The Late Johnie Kirton and the Story of his Senior Season

[administrator]

The Late Johnie Kirton and the Story of his Senior Season
This is an excerpt from the book Bow Down to Willingham, and features the chapter "Apocalypse", which details UW's tortured 2008 season and which was also the senior year for the late Johnie Kirton.
Read the full story here

 

[RaceBannon]

This belongs on Unleashed

 

[MikeDamone]

I don't have a problem with the story or its content. Im just upset its on the front page. But I'm not upset.

 

[RaceBannon]

If you saw what I deal with daily you'd know I wasn't upset. Do you want to answer my phone for a day?

 

[HuskyJW]

Great write-up.....I really had no idea on the specifics of this....it makes me want to cry.

 

[[Deleted User]]

Guy was a beast in high school. One of those guys had he came here during the James era would have been a Husky legend. Instead he was one of many players who didn't reach their potential due to their coaching job of Tyrone Willingham.

 

[TheKobeStopper]

Is it available in paperback?

 

[volcanodawg]

i'm still in complete shock that shit happened to Washington (RIP). fuck

 

[fauxdawgman]

I'm going to move this to the vent board.

 

[Houhusky]

while talking about players who never reached their potential can we talk more about Marcel Reece... the guy is incredibly athletic for his size

 

[PopeHarv]

God. That was glorious.

 

[[Deleted User]]

while talking about players who never reached their potential can we talk more about Marcel Reece... the guy is incredibly athletic for his size

At UW I remember fans hating him in 2007 cause he was a slow WR who couldn't catch. Now he's a pro bowl full back. Great player evaluation as always there Ty.

 

[DerekJohnson]

while talking about players who never reached their potential can we talk more about Marcel Reece... the guy is incredibly athletic for his size

At UW I remember fans hating him in 2007 cause he was a slow WR who couldn't catch. Now he's a pro bowl full back. Great player evaluation as always there Ty.

I don't remember anybody "hating" on him. He was just lost in the crowd... and I remember thinking "why isn't this guy a superstar?" I actually predicted to a friend that Reece would be the Pac-10 offensive player of the year for 2007.

 

[RoadDawg55]

while talking about players who never reached their potential can we talk more about Marcel Reece... the guy is incredibly athletic for his size

At UW I remember fans hating him in 2007 cause he was a slow WR who couldn't catch. Now he's a pro bowl full back. Great player evaluation as always there Ty.

I don't remember anybody "hating" on him. He was just lost in the crowd... and I remember thinking "why isn't this guy a superstar?" I actually predicted to a friend that Reece would be the Pac-10 offensive player of the year for 2007.

Agree. I don't remember anyone hating on him. He was easily our best WR, but there were fans who wanted more from him, myself included. He was a monster, but he did have average (at best) hands. There is a reason he is a FB/H-Back in the NFL. I'm glad he has carved out a role for himself and became a very good player.

 

[DerekJohnson]

while talking about players who never reached their potential can we talk more about Marcel Reece... the guy is incredibly athletic for his size

At UW I remember fans hating him in 2007 cause he was a slow WR who couldn't catch. Now he's a pro bowl full back. Great player evaluation as always there Ty.

I don't remember anybody "hating" on him. He was just lost in the crowd... and I remember thinking "why isn't this guy a superstar?" I actually predicted to a friend that Reece would be the Pac-10 offensive player of the year for 2007.

Agree. I don't remember anyone hating on him. He was easily our best WR, but there were fans who wanted more from him, myself included. He was a monster, but he did have average (at best) hands. There is a reason he is a FB/H-Back in the NFL. I'm glad he has carved out a role for himself and became a very good player.

Did he "carve out a role for himself", or was he finally used properly?

 

[[Deleted User]]

I actually predicted to a friend that Reece would be the Pac-10 offensive player of the year for 2007.

That prediction was obviously a swing for the fences prediction. I mean how many times does a WR win offensive player of the year? Let alone on a team who at best was finishing 4th or 5th. I mean that was when USC was going through their run plus Oregon was decent as was Cal. ASU in 2007 just got Erickson so everyone expected them to be good as well.

There is no way you actually believed that.

 

[RoadDawg55]

while talking about players who never reached their potential can we talk more about Marcel Reece... the guy is incredibly athletic for his size

At UW I remember fans hating him in 2007 cause he was a slow WR who couldn't catch. Now he's a pro bowl full back. Great player evaluation as always there Ty.

I don't remember anybody "hating" on him. He was just lost in the crowd... and I remember thinking "why isn't this guy a superstar?" I actually predicted to a friend that Reece would be the Pac-10 offensive player of the year for 2007.

Agree. I don't remember anyone hating on him. He was easily our best WR, but there were fans who wanted more from him, myself included. He was a monster, but he did have average (at best) hands. There is a reason he is a FB/H-Back in the NFL. I'm glad he has carved out a role for himself and became a very good player.

Did he "carve out a role for himself", or was he finally used properly?

Good point. I would lean more to the finally used properly side.

 

[HillsboroDuck]

while talking about players who never reached their potential can we talk more about Marcel Reece... the guy is incredibly athletic for his size

At UW I remember fans hating him in 2007 cause he was a slow WR who couldn't catch. Now he's a pro bowl full back. Great player evaluation as always there Ty.

I don't remember anybody "hating" on him. He was just lost in the crowd... and I remember thinking "why isn't this guy a superstar?" I actually predicted to a friend that Reece would be the Pac-10 offensive player of the year for 2007.

Agree. I don't remember anyone hating on him. He was easily our best WR, but there were fans who wanted more from him, myself included. He was a monster, but he did have average (at best) hands. There is a reason he is a FB/H-Back in the NFL. I'm glad he has carved out a role for himself and became a very good player.

Did he "carve out a role for himself", or was he finally used properly?

He was UW's best WR for two seasons. You really think he would have made a bigger impact at FB/HB?

In a vacuum, sure, he's clearly better suited for that role. But UW had a serious lack of playmakers back then. Ty was an idiot but playing Reese at WR was not one of his bad decisions, IMO.

 

[DerekJohnson]

while talking about players who never reached their potential can we talk more about Marcel Reece... the guy is incredibly athletic for his size

At UW I remember fans hating him in 2007 cause he was a slow WR who couldn't catch. Now he's a pro bowl full back. Great player evaluation as always there Ty.

I don't remember anybody "hating" on him. He was just lost in the crowd... and I remember thinking "why isn't this guy a superstar?" I actually predicted to a friend that Reece would be the Pac-10 offensive player of the year for 2007.

Agree. I don't remember anyone hating on him. He was easily our best WR, but there were fans who wanted more from him, myself included. He was a monster, but he did have average (at best) hands. There is a reason he is a FB/H-Back in the NFL. I'm glad he has carved out a role for himself and became a very good player.

Did he "carve out a role for himself", or was he finally used properly?

He was UW's best WR for two seasons. You really think he would have made a bigger impact at FB/HB?

In a vacuum, sure, he's clearly better suited for that role. But UW had a serious lack of playmakers back then. Ty was an idiot but playing Reese at WR was not one of his bad decisions, IMO.

I never said playing him at WR was a problem. But allowing him to be woefully out of shape from our inadequate training program combined with incredibly inept assistant coaches teaching him the position led to him being not maximizing his potential to say the least.

 

[Southerndawg]

Over the past 10-12 years, poor training and coaching have led to a great number of Huskies not maximizing their potential. These things were just glaringly bad under Tyrone. What that jackass did to the program and many individual players is downright shameful, as was Emmert's inaction. Emmert could have spared them from this, but he lacked (and continues to lack) the courage to do the right thing. Very sad era.