McClendon Comeback Went From Shaky to Steady

With the first University of Washington spring practice winding down, Kai McClendon came out to the East practice field to see and be seen.

Truth be told, the Mississippi State transfer left everyone with a rather disturbing image of himself.

A 6-foot-1, 334-pound sophomore defensive tackle, McClendon wore a heavy black brace on his surgically repaired left knee and moved around ever so slowly while using a crutch. He looked extra heavy and out of shape.

The thought of him playing Husky football anytime soon seemed out of the question.

However, McClendon quickly got into a routine in Montlake. He shed the crutch. He seemed to get stronger each week.

People clearly are waiting on him.

"We'll see what kind of football team we have when Kai McClendon is back, and Buddah [Al-Uqdah] is back and the Hatchett brothers are back," UW coach Jedd Fisch said of his rehabbing veterans at the close of spring ball. "That's when I think we'll see who and what we are."

Kai McClendon gets ready to play Arizona State in 2024 in Tempe. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

This is one in a series of articles -- going from 0 to 99 on the UW roster -- examining what each scholarship player and leading walk-on did in spring practice and what to expect from them going into fall camp.

McClendon could be the missing piece the better SEC football teams have, which is a defensive playmaker coming out of a stance who was good enough to start the final five games of his freshman season at Mississippi State.

He has at least three seasons of eligibility remaining.

The catch is all of that career momentum he built up in Starksville disappeared a year ago when he tore up a knee in Fall Camp for the Bulldogs and missed the 2025 season.

Kai McClendon from Mississippi State was recovering from a knee injury throughout spring football. | Dan Raley

To fully recover, he entered the transfer portal and became the third Mississippi State player to join the UW in the past four seasons, following the lead of running back Dillon Johnson and quarterback Will Rogers.

After his inauspicious unveiling at Husky spring practice McClendon needed just a couple of weeks to get ambulatory again.

At the Seahawks' VMAC complex, where his teammates took part in the seventh spring practice, the big tackle from Gulfport, Mississippi, was most visible as he walked around the perimeter of the indoor field, doing laps with a trainer.

He climbed aboard an exercise bike multiple times. He dropped down and did situps. He did a set of what is known as up-downs.

At the East field a week later for the 10th UW practice, McClendon and running back Jayden Limar, the Oregon transfer recovering from ankle surgery, took turns slamming a sledge hammer into an oversized truck tire.

At the end of that workout. McClendon and Limar boxed with trainer Ben Creamer. The defensive tackle showed excellent footwork and landed several solid punches, as if this has been a sidelight for him for some time.

Kai McClendon (90) tries to pull down Tennessee running back Dylan Sampson (6) in 2024. | Caitie McMekin/USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images

When the lineman was finished, he had an angry look on his face as he ripped off the gloves and bent over to catch his breath.

By now, McClendon better resembles that Mississippi State football player who made a first-year breakthrough. The crutch is long gone. So are some of those excess pounds.

What he's done: In 2024, McClendon appeared in all 12 games for a 2-10 team and started against Arkansas, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Missouri and Ole Miss. He finished the season with 30 tackles, including 2 tackles for loss and a half sack.

Starter or not: McClendon will need to play his way into football shape and the Huskies are fairly committed to junior Elinneus Davis and freshman Derek Colman-Brusa as the No. 1 guys up front, so his chances of starting right away aren't likely. Yet with three seasons of eligibility left, he should rotate in and out of the first-unit Husky defense fairly regularly at some point.

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