SEATTLE — For the first time in the College Football Playoff era, the Washington Huskies are set to play for the national championship on Monday night in Houston.
The Huskies defeated the Texas Longhorns in the Sugar Bowl on New Year's Day, punching their ticket through to the 2024 College Football Playoff National Championship Game.
Every player and staff member with UW football played some part in getting the team to this point, but there are a few names that stand out among the rest. Here are some of the figures most central to the Huskies' ascension to the top of college football over the past few seasons.
Kalen DeBoer, head coach
UW's head football coach hails from the small town of Millbank, South Dakota, about a 15-minute drive from the state's border with Minnesota.
DeBoer's head coaching career began at his alma mater, The University of Sioux Falls, in December 2004. DeBoer's record with Sioux Falls was 67-3, and he won three National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) national championships with the Cougars (and was runner-up for a fourth). NAIA is a separate governing body from the NCAA (which includes UW, WSU, Gonzaga, etc.) and mostly consists of smaller institutions.
After several years as an offensive coordinator at the NCAA level, DeBoer was named the head coach at California State University, Fresno in 2020. The team went 3-3 in the pandemic-impacted 2020 season before leading the Bulldogs to a 9-3 record in 2021, which included a win over UCLA.
DeBoer was hired in November 2021 to coach at Washington. The team went 10-2 in 2022 and won the Alamo Bowl over Texas. DeBoer was named Pacific-12 Conference Coach of the Year, an honor he also won in 2023 while leading the Huskies to an undefeated regular season and win over Texas in the Sugar Bowl.
The Associated Press named DeBoer as their National Coach of the Year for the 2023 season, the first time a Husky coach has ever won the award.
DeBoer has drawn interest from larger programs around the nation for their coaching vacancies, but especially with his daughter set to join the UW Softball team next season, a departure seems highly, highly unlikely.
Michael Penix Jr., quarterback
A winding path brought the Huskies' star all the way to the Pacific Northwest from Dade City, Florida, located just northeast of Tampa.
Penix Jr. began his college career at Indiana University in 2018. Several major anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries as well as a dislocation of a shoulder joint kept Penix from ever playing a full season for the Hoosiers.
He transferred to Washington in 2021 to reunite with DeBoer, who had been his offensive coordinator for the 2019 season at Indiana.
Under DeBoer, Penix finished eighth in the Heisman Trophy voting in 2022 after throwing for over 4,600 yards and 31 touchdowns.
In 2023, Penix was the favorite for the Heisman for a significant portion of the season and topped his yardage total from his first year at UW. The Huskies finished the season undefeated, and Penix finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting while earning both Pac-12 Championship Game and Sugar Bowl MVP honors.
Rome Odunze, WR
Odunze came to Washington from the Las Vegas area, where he was a football and track standout at the nationally recognized program Bishop Gorman High School.
Odunze had six catches for 72 yards in his true freshman season, which was just six games due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, Odunze played in nine games and started seven, winning the annual Apple Cup Play of the Game for a 16-yard touchdown catch he had in the rivalry matchup with Washington State University.
In 2022, Odunze broke out with Penix as his quarterback for the first time. He led the Pac-12 in receiving yards with 1,145, which also was the fifth-highest single-season receiving total in program history. Like Penix, Odunze elected to return for his senior season with the Huskies despite promising NFL prospects.
Odunze ended up finishing as a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award in 2023, annually given to the best wide receiver in the nation. Odunze broke the school's receiving record during the Sugar Bowl win and has the chance to add to it in the National Championship Game against Texas.
Bralen Trice, EDGE
Trice played high school football down in Arizona at Sandra Day O'Connor High School in Phoenix. He committed to the Huskies but did not play his first two seasons after redshirting in 2019 and opting out of the 2020 season amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trice played in all 12 games in 2021, finishing with multiple sacks and a 72-yard fumble return for a touchdown. In 2022, Trice had the third-most sacks in the conference (nine) and won the Defensive MVP in the team's Alamo Bowl win over Texas.
A first-team All-American and team captain in 2023, Trice has started every game for the Huskies. Trice won Defensive MVP in the Sugar Bowl after dominating Texas with two sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.