Michael Penix Jr. said in a recent interview with The Athletic that once he arrived in Seattle for a visit, he knew it was time to shut it down.

Penix transferred to Washington last offseason after four years with Indiana. The move reunited him with Kalen DeBoer, Penix’s offensive coordinator at IU in 2019 and Washington’s first-year head coach this season. UW needed a quarterback to run DeBoer’s, Penix wanted a fresh start after years plagued by injury in Bloomington, and the marriage felt like a perfect fit right away.

The Athletic’s Christian Caple sat down with Penix ahead of UW’s Alamo Bowl appearance to talk about the star quarterback’s return in 2023, his relationship with DeBoer, and a ton more. The Q&A is well worth the read, but Penix’s comments about that initial visit to UW stand out.

He was asked if there was a point in camp or early on this year when he knew the Huskies — who went 10-2, beat Oregon, and captured the Apple Cup — would be in for a special campaign.

And he pointed back to that first visit:

“I felt like that when I came on my visit. That’s the reason I came here. Yeah, Coach DeBoer had a lot to do with it, but at the same time, I wanted to make sure I was surrounding myself with the right people. When I came up here on my visit, that’s what I did. I sat here and watched film with Coach DeBoer and (offensive coordinator) Coach (Ryan) Grubb. They had each player broken down. I was able to just sit there and watch all the offensive linemen, all the receivers. Once I did that, I was like, yeah, once this offense comes in here, it’s going to be different.”

Was there anything in particular that stood out about the film?

“You just see talent all over the field, and I knew this offense would be able to bring that out.”

Penix told The Athletic he knew nothing of Washington before his visit, but he was looking for the right fit and DeBoer provided exactly that.

The AP Comeback Player of the Year in 2022, Penix was superb. He led the country in passing and engineered one of the most explosive downfield passing games. Two of his receivers topped 1,000 yards — the first time that’s happened in the same year in program history — and the offense had its best scoring season since the Huskies made the Playoff.

UW came out of nowhere to win 10 games, a year removed from a 4-8 campaign. DeBoer shared Pac-12 Coach of the Year honors with Oregon State‘s Jonathan Smith as a result.

But it seems Penix knew all along this could happen.

We’ll see what he has in store for next season.