Washington camp: Penix still resting, Grubb likes Mack's development
Plus: Scott Huff's evaluation of Parker Brailsford, and other observations from the Huskies' Wednesday practice.
SEATTLE — This time, it was Ryan Grubb’s turn to assuage any growing anxiety surrounding the status of Michael Penix Jr.’s apparently sore left arm.
For a third consecutive practice, Washington’s star quarterback threw only during drills and took no reps during team periods, again ceding No. 1 turns to Dylan Morris while true freshman Austin Mack took every snap with the No. 2 offense. Again, Penix stood behind the other quarterbacks, mimicking pre-snap activity, accumulating what coaches call “mental reps” as his teammates took the real ones.
Penix remained involved in practice. At one point, moments before the ball was snapped, Penix stepped forward to speak something into Mack’s ear.
“Mike did a great job the first couple days. We’re just being careful,” said Grubb, UW’s offensive coordinator and QBs coach. “He got a little bit sore, and (we’re) just being cautious. He threw yesterday. He threw today. So he’s doing great. It’s a really good opportunity, honestly — and I’m not even talking from a coordinator standpoint — but the development for Austin and D-Mo has been phenomenal right now, and Mike’s kind of involved working with those guys, too.”