Jaxson Kirkland hoping to (finally) close his Husky career by opening eyes at UW pro day

The Jaxson Kirkland era at Washington comprised six seasons, 49 starts, 46 wins, 23 losses, four Apple Cup wins, three 10-plus win seasons, three first-team All-Pac-12 selections, three positions, three head coaches, two bowl wins, two Oregon wins, one Pac-12 title, one pandemic and one plan-altering ankle injury.

It’s all but over now.

Kirkland — the 6-foot-7, 325-pound offensive lineman and UW legacy — will compete inside the Dempsey Indoor Center for the final time on Wednesday, when he and nine others participate in the Huskies’ pro day.

Other planned participants include kicker Peyton Henry, offensive linemen Corey Luciano and Henry Bainivalu, edge Jeremiah Martin, linebackers Cam Bright and Kris Moll, cornerback Jordan Perryman, safety Alex Cook and running back Wayne Taulapapa.

Of that group, Kirkland is the most likely draft pick, despite an ankle injury that forced him out of the 2022 draft and a college career lacking a permanent position. FOX Sports draft analyst Rob Rang told The Times last week that Kirkland will likely land “somewhere on day three,” a purple blip placed in rounds four through seven.

The concern, Rang said, is “obviously health. That’s the biggest thing he’s got to be able to prove. I think that’s where he can impress people [on Wednesday], in being able to finish his workout with great intensity and great athletic ability. I think he can also show his versatility, in terms of the positional workout and how he’s going to be able to demonstrate the different things that he can do. He’s got a unique body to him. He’s got a really big upper body, and he’s a little bit narrower in his lower body. Some people are going to view him as a tackle. Some people are going to view him as a guard.

Kirkland, for one, doesn’t care how teams view him — so long as they view him as a worthy draft pick.

“I like to sell myself on being extremely versatile,” said Kirkland, who started 34 games at guard and 15 at left tackle. “With teams, I tell them I’m 100% confident in playing both. I think it adds value, having the background at both guard and tackle. But if I’m viewed more as a guard, I’m totally fine with playing guard. In some aspects I think that position suits my nature more and how I play. I think I thrive there more at times.

“When teams say they view me more as a guard — which, that’s come up — I’m like, ‘Yeah, I think I’m a heck of a guard. I thrive at that position.’ So I’m totally fine with playing either at the next level.”

Kirkland is out to prove his physical makeup matches his mindset. After missing the first three games of the 2022 season with a knee injury, he started the next 10 — first at 340, and eventually 325 pounds. He said in a phone interview Friday that “from all the training aspects, this is the best my body has felt, for sure. Right now I’m at 325. That’s what I got down to the last two months of the season. That’s where I feel comfortable at.”

Those training aspects included roughly two months at EXOS in Phoenix — sandwiching a week at the East West Shrine Bowl — followed by a trip to the NFL combine. For the last two and a half weeks, he’s prepared for pro day in Seattle, working with former UW strength and conditioning coaches Aaron Sanchez and Kyle Sammons.

The goal, come Wednesday, isn’t to record a 40-inch vertical leap or a 4.4-second 40-yard dash.

It’s to prove, regardless of drill or position, that he remains a uniquely mobile mauler.

“I’m not so much getting wrapped up in specific drills, but I just want to show how great of an athlete I am and for how big I am, how well I can move,” said Kirkland, the son of UW offensive lineman and captain Dean Kirkland. “I want to show how clean it is and how smooth I can be, even having this large frame. I feel like that’s extraordinary compared to other players who are shorter and weigh less. I’m tall and weigh a lot, too. To be able to move like smaller guys, I think that’s a huge trait of mine. So I want to be able to display that, for sure.”

He did so for the last six seasons in Seattle — whether at left tackle, right guard, left guard, wherever. He did so despite injuries and changing systems, through wins and losses and unexpected staff changes. He did so at UW, just like his dad.

The Kirkland era at Washington is all but over.

But quarterback Michael Penix Jr., wide receivers Rome Odunze and Jalen McMillan, left tackle Troy Fautanu, edges Bralen Trice and Zion Tupuola-Fetui and defensive tackle Tuli Letuligasenoa will all be back.

“It’s really weird, and it’s a little sad,” Kirkland said, when asked about finally moving on. “Some guys like to move on, and of course I’m excited for this next step. I’m going to put 100% effort into the next thing I do. That’s what I’ll always do. But that was more than a quarter of my life. At some point it was all I knew — that locker room and all the friendships, especially with [offensive line coach Scott] Huff, because I was fortunate that he was my only O-line coach my whole career. With my family ties to it, too, it’s in my blood.

“So being removed from that program and now watching, I’m so excited to see it, this season especially, because of all the hype and all the talent they have coming back. It’s a little sad, but I’m excited now to rep myself as an alum of UW and pride myself on that and support the program any way I can moving forward.”