Washington received huge news for the 2022 season as Jaxson Kirkland was granted a waiver to be eligible this upcoming fall. The senior left tackle will be returning for his 6th season of college football coming off of consecutive 1st team all-Pac-12 honors.
Kirkland originally declared for the NFL Draft following the 2021 season but found out just after the deadline to withdraw that he would require surgery and would be unable to workout for the entire pre-draft process. Nonetheless Kirkland withdrew and decided it would make more sense to try to come back for another year of college and show that he was healthy than risk not working out while coming off a down season for the entire offense.