OL Jaxson Kirkland, 5 more UW Huskies named to preseason All-Pac-12 team
The preseason All-Pac-12 football team, as voted on each summer by media members, was announced by the conference Tuesday and includes six Washington Huskies players who earned first-team, second-team or honorable mention nods.
Offensive lineman Jaxson Kirkland, an All-Pac-12 selection each of the past two seasons, was UW’s only selection to the preseason first team.
Kirkland is set to return to the program this fall after he was cleared to rejoin the Huskies for a sixth season by the NCAA this spring. After back-to-back seasons starting for the program at left tackle, Kirkland was headed to the 2022 NFL Draft but withdrew due to injury.
The 6-foot-7, 310-pound senior now enters the 2022 season looking again to anchor UW’s offensive line after starting in 39 games — including 14 at left tackle the past two seasons and 25 at right guard the two prior — across the past four seasons.
The Huskies had one defensive player selected to the preseason second team in edge rusher Zion Tupuola-Fetui.
The 6-4, 241-pound junior appeared in five games, including starting three, for UW last season after returning from an Achilles injury, and finished with eight tackles and one sack.
Tupuola-Fetui was also an All-Pac-12 first-team pick in 2020, finishing with 13 tackles, seven sacks and three caused fumbles during the shortened four-game season.
Four more UW players earned preseason honorable mentions, including wide receiver Jalen McMillan on offense, inside linebackers Edefuan Ulofoshio and Carson Bruener on defense and Giles Jackson as an all-purpose and special teams player.
McMillan, a 6-1, 182-pound sophomore, started nine of the 11 games he played in last fall, finishing with 39 catches for 470 yards and three touchdowns.
Ulofoshio, a 6-1, 230-pound junior, led the Huskies on defense with a team-high 51 tackles through the six games he played last season.
He missed spring practices with an injury and is expected to also miss time this fall, UW coach Kalen DeBoer said in March.
Bruener is UW’s top returning tackler following a true freshman season when he finished with 70 tackles, including 2-1/2 for losses, 1-1/2 sacks and two caused fumbles in 11 games, including five starts.
The 6-2, 224-pound sophomore also earned Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week honors following a breakout performance at Stanford in October.
Jackson, a 5-9, 177-pound junior, led the Huskies in total all-purpose yards (655), as well as on punt and kick return last fall, while also appearing at wide receiver, and played in all 12 games.
Defending conference champion Utah was represented by six selections on the preseason All-Pac-12 first team, while USC also had six first-team picks.
Oregon had the most first-team selections of the six Pac-12 North schools with four.
Cal had two players selected to the first team — including former Huskies inside linebacker Jackson Sirmon, who transferred this winter — while Washington State also had two first-team picks.
Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA and UW had one first-team selection apiece.
