams, schedules, players, or recruiting classes, fans always love a chance to pit their favorite school up against the best of the best in their conference or in the nation at large, seeing how they stack up against the rest.

While we’ve spent a lot of time talking about the quarterbacks in the Pac-12 — and for good reason — we decided to take a closer look at the wide receivers in the conference this week. On Monday we ranked the top 25 pass-catchers out west, showing which QB in the Pac-12 had the best guys to throw to. Now we want to build off of that ranking and see which team is best suited when it comes to overall WR talent.

This early in the offseason, it’s hard to know which guys are going to step up and be contributors for their respective teams. While there are a handful of new names that will likely break out and burst onto the scene, that can be hard to forecast. So for these team rankings, we looked purely at the talent at the top of the depth chart. Which QB has the most talented stable of receivers at the top to choose from?

Quite simply, which school in the Pac-12 has a WR corp with the most number of top-25 receivers? When you break it down like that, the process is pretty simple. Let’s take a look.

Troy Franklin one of 7 returning Pac-12 WRs ranked among top 25

Of the 25 best returning WRs in 2023, seven play in the Pac-12. Oregon’s Troy Franklin is one of those seven.

It’s no secret that the Pac-12 conference is going to be highly competitive in 2023, with an insanely stacked lineup of veteran quarterbacks taking the stage to go at it out west.

With guys like Bo Nix, Caleb Williams, Michael Penix, Cam Rising, and Cameron Ward all returning for another season, there’s a good chance that the Pac-12 is among the best conferences in the nation. Of course, when you add in the fact that all of those quarterbacks will have some incredibly talented wide receivers to throw to as well, it makes it almost unfair.

This past week, 247Sports went through and ranked the top 25 returning wide receivers in college football for the 2023 season. Amazingly, seven of the top 25 all resided in the Pac-12. Here is the breakdown from all Power 5 conferences:

  • SEC — 8
  • Pac-12 — 7
  • Big Ten — 4
  • ACC — 3
  • Big 12 — 1
  • Other — 2

Here are all of the Pac-12 receivers who made the cut: