Husky Receivers Have Been Told Bigger Is Better and No One is Arguing

Giles Jackson and Denzel Boston each have changed their physiques somewhat dramatically.

People like to describe what happened to the University of Washington football team as feast or famine.

Feast as in winning 14 consecutive games to advance to the College Footbal Playoff national championship game and famine as in losing the title bout, followed by 20 starters and Kalen DeBoer's coaching staff after that moment in the limelight.

Giles Jackson, however, hasn't missed any meals. The sixth-year senior wide receiver looks a lot more stout. Since the UW fell to Michigan 34-13 on Jan. 8 in Houston, he's gained 16-17 pounds and now carries a 5-foot-9, 190-pound frame. No, he didn't begin binge eating to get over the season-ending disappointment in Texas.

Jackson has just followed the lead of Jedd Fisch's new coaching staff that has made slightly different demands on him and his teammates.

"They want us to eat a lot more," Jackson said. "They're adament about us eating more. They want us to get bigger. ... I feel I have more focus on my body."

Sophomore wide receiver Denzel Boston, the standout of spring football so far, is packing a 6-foot-4, 207-pound frame, which is up 15 pounds from his first year in Montlake in 2022 and on his way to 215 at some point.

DeBoer's staff was big on thinning down the players and their physiques, coming in and making 70 percent of those on the roster lose weight. They had a nutrition plan in place, with smoothies and health-related snacks on the field waiting for the Huskies when practice ended.

That's all gone now. The message is bigger is better, though freshman offensive guard Michael Levelle Watkins showed up with a listed 6-foot-2, 315-pound body that looked considerably heftier than that and he's been kept after practice to work some of that off.

With DeBoer in charge, the sleeker Huskies took advantage of their newfound fitness and became a team that was known as a strong finisher and would beat you in the fourth quarter. However, against Michigan, the best of the best, the UW seemed to lose the strength battle and the fourth quarter became moot.

Fisch seems to be of the NFL mindset that you've got to have as much size as possible distributed in the right way to compete at the highest level.

Between DeBoer and Fisch, the approach is slightly different, with the end goal for players to be able to stand in there and not get manhandled whether blocking or catching passes.

A bigger Boston has made himself a different player, certainly a much more physical receiver than the wiry local kid who got in line behind Rome Odunze, Jalen McMillan and Ja'Lynn Polk the past two seasons while waiting his turn for game-day reps. Now he's filled out more like Odunze, who checked out of Montlake with a 215-pound frame and a physical reputation for winning battles for the ball that's about to get him drafted in the top 10 of the first round of next week's NFL Draft.

Boston is winning most of his physical entanglements these days, with his one-on-one moments with 6-foot-4, 190-pound cornerback Ephesians Prysock, a highly skilled Arizona transfer, something to see. They're both taller than the usual pass-catchers and corners. They're both elite players.

Through eight spring practices so far, Boston has been the best performer on the practice field, on either side of the ball, and it stems from being able to withstand any kind of punishment meted out in his direction.

"The thing I've improved on the most is being physical in my routes and being able to run through contact a lot better," he said. "Last year, I was a little lighter and I've put on a lot more muscle and a lot more weight coming into this year. I feel I've definitely improved in the physical part."

For the latest Husky football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington