Washington's Michael Penix Jr., Oregon's Bo Nix share similar journey to huge game Saturday

The latest 2023 Heisman Trophy odds include some of the most prolific quarterbacks in the country this fall. The current favorite, Washington's Michael Penix Jr., holds a slight edge over defending Heisman winner Caleb Williams from USC.

Fellow Pac-12 signal caller Bo Nix isn't too far behind Penix Jr. and Williams. He's third in odds for the trophy and could become just the second Oregon Ducks player to win the award.

This weekend Nix and Penix Jr. face off in Seattle in one of the biggest games of the 2023 college football season. This is the first time in the 114 meetings between the two teams that both are ranked in the top 10 in the country.

The two took similar paths to where they are this fall, including a stop at the same quarterback camp in Tennessee back in 2016. Here's how they got here:

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How Michael Penix Jr. became a Heisman contender

Penix Jr. was the 66th-ranked quarterback in his recruiting class. That 2018 group of players featured future NFL starting quarterbacks like Zach Wilson, Brock Purdy, Justin Fields, and Trevor Lawrence. All were ranked ahead of Penix Jr. in recruiting. Current college quarterbacks including Notre Dame's Sam Hartman, Louisville's Jack Plummer, and Tennessee's Joe Milton III all ranked higher than Penix Jr. in the class as well.

Eleven schools offered the left-handed quarterback a spot on their squads, including Oregon and Florida State. Tennessee had two coaches recruiting him but Penix Jr. opted to sign with Indiana.

His freshman year in Bloomington saw the young athlete tear an ACL and redshirt after three games. He was named the starter in 2019 but managed just six games due to injury. In 2020, Nick Sheridan, Penix Jr.'s primary recruiter at Indiana, took on offensive coordinator duties. Penix Jr. went 5-1 as a starter that season before tearing an ACL once again against Maryland.

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In 2021, he'd start again for Sheridan at quarterback but again he missed time with a separated AC joint. Penix Jr. went 2-3 as a starter and the Hoosiers went 2-10 overall. Indiana released Sheridan at the end of the season.

Kalen DeBoer, Penix Jr.'s offensive coordinator in 2019, became the Washington Huskies newest head coach for 2022. Sheridan followed him to Seattle after losing the Indiana job. Penix Jr. followed suit and transferred to Washington.

“When he came in, he was like an extra coach on the football field," DeBoer said to On3. “Then... surrounding him with [wide receivers] Jalen McMillan, Ja’Lynn Polk, Rome Odunze? I mean those guys are just special."

The first season for DeBeor, Penix Jr., and Sheridan in Seattle led to 11 wins, the most since 2016. Penix Jr. would throw for 4,641 passing yards, the most in the nation and a Washington single-season record. The 11-win season earns him an AP Comeback Player of the Year award.

How Bo Nix became a Heisman contender

Nix came out of high school a year after Penix Jr. He wrapped up his high school career as the third-ranked quarterback in his class. Only Spencer Rattler, now at South Carolina, and Jayden Daniels, now at LSU, were ranked higher.

As a true freshman for the Auburn Tigers, Nix led the team to a 9-4 record. That 2019 season started with a 27-21 comeback win over the Oregon Ducks in the season opener. The quarterback he beat in that game? Future Los Angeles Chargers star Justin Herbert.

He earned SEC Freshman of the Year honors for his 2019 performance. He improved in 2020 but Auburn dropped to 6-5 overall and coach Gus Malzahn was fired after eight years with the Tigers.

Coach Bryan Harsin took over in 2021. Nix became a more efficient passer that season, improving his completion percentage and yards per attempt. The team would go 6-4 with him before a season-ending injury against Mississippi State.

Though he improved as a passer, Nix said he was miserable in that final year at Auburn.

"Each week it was something else," he told CBS Sports.  "There was, quite frankly, nothing I could do about it. I just remember kind of being miserable. It wasn't fun anymore."

Just like Penix Jr., Nix made the tough decision to leave his first program after 2021 and transferred to see a familiar face in Oregon. Then-Ducks offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham was Nix's offensive coordinator at Auburn in 2019.

Nix blossomed in his first year in Eugene. He posts career-bests in wins (10), yards passing (3,594), completion percentage (71.9), touchdowns (29 passing, 14 rushing), and rating (165.7) in 2022. The Ducks earn a 28-27 win over North Carolina in the Holiday Bowl to cap off the season.

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Nix and Penix Jr. shine in 2023

Both of the fifth-year transfer quarterbacks came into 2023 in the top five of the Heisman Trophy odds. Williams and North Carolina's Drake Maye, widely considered the top two quarterbacks for next year's NFL draft, were the only players ahead of them. And both Pac-12 signal-callers have lived up to the hype this fall.

Penix Jr.'s averaging 400 yards and three touchdowns per game with career-highs in completion percentage (74%) and passer rating (196.5). That receiving trio of McMillan, Polk, and Odunze, the best in the country, helps Penix Jr. dice up defenses wherever there's a weakness.

“He can throw it short, long,” DeBoer said. “He’s very heady. He’s mobile. Great athlete. He has seen all the defenses you can imagine over six years. So he understands the game and he has got the tools and the skill set to go with it.”

Nix can't quite match Penix Jr.'s yards or touchdowns through the air but is completing 80.4% of his passes this fall, the best rate in the country. His 184.7 passer rating is a career-high. He's relying less on quarterback runs this year; Nix's averaging three fewer carries per game but the second-best yards per carry figure of his career.

“Ultimately, I think Bo getting to serve under so many offensive coordinators has been so beneficial for him,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said to On3. “He’s been able to see the game through so many lenses. He understands what he likes, and what he feels good about and he really understands what his coaches want to accomplish."

The two signal-callers took similar paths to Heisman contention and Saturday's game in Seattle is the first major test of their respective campaigns. The winner will likely become the comfortable favorite in front of dozens of NFL scouts.

Whichever team wins on Saturday all but clinches a battle with USC for the Pac-12 title, save for a surprising loss later in the schedule.

Kickoff is at 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC. The three hours that follow could determine the Heisman winner and a challenger for the likes of Georgia, Michigan, and Ohio State for national title glory.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Heisman contenders Nix, Penix Jr. shared similar path to Pac-12 showdown