By all accounts, the Huskies have put in more work in the past three months than at any point in the last few years, perhaps since 2016.  In doing so the players have gone from soft to sculpted over the span of the Spring and Summer months.  Under the leadership of new strength and conditioning coach Ron McKeefery, it’s easy to see how players have been transformed by more than just the numbers on a scale.

Coach Mac, as he’s known around the training facility, kept the Huskies away from Big Mac’s this offseason as the team has altered their physiques, dropping unnecessary fat and adding muscle, seemingly across the board.

Given several notable transformations, it’s obvious why McKeefery has twice been named strength and conditioning coach of the year.  A couple of metamorphoses of note are on the offensive line with Henry Bainivalu and Jaxson Kirkland.

The former Bainivalu has started the past two seasons at right guard.  The 6th-year senior arrived at Washington as a 6-5, 298-pounder and is now 6-7 and 330 pounds.  Last season Bainivalu was an inch shorter but weight the same, making him leaner.

Kirkland returned to Washington with the hopes of reclaiming his projection as a first-round draft pick in next year’s NFL Draft, has shocked many by putting on 30 pounds.  Now at 340, the extra poundage on the 6th-year senior might be alarming when viewed by itself.  However, seeing how so many other players have chiseled new forms under McKeefery it will be a topic of conversation throughout fall camp which opens next week.  Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer promised that Kirkland will be monitored throughout camp to see how he performs at his new weight.

The workout regime results are reminiscent of the workouts summer of 2016 that paved the way to the conference championship and a College Football Playoff game against Alabama in the Peach Bowl.

“We stood there puking our guts out on the Husky Stadium turf,” recalled former first-round draft pick, Kaleb McGary.  “We were hungry to put Husky football back on the map.  Those long summer days we knew were going to pay off on the field in the fall.”

That summer McGary added six pounds, going from 302 to 308, but was more muscular than ever.  While he saw that the team was in better shape than ever he knew that the team was mentally tougher.

“We knew that the pain we went through that summer was temporary,” the three-year Atlanta Falcon right tackle said.  “During the Stanford game I looked up into the stands and I remember thinking, ‘This is why I came here, to bring this place back to life’.  It was all worth it.”

Another 2016 lineman and current Bellevue High School head coach Michael Kneip recalled another benefit to the off-the-field battles was the brotherhood that was forged.

“We were all best friends,” he recalled of the bond forged during those months.  “10-20 of us–everywhere we went.”

That summer Kneip did the opposite of Kirkland, losing eighteen pounds in going from 302 down to 284.

“We had one goal,” the reigning 3A State Champion coach said.  “We knew that every day counted.”

But Kneip said that it was Chris Petersen’s mantra that was one of the teams guiding principles he said.

“Coach Pete would say, ‘how you do one thing is how you do everything’,” Kneip recalled.  “We focused on doing every bit the right way.”

And they did it with a purpose.

The goal was to do it all the right way and “end the streak from the team down south,” he said.

But the 2022 rendition of the summer fun wasn’t just saved for the big fellas.  Like Dante Pettis, who put on 3 pounds in 2016, Jalen McMillan added 4 pounds of muscle, going from 182-186.  In fact, projected two-deep receivers gained an average of 3.9 pounds this off-season.

Junior Alexander is one of two receivers who didn’t put on any weight, despite lopping off 2 pounds of hair.  He will wear the number 4 jersey this fall, is clearly more muscular than when he transferred from Arizona State in January of this year.

Across the board, the players appear bought into the personal transformation that Coach Mac has designed for them, individually.

“You need to continually sharpen your sword,” McKeefery recently said in a webinar.  “Successful coaches are the ones that can relate to their athletes and gain their trust.”

No longer soft around the middle, the new look Huskies are ready to wash away the bitter taste of 2021.