Washington Huskies College Football Pregame Quote, 12/30/2023

Q. You threw over 1,000 yards receiving this year, a lot of touchdowns, several big games. You’ve got Rome [Odunze] doing what Rome does, and Jalen [McMillan] is getting healthy again. Talk about this wide receiving corps and how good you guys are.

JA’LYNN POLK: Being in that room and just coming in from where I started at, and being able to just come in there with a great group of guys to be able to just push me to my limits and get me to reach that next level that I knew I was capable of, they make it so much easier.

Just being in there, it’s exciting going into the game because, you know, we’ve got weapons all around. So we lean on each other each and every day. We push each other each and every day. They’re my brothers.

Q. With the talent of you three wide receivers, we haven’t been able to see some guys like Denzel [Boston] who’s got a lot of talent. Tell me about him as a young receiver coming up in this program. What makes him special?

JA’LYNN POLK: We’ve got a bunch of guys in there that are ready for that opportunity at any moment. And that’s what makes our group so special is because we push everybody no matter who it is. If you’re at the bottom of the depth chart, you’re at the top of the depth chart, we treat everybody the same with the same amount of respect because everybody is talented. Everybody is here for a reason. Everybody came to the university and had an opportunity to come to the University of Washington for a reason. So we just hold each other to the same standard and just keep pushing each other, everybody in that room.

Q. You got a pick in this game last year, the Alamo Bowl. Are you talking about getting another one or anything like that?

JA’LYNN POLK: No, we usually leave it. We don’t really say too much as far as before the game. We leave it all out there whenever we step on the field with each other. But, you know, I look back at his pick all the time because, on that same drive, on the first play, I caught the first play of the game. Everybody executed that play at a high level, O-line was doing their job, tight ends were doing their job, running backs and Mike [Michael Penix] as well and all the receivers.

On that same drive when I was able to make that play, but just seeing two kids that come from that same opportunity, you don’t really see too many opportunities to see somebody on the biggest stage like that be able to compete, two athletes coming from the same hometown. And we’re on the biggest stage and we’re here again, so just us being the example for Lufkin right now and us being able to be here and do this right now, it’s a special moment.

Q. And how is it with [Coach Kalen] DeBoer? You had a coaching change from who was recruiting you. How is that transition?

JA’LYNN POLK: The transition, it was special. I see everything just as a part of the story, from transferring and coming in from the first year, and it being how it was.

And for DeBoer and his staff coming in and just changing this program like it was nothing in the blink of an eye. And coming off these two losses after that first year is, like, everybody was on it. Everybody on the team was on the same type of timing. We knew for a fact that we needed everybody to buy into Coach [Ryan] Grubb, Coach DeBoer. Everybody on the staff believes in the things that they’ve done, and everybody bought into it.

And it was like a domino effect. And once it was a domino effect, it was just like we got the ball rolling and we went into the second offseason. And it was a grind. It was a grind. And now look. We’re here right now, and we’re still going. And we’re going to keep going and keep running the race that we know that’s in front of us.

Q. Can you let yourself think about next week, about possibly playing a national championship game in Houston and to be as close as you are right now to be in Texas for what that could mean?

JA’LYNN POLK: Anybody that says they don’t think about it, they’ve got to be lying. You get a glimpse and a thought of it every once in a while, but, of course, you’ve got to keep the main thing the main thing and take it one game at a time, one practice, one day at a time and just be ready for that moment and handle business while we’re where we’re at right now and move on to the next.

But the main focus, of course, is Texas right now.

Q. How crazy is Coach [JaMarcus] Shephard?

JA’LYNN POLK: I love that guy. Comes with great energy each and every day. It’s hard not to get better. He’s going to push you with his energy coming into the room. He’s going to get you out of your comfort zone. He’s going to make you get better.

And I think with him pushing you out of your comfort zone to work on the things that you need to work on and just having that dog mentality and just go out there each and every day and sacrifice your body for your teammates and just go out there and ball, it’s an honor to have somebody as a coach like Coach Shephard for sure.

Q. What makes [Ryan] Grubb such a good OC?

JA’LYNN POLK: Grubb competes with every other coach in the country. He wants to separate himself from everybody else as much as we want to separate ourselves from other players and other teams as well. I remember one week, we were having — we get up in the morning, have our breakfast and stuff like that. I look out the window of a hotel and I see Coach Grubb out there jogging around at the crack of dawn. And I’m like, man, does Grubb ever stop?

And he’s always finding ways to make this offense more explosive, down in the details. How many more walk-throughs can we have in order for us to dial this up? Or let’s run this play one more time to make sure it’s where it needs to be. Always finding ways to just make this whole team, especially the offense, more explosive.

Q. What’s kind of going through your mind as you’re just days away from this?

JA’LYNN POLK: It’s just getting closer. I think the main thing, just keep repeating over and over in my mind is all right, what can I do right now in order to get me prepared for this game? Do I need to go over the script one more time? Do I need to go watch film a little bit more? Because we can get caught up in Monday’s almost here and we’re not able to get better and stay tuned on the things that we need to do right now that’s leading up to our preparation. Just preparing as much as possible that I can and just striving each and every day to figure out how can I make my preparation better for this game?

Q. You guys have the number one passing offense that we’ve been talking about. You guys’ passing offense versus UT’s defense. What do you want to show those guys that you all are the number one passing team?

JA’LYNN POLK: It’s already out there. You turn on the film and you can see it. So I feel like much doesn’t need to be said other than I know we going to go out there and do. I know what my guys are going to go out there and do. I know what the whole team is going to do. And now we’ll just go show the world again why we are where we are, why we’re really like that.

And I feel like a lot of times these media guys and other people outside the world don’t reach watch the film and turn on the film because we continuously are the underdogs each and every game. And it’s like how can y’all not see it? All I can say is we’re going to go show the world why we are who we are.