Washington’s best players of 2023: No. 1 Michael Penix Jr.

Michael Penix Jr. asserted himself among Washington’s all-time greats with his 2023 performance.

Michael Penix Jr. asserted himself as arguably the best quarterback in Washington Huskies history in 2023, at the very least earning him a spot on the football program’s Mount Rushmore. He finished his career with a 25-3 record over his two seasons and came in second in the 2023 Heisman Trophy voting, the highest ever finish for a Husky.

Penix was voted as the No. 3 player in the country last season by Pro Football Focus after leading the nation in passing with 4,903 yards and his 36 passing touchdowns finished third behind Oregon’s Bo Nix and Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels.

For his efforts, Penix was honored with the 2023 Maxwell Award and was voted to Walter Camp’s First Team All-America. He also saw his name on the Associated Press’ Second Team All-America and the All-Pac-12 second team after showing up for coach Kalen DeBoer’s team in big moments all season long.

The former Indiana transfer also wrote himself into the Husky record books, as his 4,903 passing yards were the most in a single season by any Washington quarterback, breaking his own record of 4,641 from 2022. His 36 touchdowns were the second most for any quarterback in a single season, behind Jake Browning’s mark of 43 in 2016.

Penix also ranks third all-time in Washington history in both categories, sitting behind Browning and Cody Pickett in passing yards, and Browning and Keith Price in touchdowns.

He started his season with three straight 400+ yard passing performances, including throwing for 450 yards and 5 touchdowns in Washington’s season opener against Boise State. Then as the Huskies moved into Pac-12 play, Penix turned in an impressive performance against No. 8 Oregon, throwing for 302 yards and 4 touchdowns.

Whenever the Huskies needed a big play last season, Penix always delivered. In the Pac-12 championship, he threw for 319 yards and a touchdown, once again leading the Huskies to a victory over the No. 5 Ducks.

Then he had arguably the best game of his Washington career against the No. 3 Texas Longhorns in the Sugar Bowl to clinch a spot in the national championship. He put up 430 yards and 2 touchdowns making a number of high difficulty throws as the Huskies won their first New Year’s Six bowl game since the 2001 Rose Bowl.

Now as Penix turns his attention to the NFL draft, he could hear his name called in the first or second round and has the potential to become a franchise quarterback at the professional level in the right situation.

As Huskies Wire looks back on the 10 best players of the 2023 season, enjoy some of their best photos from our USA TODAY network of photographers.