Don't Change That Channel: 'Showtime' Is Bigger and Brasher

The Husky edge rusher has put on 20 pounds or more since arriving in Montlake.

Lance "Showtime" Holtzclaw brings all sorts of personality to the University of Washington football team, possessing possibly the best nickname of anyone on the roster.

What he needs is for the rest of him to catch up to his personal marketing efforts, with this once rail-thin edge rusher bulking up to 230 to 235 pounds, on his way to as much as 250.

"They all bring a little something different — Lance is just speed," Husky coach Kalen DeBoer said. "I know he's going to try to develop a more well-rounded game like ZTF."

It's never easy, though, as the lanky 6-foot-3 Holtzclaw from Mesa, Arizona, came off the field limping badly and was accompanied by a trainer before practice ended on Friday. He next covered his head with a towel while making his way to the locker room. It was a hard day at the office for him, for sure.

Once he masters the Husky football learning curve, Holtzclaw is expected to be ready to go and compete for a more comprehensive role when starters Zion Tupuola-Fetui and Bralen Trice leave for the NFL after the coming season.

Holtzclaw originally was a Jimmy Lake recruit who was still pursued by the Huskies following the coaching change to Kalen DeBoer, which left the Mesa, Arizona, player as one of just five prospects retained while others were encouraged to go elsewhere.

"They kept recruiting me all the way through," he said. "When it was time for the coaching change to be made, they made no slight decision to even make sure they kept me on board. [They] made sure they came and visited me at the house, made sure I wanted to stay here and assured they still wanted me here."

He arrived in Seattle some 20 pounds lighter than he is now, fully intending to take a redshirt year and put on some girth, but that didn't stop DeBoer's staff from putting him in three games. 

Against Stanford, Holtzclaw entered on third down of the opening series and helped pressure the Cardinal into giving up a sack to Trice. 

"I was honored to even be in a position to go in that early, even off me redshirting and just playing in a couple games," he said. "Just to be able to touch the field and get a little bit of experience, it's really helping me to transition to the season now."

Meantime, Holtzclaw can dream about the day he and incoming freshman cornerback Curley "Lockdown" Reed find themselves in a UW game together with their creative and competing identifying labels. 

"As long you live up to the name, and he's locking down and I'm being Showtime," he said, "it's going to be great."

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