Skip to main content
Inside The Huskies

If Health Permits, Kirkland Will Debut Against Michigan State

The offensive tackle was a late scratch against Portland State.
Dan Raley|
If Health Permits, Kirkland Will Debut Against Michigan State
If Health Permits, Kirkland Will Debut Against Michigan State

In this story:

Washington Huskies

Eight months following ankle surgery, University of Washington offensive tackle Jaxson Kirkland was a late scratch for the Portland State football game out of caution.

The Huskies again will try to get all hands on deck, including their two-time All-Pac-12 player, for Saturday's showcase game against 11th-ranked Michigan State.

"Officially, we are planning on him playing," offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb said. "We really are. We are going to keep trying to push it."

Kirkland played most of last season at 60 percent after he was blindsided in the Oregon State game and had a defender and quarterback Dylan Morris roll up on his ankle.

On Feb. 1, the 6-foot-7, 340-pound player underwent surgery to get himself right. He is an NFL prospect looking to upgrade his draft standing. He's been a 39-game starter for the UW over five previous seasons.

Yet early in fall camp, Kirkland left Husky Stadium walking slowly, accompanied by a pair of trainers, and he's practiced only sporadically ever since.

"I know Jaxson is itching to get out there," Grubb said. "He had another good practice out there [Sunday] and he looked really good on the field."

While he has modern medicine accelerating his recovery, eight months is still not a lot of time to regain muscle strength and flexibility, especially for a player nearly 30 pounds heavier than he was.

"[We're] just trying to make sure there are no setbacks," Grubb said. "You know, you come back too early and get set back two or three weeks, and that would not be optimum."

Go to si.com/college/washington to read the latest Inside the Huskies stories — as soon as they’re published.

Not all stories are posted on the fan sites.

Find Inside the Huskies on Facebook by searching: Inside Huskies/FanNation at SI.com

Follow Dan Raley of Inside the Huskies on Twitter: @DanRaley1 and @UWFanNation

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations

Published
Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

Home/Football