Michael Penix Jr. reflects on decision to play for Kalen DeBoer at Washington

Michael Penix Jr. enjoyed his time playing for Kalen DeBoer at Indiana, so much so that when DeBoer was hired as the head coach at Washington, Penix transferred there in order to play for him again.

Penix joined SportsCenter on Saturday morning and reflected on that decision.

“Just from 2019, him coming to Indiana, I felt like every time I got the ball in my hands, I always had the opportunity to do something great with it,” Michael Penix Jr. said. “I never felt like I was not in control of the play and I didn’t know what I was doing. So I wanted to be a part of that again – just going out on the field and not really worrying about nothing.”

Kalen DeBoer was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Indiana in 2019 when Penix was a redshirt freshman.

DeBoer only spent one season with the Hoosiers, before taking over as the head coach at Fresno State. But that’s all it took for him to make a significant impact on Penix.

The Florida native played at Indiana from 2018-2021, before transferring to Washington ahead of the 2022 season, after DeBoer was hired as the head coach of the Huskies.

Needless to say, it has been a perfect match. Penix is now a Heisman finalist after throwing for 4,218 yards and 33 touchdowns this season, while Washington is undefeated and in the College Football Playoff.

Penix also looked back at his journey and how he got to this point after battling injuries during his time in Bloomington.

“It just takes a lot of perseverance and just trusting in the lord for me. I had a lot of setbacks, a lot of injuries throughout my career, but always trusting in my faith and always keeping my head on the right path and having people around me support me in a positive way. It definitely helped me out to be able to be in this situation I’m in today,” Penix said.

“Just knowing that I have somebody [like DeBoer] in my corner that’s going to prepare me to the utmost level to allow me to go out there and play free and just have fun [has helped].”

Michael Penix Jr. is one of four Heisman finalists, along with LSU‘s Jayden Daniels, Ohio State‘s Marvin Harrison Jr. and Oregon‘s Bo Nix. The Heisman winner will be announced Saturday night. Even being a finalist is quite the accomplishment for Penix, considering everything he has been through.