More Accolades for McDuffie, Kirkland as ESPN Singles Them Out
Jaxson Kirkland is a junior in terms of college eligibility, Trent McDuffie just a sophomore.
However, it's a given this will be their final season of University of Washington football. They have just 12 or more college games and then it's time to join the new frontier, the one that pays them handsomely for playing this game.
The NFL awaits them.
ESPN analyst Todd McShay, as others have, made this even more abundantly clear when he released his list of Top 50 prospects on Thursday and he pegged McDuffie, a 5-foot-11, 195-pound cornerback from Westminster, California, at No. 17 and followed up with Kirkland, a 6-foot-7, 315-pound offensive tackle from Vancouver, Washington, as the 22nd best player.
Those are big-money draft positions, high-dollar rankings, multi-million rewards.
McDuffie has been a course to enjoy this payoff since the day he signed with Washington. Coach Jimmy Lake says they pegged him as the nation's top cornerback prospect from the class of 2019, even when others had him ranked a little lower.
He has lived up to every bit of his recruitment notoriety, becoming the Husky starter four games into his true freshman season and not letting go.
McShay's assessment of the UW secondary leader:
"Washington produces many talented defensive backs, and McDuffie is next in line. He is ultra fluid in coverage, and he has fantastic body control. In four games last season, McDuffie had 14 tackles, an interception and a forced fumble."
Kirkland, however, has been a different story. Even while a legacy player — the son of former Husky offensive guard Dean Kirkland — Jaxson didn't get a UW offer right away. He committed to UCLA for six months before Chris Petersen's staff came to its senses and pursued him.
The ESPN analyst's take on the big left tackle:
"Kirkland is a three-year starter who transitioned from right guard to left tackle in 2020. He is massive on the outside and excels in pass protection, earning first-team, All-Pac-12 honors last year. Kirkland didn't allow a single pressure or sack on 119 pass-block snaps last season, and he did not miss a single run block on 137 such snaps."
McDuffie and Kirkland are big reasons the Huskies are ranked in nearly every Top 25 poll and could make a run at a conference championship. Just maybe beat Michigan in Ann Arbor and Oregon at Husky Stadium.
Teams need elite talent to pull off victories such as that. McShay sees something extra in McDuffie and Kirkland.
Here's the ESPN assessment of these two UW players, though it is behind a paywall. Oklahoma quarterback Spencer Rattler, former teammate for Husky nickelback and former Sooner Bookie Radley-Hiles, is pegged No. 1.
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