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Desmond Howard offers early impressions of Michigan’s national championship matchup
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Desmond Howard joined ESPN’s “Get Up” to provide his early thoughts on the Michigan-Washington championship matchup.
“This is a great matchup, you talk about 2 teams who have shown how resilient they can be. Now, obviously we follow Michigan from A to Z, right,” the Michigan legend said. “But people I don’t think really are in tune with the story of the Washington Huskies. Michael Penix Jr. was a Heisman finalist, I think he was the runner-up, and can throw it all over the yard.”
Penix Jr. has been the star of the show for the Huskies, leading the nation with 4,648 passing yards. But, as Howard pointed out, there’s a lot more to this team than the star QB.
“But we’re talking about a tough team, and what’s more important is if you get beyond Michael Penix Jr. and the trio of receivers he has–which are the best in college football–it all starts up front with their offensive line,” Howard said. “This group won the Joe Moore Award for the best offensive line in the country. So it starts in the trenches with them, but then they have great skill too.”
However, Howard did point out that the injury status of running back Dillon Johnson may have a large impact on the outcome of Monday’s game.
“My biggest concern right now is, I think last night their running back, outstanding running back, Dillon Johnson, got a little banged up,” Howard said. “Not sure about his status for the championship game Monday night.”
The Wolverines and Huskies are set to square off at 7:30 p.m. ET on Monday. The game can be seen on ESPN.