Challenge Accepted: UW Freshman Safety Mencke Jr. Stood Firm Through Chaotic Coaching Transition
Paul Mencke Jr. has never shied away from a challenge.
Whether it be playing power forward on the basketball court for Samuel Clemens High School or having a pair of college football coaches bail on him after he pledged his future to them, it's just a part of the game.
The 6-foot-2, 180-pound safety who grew up in Eastern Washington before moving to Cibolo, Texas, made his verbal commitment to Duke University coach Mike Elko in June 2023, a week before he was schedule to take an official visit to the University of Washington.
Just over five months later the Blue Devils' coach left to take the same role at Texas A&M to replace fired coach Jimbo Fisher, which gave the talented Lone Star State athlete a moment to pause.
It also opened the door for then-UW co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Chuck Morrell to swoop in and land a prospect he'd had his eye on for a long time.
The son of former Washington State University quarterback and wide receiver Paul Mencke Sr. decided to make an unofficial visit to Husky Stadium for the annual Apple Cup game last November as Elko was rumored to be leaving Durham for College Station.
2024 three-star Cibolo (Tex.) Samuel Clemons safety Paul Mencke Jr. on an unofficial visit to the University of Washington on Nov. 25, 2023. Paul Mencke Jr.
He returned for an official visit on Dec. 15 which sealed his decision to play for the Huskies under coach Kalen DeBoer.
And then it happened again.
"Dang, I just got played by the game. I thought I was in control and I got played, badly, too," Mencke said in an exclusive interview before enrolling at Washington this week, recalling his thoughts when he learned that DeBoer had left for Alabama less than a month after he signed with the UW football program.
Burned, betrayed and left to ponder his next step, Mencke decided he already had the right home for him.
"I was like, ‘You know what? This is the second time this has happened to me. So, you know what I’m going to do? This is a really good football school — I’m just going to stay," he said.
Mencke never heard from either Elko nor his replacement in Durham, Manny Diaz, and DeBoer kept the same energy.
It's also not a part of his DNA to hit the eject button in any situation, on or off the field.
If the winter coaching chaos was a 6-foot-5, 250-pound tight end running full steam ahead, his shoulders are square going for a clean open field tackle.
"I really love tackling. I love it. I love it," Mencke said. "That’s my big thing. Like, you’re not going to get past me. You might be 230, I might be 185, but I don’t care, you’re getting down."
It doesn't hurt that new UW coach Jedd Fisch hired Steve Belichick, the son of legendary New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick who Mencke and other Husky players have dubbed "Baby Belichick", to be the defensive play-caller year one.
With the combination of Belichick, cornerbacks coach John Richardson — who spent three seasons as an assistant at WSU from 2020-22 — and former Alabama National Champion Vinnie Sunseri as his position coach at UW, all the pieces are there for him to succeed.
"There’s a bunch of stuff that makes you want to be there," he said, noting Fisch's Be A Pro mantra. "Everything is there for you – they’re setting you up perfectly, so if you don’t want to be a pro, get out."