When Kai McClendon took the field as one of 15 true freshmen to play in Mississippi State’s 2024 season opener against Eastern Kentucky, it marked the beginning of a long, winding road that now has him set to suit up for Jedd Fisch and the Washington Huskies.
McClendon, a 6-foot-1, 334-pound defensive tackle from Gulfport, Mississippi, missed all of spring after he transferred from Starkville to UW back in January following a season-ending knee injury he suffered last spring.
As a freshman, the former three-star recruit out of Gulfport High School played his way on the field and into the two-deep by the midway point in the season. Despite being down 38-17 late in the fourth quarter at home to Toledo, no score differential could prevent McClendon from recording his first career tackle for loss, which held the Rockets to a field goal instead of another late touchdown to make a tough defeat even worse.
The Magnolia State native went on to start the final five games of the season for Mississippi State coach Jeff Lebby, a recruit the then-first-year coach was elated to land after McClendon emerged as a target after a productive senior season, which saw him finish with 63 total tackles, 8 tackles for loss, and 3 sacks over 11 games.
“There are a lot of guys inside that freshman class like Kai who had a great senior year,” Lebby said of his then-incoming freshman defensive lineman. “Then you look up, and he doesn’t have a ton of opportunities and then ends up playing for us here at Mississippi State, which is a credit to him and how he played as a senior.”
However, after a successful first season with the Bulldogs that netted 30 total tackles–tied for 11th on the team–the following spring, McClendon suffered a serious knee injury which forced him to miss the entire 2025 season.
Although Fisch and second-year defensive coordinator Ryan Walters didn’t have an additional year of film on the talented lineman, the staff chose to pursue and sign McClendon out of the portal–one of the earliest portal adds in January at that.
BREAKING: Mississippi State transfer DL Kai McClendon has committed to Washington, @PeteNakos reports☔️https://t.co/kSYG7dYADjpic.twitter.com/vZXNrHqp7e
— Transfer Portal (@TransferPortal) January 9, 2026
“We’ll see what kind of football team we have when Kai McClendon is back,” Fisch said after UW’s Dawgs After Dark spring game in early May of the Mississippi State transfer. In addition to returning senior linebacker Taariq Al-Uqdah and offensive linemen brothers Geirean and Landen Hatchett, “That’s when I think we’ll see who and what we are.”
Aside from redshirt junior Elinneus Davis, the only returning UW defensive lineman for position coach Jason Kaufusi, McClendon could prove to be the illustrious hidden gem that Walters and co. seek from a front five that must have a productive season after putting up just eight combined sacks from six true interior linemen.
As a true Ultimate Fighting Championship aficionado and dominant run-game puncher, McClendon is getting his body right and doing everything he can, from a daily hot sauna to whatever it takes to get his best effort when the Huskies open fall camp in August.
This article originally appeared on Huskies Wire: Transfer DL could be Washington football’s secret weapon in 2026
