Octavious Oxendine building weight back to compete in SEC

Octavious Oxendine came to Kentucky as a 305-pound defensive lineman, got up to 315 pounds, then dropped down to 275 pounds his junior season. He lost 30 pounds last offseason and through fall camp alone, a brand new player physically.

Redshirting as a freshman, he racked up 15 tackles, 3.5 tackle for loss, 2.0 sacks and quarterback hurry in six games in year two. Oxendine earned SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Week honors after picking up three tackles, including the first two quarterback sacks of his career (-16 yards), in Kentucky’s 42-21 win over LSU — his final game before missing the rest of the season due to injury.

And then as a junior in year three, he played in 13 games with seven starts, but totaled just 22 tackles, three quarterback hurries and 0.5 tackles for loss.

On paper, he got quicker and lighter on his feet. The reality, though, is that he lost the explosion and strength he had as a former four-star recruit and what paved the path for his early production in a Kentucky uniform. His body transformation was for the worse, not better.

“Ox got too light last year and he knows that,” defensive coordinator Brad White said at Kentucky Football Media Day. “In the trenches in this league you better have girth and mass no matter how good your technique is.”

His focus this offseason? Gain it all back — in a healthy way, of course. Build lean muscle necessary to compete in the SEC while maintaining the quickness and agility. Find a happy medium between doughy and rail-thin.

The early returns? So far, so good.

“He has put on good weight. I think he is in a good place,” White said. ”Whenever you add good weight and can continue to stay strong and fast and explosive, that added girth makes you better in the run game and gives you more push in the pass rush. There is obviously a lot of added benefit.”

White looks at the weight transformation former Kentucky star Josh Allen saw, allowing him to explode as a top-ten draft pick his senior season. Like Oxendine, he was thin and lacked the strength to match his quickness and unlock the best version of his abilities as a pass rusher. Once he got things figured out in the weight room and with his diet, a generational talent emerged.

Getting Oxendine’s body right is crucial for him to unlock the best version of himself, too.

“When Josh made the jump from his junior to senior year, he could play stouter. In a lot of cases it allows you to play with less injury,” White said. “Frail is not the word but there is more density to you. A lot of the injuries he has dealt with he has just been unlucky but the weight will help him.”

The lineman out of Radcliff, KY doesn’t have a secret to his physical improvements this offseason beyond going back to doing what he did before. All of the weight-cutting changes he made to his diet before? Bring them right back in. Eat the same foods he ate before he cut 30 pounds this time last year.

“I’m doing good with it now, it’s a work in progress. It’s just about putting foods back in my body, starches, red meat, things like that that I took out before,” Oxendine said following Kentucky’s open practice at Fan Day on Saturday. “I wanted to get faster last year, but now I’m trying to bulk back up.

“… Really anything (he’s eating to add weight), just getting things back in my body. I took a lot of stuff out when I was losing weight. Whatever I took out before, white rice and brown rice, things like that, going back to the regulars.”

It was easy to lose weight last year. When you’re eating clean and sweating in the heat of summer, the pounds fall off if you’re not intentionally attempting to keep them on. And that’s exactly what happened.

He’s still putting the work in on the practice field and in the weight room, but he’s back to eating like an SEC pass rusher.

“Practice is always hot, it’s the summer. It’s camp. Everybody knows what you’re getting before you get out here, so you just have to prepare yourself,” Oxendine said. “Eating good breakfasts, good lunches. When coach gives us time, go eat, do things like that. Eat whatever, late-night snacks, early-morning snacks, whatever I want, I can have it.”

The results? Well, he feels ready to compete in the most physical conference in college football. The difference is night and day from this time last year.

“I feel stronger for sure, playing the run, doing things like that. It’s the SEC world,” he said. “Putting the weight back on and playing against our great offensive line every day, feeling like I can hold up against them is good right now.”

A senior bounce-back season is underway for Octavious Oxendine.