Michael Penix Jr. identifies his No. 1 goal during Senior Bowl week

After a phenomenal college career that ended in the national title game, Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. is now preparing for the NFL Draft. That, of course, starts with the Senior Bowl.

As the Senior Bowl festivities began, Penix shared what he sees as his biggest goals for the week. That starts with building good and strong relationships with players and coaches both on and off the field.

“The first thing — I wanted to come in here and build relationships,” Michael Penix Jr. said. “Build relationships with these players, with these coaches. I’m playing this week with the best of the best from their schools at each position. So it’s just a blessing to be able to be here and to build and connect with these guys each and every day.”

The Senior Bowl is an event that includes a week of practice before the country’s top seniors play in a game against one another. Throughout the process, the players have the chance to get coached by NFL coaches, which is a part of the event that Penix is very excited about.

“And the coaches, you know, just having an opportunity to be out here in front of the coaches to show my talent and show my leadership skills and the way I go about my each and every day process. It’s a blessing to be able to do that, and I’m taking full advantage of it.”

There are a lot of reasons why building relationships is going to be important for Penix. One of the biggest, though, is his role as a quarterback.

“I feel like building relationships for me was natural. Obviously being in a quarterback position, you’ve got a lot of things that you look forward to, going into a program. You know you have to build those relationships to be able to get comfortable, to be able to lead in the right way. Because not everybody takes leadership the same way.”

Michael Penix Jr. dishes on relationship with Oregon QB Bo Nix during Senior Bowl week 

Michael Penix is working with Oregon quarterback Bo Nix during the Senior Bowl. After competing against one another on the field during the last two seasons and now both looking to impress NFL scouts, it makes for an interesting relationship.

“Yeah man, Bo is an incredible guy. He comes out here, works extremely hard, on the field, off the field, he’s a man of principles and morals. He comes out here and works. We’ve been having a good connection,” Penix said.

“I know the Oregon and Washington thing, you wouldn’t expect two of us to be close. But he’s a good guy, man. A good athlete, as well. So I’m glad to be around him and glad to be able to work with him this week.”

On3’s Matt Connolly contributed to this article.