Mississippi State transfer Kai McClendon will see an increase in his workload after being limited against Washington State.
SEATTLE ā The Washington Huskies football team was unable to see one of its biggest transfer portal additions for most of the offseason.
Third-year defensive tackle Kai McClendon transferred to the Huskies this offseason after two years with the Mississippi State Bulldogs.
McClendon was a standout player for the Bulldogs as a true freshman in the 2024-25 season. He finished with 30 total tackles (six solo), including two tackles for loss and half a sack.
McClendon was unable to build on his stellar freshman season with Mississippi State and suffered a knee injury in spring practice in 2025 that carried over to his first offseason in the Pacific Northwest.
The 6-foot-2, 325-pound nose tackle missed the majority of offseason practice due to the injury but returned for the final week of training camp before the Huskies' 24-10 win against the Washington State Cougars on Sunday.
Despite returning to action, the team's still being intentional in ramping him back up. He received 10 snaps off the bench and is set to get an increase in reps for the team's Week 2 game against the Utah State Aggies at 12:30 p.m. PT on Saturday at Husky Stadium in Seattle.
"Maybe he'll be able to play between 10-15 reps this week and maybe between 15-20 reps by the time we get to the Minnesota game (on Sept. 26)," UW head coach Jedd Fisch said in a weekly news conference Monday. "We're working him back in. (first-year Derek Colman-Brusa) played, I think, 29 reps or something like that. So, it's not like these guys play more than 30 snaps anyways. We just need to work our way back with Kai."
Beyond McClendon's limited action, Washington chose to constantly rotate in different defensive linemen throughout the game. Two players who weren't listed as starters the depth chart, fifth-year edge rusher Russell Davis II and fifth-year edge rusher Isaiah Ward, both came up with key plays for UW. Davis had a sack and Ward had a fumble recovery.
Starters on the defensive line, including fourth-year edge rusher Jacob Lane and Colman-Brusa, also had notable plays. Lane had a sack and Colman-Brusa had a tackle for loss.
It might be several weeks before McClendon will be able to contribute to the Huskies to his full capabilities, which means the third-year player will have to maximize his snaps in the coming weeks until he's no longer limited by a specific snap-count.
On the positive end, Washington's depth on the defensive line will likely help the team be intentional in how it uses McClendon while letting him get back to full and consistent game-speed.
