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UP FOR GRABS
The sky’s the limit for preseason All-America WR ROME ODUNZE who has the Biletnikoff Award and a lot more all within his grasp
BY BART POTTER • FOR GO HUSKIES MAGAZINE
They’re known as 50-50 balls, those passes seemingly up for grabs between defender and tightly covered receiver, with first downs, touchdowns, and wins or losses in the balance.
It might help a receiver to be big, strong and fast. But Husky junior Rome Odunze, who is all those things, said catching that kind of ball is as much mentality as physicality.
“I’m just really looking to be a taker. If the ball is in the air, it’s ours,” Odunze said. “I make sure I’m getting myself between the defender and the ball, putting myself in the best position to jump up and snag it.
“We try to think of it as a 100-to-0 ball.”
Las Vegas native Odunze, 6-foot-3 and 211 pounds, has caught enough passes of every stripe in his time at Washington to justify words like “AllAmerican” being placed near his name. His role in Washington’s 11-2 season of 2022, and the emergence of fellow members of his position group in synchrony with a left-handed wizard named Michael Penix Jr., are major reasons the football intelligentsia is placing the Huskies in the top tier nationally in preseason assessments for 2023.
Last year, Odunze collected 75 receptions for a Pac-12-leading 1,145 yards and seven touchdowns. His single-game performances included eight catches for 161 yards and a touchdown in a win against Stanford and five for 157 and a score in an Apple Cup victory against Washington State.
When he pulled in nine balls for a career-high 169 yards and two TDs against Arizona, he became the first Husky ever to top 100 yards in four straight games. He had six century-mark games for the season.
Odunze was a consensus All-Pac-12 first-teamer after the season and later named a first-team preseason All-America by Walter Camp and Athlon. Additionally, he’s been named as a third-team preseason All-America by the Associated Press and Pro Football Focus.
Odunze was also named to the Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll and the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District team.
He’s not the only talent in the UW receiver corps. Jalen McMillan, a junior from Fresno, caught a team-high 79 balls for 1,098 yards and six touchdowns in 2022. He had six receptions for 150 yards (to go with Odunze’s 157) as Penix Jr. passed for 485 yards in the Apple Cup.
Ja’Lynn Polk (Lufkin, Texas), a transfer from Texas Tech, put together a 41-catch, 694-yard performance in 2022 that included 153 yards and three touchdowns in a Week 3 win over Michigan State.
Odunze believes the high national expectations for the Huskies are warranted.
“We had a great year last year, and we retained a lot of guys that could have gone to the NFL,” he said. “That brings a lot of hype, and we are getting some high expectations, and we’re looking to exceed those. Our goal is to win the national championship, no matter what the expectations are.”
As for his personal goals, Odunze sets the bar high: 1,300 receiving yards, at least 80 receptions, double-digit touchdowns. He wants to win the Biletnikoff Award as the best college receiver in America.
This student of the game of football admits, respectfully, that he knows nothing about the man for whom the Biletnikoff Award is named. Fred Biletnikoff completed his Hall of Fame career decades before Odunze was born, and his excellence among the “split ends” and “flankers” of his day had little to do with breakaway speed and much to do with toughness, smooth pass routes and the stickiest hands in the game.
“I’m just really looking to be a taker. If the ball is in the air, it’s ours,” Odunze said.
When Odunze calls out current players he respects — and watches and studies — he starts with a receiver considered the best at his craft in today’s NFL.
“I really admire Devante Adams,” he said. “His release work, his route work, attacking the football, also just his knowledge of the game. I look at him a lot.”
Another is DeAndre Hopkins. “He always catches the rock,” he said. “I definitely admire his ability to go up and get the ball.”
Of Hopkins, he especially appreciates his YAC (Odunze pronounces it “yack”), which stands for yards after catch, the instinctive ability not only to come down with the football but to break loose and break tackles on the way to explosive plays.
“At that point it’s just back-yard football,” he said.
What will the pros see when they watch and evaluate Odunze?
“A top 15 draft pick, honestly,” he said. “I think I bring those qualities, bring that energy, bring that excitement.”
Expectations are high for Rome Odunze and the Washington Huskies, self-imposed and by the world at large. Their collective goal remains rock-steady: Nothing less than a national championship.
And those 50-50 balls?
In this back yard, there’s no such thing.
