Joel Klatt evaluates why Michael Penix Jr.'s game translates to the NFL

One of the most fascinating prospects ahead of the 2024 NFL Draft is Michael Penix Jr., the left-handed quarterback out of Washington who helped lead the Huskies to a national championship appearance last season and ranked second in Heisman Trophy voting.

Not many rankings or draft boards will have Penix ranked at the very top of their list among an elite group of passers in this year’s draft class. But college football analyst Joel Klatt believes that Penix’s particular skillset perfectly aligns with today’s NFL game.

“He does one thing through the roof well, like incredible, and it’s the one thing that you see quarterbacks have to do the most in playoff situations. And that is control the game with leverage throws from the pocket, in the heat of the moment can you do that? And Michael Penix does that as well as any of these players,” Klatt said.

Penix spent the first four years of his college career at Indiana before transferring to Washington ahead of the 2022 season where he’d take his game to the next level. Throwing for over 3,000 yards and 30 touchdowns in each of his last two seasons with the Huskies, doing so as one of the most accurate passers in college football.

“When you see highlights of him, even when he’s throwing the ball 30, 40, 50 yards down field he’s missing on the correct side,” Klatt began to explain. “The ball has proper leverage, he’s always putting his player between the ball and the defender so the ball is always away from the defender.”

It’s no secret that Penix had one of, if not the, best wide receiving units in college football. Headlined by Rome Odunze, Ja’Lynn Polk, Jalen McMillan who will all likely hear their names called in the 2024 NFL Draft as well and celebrated respective 1,000-yard seasons with Penix as their quarterback. But Klatt broke down how Penix’s elite ball placement set his wideouts up for the maximum potential for success throughout their careers.

“It drives me nuts when I watch quarterbacks throw the ball down the field and they short wide receivers, they lead them into coverage. They make the play more difficult on the wide receiver, whereas if I’m playing receiver for Michael Penix he’s putting the odds in my favor because the ball is in the proper area for me to go catch it,” Klatt said. “Lower odds for the defender, higher odds for me. It’s always that way, I’m telling you, it’s exquisite.”

Penix did have his fair share of injuries early in his college career and doesn’t quite have the mobility and dual-threat rushing ability as some of his 2024 classmates. But Klatt believes that he showed exactly why that won’t necessarily be an issue during his NFL career on one of college football’s biggest stages last season.

“His performance against Texas in the national semifinal is a case study in how you have to play at the NFL level in the playoffs,” Klatt said. “This guy was pressured 16 times, didn’t take a sack. Most of that pressure was from right up the middle against guys that, by the way, are going to be in the National Football League and selected really high in this draft.”

Penix completed 76.3% of his passes for a whopping 430 yards and two touchdowns versus the Longhorns to take Washington to the national championship game. And although he struggled against the Wolverines in the final game of the season, Klatt believes that Penix has all of the necessary tools to translate his play to the NFL level.

“He started 45 games. He’s older, he’s mature, he’s 24, he hasn’t been injured in two years, and he throws the ball post-snap with great reads and great leverage and that’s exactly what you need in the NFL to be a really good player,” Klatt concluded.