Inside The Huskies

Klemm Becomes 7th Husky OL to Enter Transfer Portal or NFL Draft

The tackle came to the UW last season from Kansas State.

Dan Raley

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A month ago, Jalen Klemm stood inside the Superdome in New Orleans and shared how well everything had worked out for him with the University of Washington football team and what was coming next.

Strength and conditioning coach Ron McKeefery had come up with a plan that would put weight on the 6-foot-5, 281-pound frame for this Husky back-up offensive tackle who had transferred in from Kansas State.

Klemm mentioned how much he trusted offensive-line coach Scott Huff, who was in his seventh season with his third Husky football coach, to develop him into a productive player.

"My relationship with coach Huff, I like him a lot as a coach," Klemm said. "He's somebody my dad has a lot of respect for, too."

However, that was then, before a 37-31 Sugar Bowl victory over Texas, when everyone, from the top of the roster to the bottom, was comfortable in his surroundings, and this is now.

On Tuesday, Klemm reportedly entered the transfer portal, according to On3.com, and became the seventh UW scholarship offensive lineman to either enter his name in the NFL draft or make himself available to change college teams.

He's the son of Adrian Klemm, a former NFL lineman who coached that position group this past season for the New England Patriots. For that reason, the UW football program was carefully chosen for the younger Klemm because it was stable and long-term, with Huff well-entrenched in his job.

As February approaches, Huff now works at Alabama as part of Kalen DeBoer's relocated coaching staff. McKeefrey, widely credited with getting the Huskies so fit they could win the fourth-quarter battles and became a national title contender, apparently is looking for work after the UW and Alabama both filled their strength coach positions.

Klemm, unless he rescinds this move, stood to challenge for significant playing time with the Huskies this coming season with so many departures across the offensive line over the past month.

Instead, he'll consider finding someplace that might better suit him, that can offer staying power. He feels he has a lot to offer.

"I'm somebody who's really athletic, physical, smart; I think I have a really good football IQ," Klemm said. "I'm somebody who loves the game. Football is everything to me."

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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.

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