By Khalid Bennett
The Seattle Medium
When the Huskies took the field on Saturday afternoon it seemed like business as usual. A top 10 team in Washington taking on a FCS opponent in Montana at Husky stadium usually equates to a long afternoon for a program like Montana. Washington coming away with a 63-7 victory made it just that for the Montana Grizzlies, a long evening. Montana’s only score of the day came off an interception return when a Jake Browning pass deflected off of the hand of senior receiver Dante Pettis. From that moment, it was evident that a big part of the game plan for Montana was to shut down Washington’s number one receiver. Obviously, Washington had more weapons than just Pettis, but Pettis was able to show just how dangerous he can be in other facets of the game. Late in the first quarter, Pettis took a punt back 67 yards for a touchdown. This was the 7th time in his career that the senior has scored on a punt return, passing California’s Desean Jackson for the top spot in conference history. Jackson, who is a dynamic return specialist in the NFL, had 6 punt return touchdowns between 2005-2007.
Pettis is now one touchdown shy of tying Oklahoma’s Antonio Perkins, and Texas Tech’s Wes Welker who both top the NCAA list with 8 career punt return touchdowns.
“It was right up there with the Colorado one,” Pettis stated after the game when asked about how special that moment was when he broke the conference record.
“I really didn’t think I was going to get that many return opportunities. They keep surprising me, I thank them for it,” Pettis said with a smile.
The return against Colorado was one of the biggest plays in 2016 as it broke open an otherwise tight game during the Pac-12 championship game, a game that essentially put Washington into the college football playoff last season. Now, the question is, will he get anymore return opportunities this season to tie and/or possibly break the NCAA record?
“It’s hard not to punt to somebody, you talk about kicking the ball out of bounds and you can cost yourself a lot of yards so it’s easier said than done,” was head coach Chris Petersen’s thoughts following the game.
Coach Petersen and the team certainly hope Pettis gets more opportunities because it’s a momentum shifting play.
“I think the guys block for him really hard up front because they truly understand if they give him a little space and a chance to catch it, he’s got a good chance to make something happen,” added Peterson. “Even if he doesn’t score, that field position game is really important and big to us.”
For his efforts, Pettis was named the Pac-12 special teams player of the week. An award that is not new to him, but he would be the first to say that his returns are a full team effort. With names such as Desean Jackson, Maurice Drew and Reggie Bush, Pettis is very humble to be on the top of that list in the conference of champions.
“It feels good, but four of my returns I’ve been untouched,” said Pettis.
“There’s definitely been incredible returners that haven’t scored that many touchdowns, they’ve had to do it all themselves. So, I don’t think like oh, he’s the best returner because there’s different schemes or maybe they didn’t have as good of blockers,” Pettis reiterated when asked about some of the great returners in conference history.
No opponent wants to have a record set on them so the questions that Pettis has about getting many more opportunities remains on his mind. Maybe teams are more willing to give up field position than points but coach Petersen will continue to put Pettis back there, and the pressure falls on the opposing coaches. There are three aspects to a football team, the offense, the defense, and special teams. The X-factor that is Dante Pettis is a huge part of what makes them special.
