Michael Penix Jr.: Alabama's Kalen DeBoer will win national championship within three years

Former Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. offered high praise to his former coach and current Alabama football leader Kalen DeBoer on Monday.

Speaking on "The Opening Kickoff" on WNSP-FM 105.5 in Mobile, Penix, the 2023 Heisman Trophy runner-up, was asked if he thinks DeBoer will win a national championship in his first three seasons in Tuscaloosa.

"Yeah, I believe so," Penix Jr. said.

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Penix Jr. is in Mobile preparing for the Senior Bowl, a showcase game for same of college football's top players heading to the NFL draft.

Penix Jr. played for DeBoer at Indiana in 2019 when DeBoer was offensive coordinator, then transferred to Washington where he started for Alabama's new coach for two seasons. He's projected to be among the top quarterbacks selected in the draft.

“He’s an amazing coach,” Penix said. “He’s gonna push the guys extremely hard. He’s gonna make sure every player is 100 percent prepared come gameday, especially on the offensive side of the ball. Man, they gonna light it up.

“The offense he installs is amazing. It's a lot of pushing the ball down the field. Obviously, being smart with it. Timing of the play is perfect.”

Penix Jr. also talked about new Alabama quarterback Austin Mack, who announced his transfer from Washington on Jan. 18.

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“He wanted to be able to spend a year in the offense, seeing me and how I operated in the offense,” Penix said of Mack, a freshman last season. “I did my best to show him as much of the offense as I could and continue to encourage him and keep his confidence up. His confidence is out of the roof.

“He going to be an amazing player at Alabama. That’s definitely going to be a house-hold name in Alabama pretty soon. Man, he has so much talent at a young age. I saw it as soon as he came in.”

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Michael Penix Jr. predicts Kalen DeBoer will win national title at Alabama