Former Vols HC Jeremy Pruitt wasn't the only coach of a major college football program to pass on QB Michael Penix Jr
The story of former Washington Huskies quarterback Michael Penix Jr's recruitment has been repeated ad nauseam at this point. Penix, if you don't remember, was committed to the Tennessee Vols in 2017. After the Vols fired Butch Jones, the coach that Penix committed to, the new Tennessee head coach, Jeremy Pruitt, pulled Penix's scholarship offer. […]
The story of former Washington Huskies quarterback Michael Penix Jr's recruitment has been repeated ad nauseam at this point.
Penix, if you don't remember, was committed to the Tennessee Vols in 2017.
After the Vols fired Butch Jones, the coach that Penix committed to, the new Tennessee head coach, Jeremy Pruitt, pulled Penix's scholarship offer.
“The truth of the matter is we all watched the tape and, just being completely honest, we didn’t think he was good enough at that point in his career when he was 17 years old," said Pruitt this past winter. "It’s not a perfect science. But look at him now, he’s two inches taller and 30 pounds heavier, a grown man. I’m happy for him, it has worked out great.”
Pruitt wasn't the only head coach of a major college football program to pass on Penix during the recruiting process.
Jayson Roberts, Penix's high school coach at Tampa Bay Tech, recently told The Athletic that Ryan Day, then the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Ohio State, was impressed by Penix after seeing the quarterback throw on an incredibly windy day in Florida.
Then Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer, however, didn't want to take Penix over four-star quarterback Tate Martell due to the relationship between the Buckeyes and Martell's high school (Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas).
From The Athletic: “Mike went out and was just ripping the ball through the wind, just throwing dots,” Roberts said. “After the workout, I talked to coach Day for a little bit. He said, ‘I don’t have a quarterback in my quarterback room right now who could make those throws in these conditions.’”
According to Roberts, Day told Roberts that he would prefer to take Penix ahead of four-star prospect Tate Martell, but then-Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer didn’t want to harm the relationship with Martell’s Bishop Gorman High School.
Recruiting quarterbacks — especially guys that aren't obvious five-star talents — is an inexact science. It's easy to criticize in retrospect, but hitting on a quarterback recruit can truly be a roll of the dice. Sometimes a coach looks like a genius for guessing correctly and sometimes they look like a fool for guessing wrong.
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