FOOTBALL
A
different shade of crimson
Gardner Minshew
began playing quarterback in second grade, hopes to prove himself in sole
season with Cougars
By DYLAN
GREENE, Evergreen
Sept 28th,
2018
Passing on
an opportunity to play for one of the most storied college football programs
ever isn’t easy, but Gardner Minshew II did just that in order to wear the
crimson and gray.
It all
started it March when Minshew had already committed to transferring from East
Carolina University to University of Alabama and then received a phone call.
On the
other end was WSU Head Coach Mike Leach, and he made a pitch Minshew couldn’t
resist.
“Leach
called me up and he said ‘Hey you want to come lead the country in passing?’
and I said ‘That sounds pretty cool,’ ” Minshew said.
Who
wouldn’t want to play for Leach’s Air Raid offense? It’s like heaven for any
quarterback looking to be a prolific passer and throw the ball roughly 50 times
a game. But this decision was different.
Minshew
was sacrificing a chance to play for a program in Alabama that has claimed 17
national titles and is led by one of the best college football coaches ever in
Nick Saban.
Minshew
said the main reason he considered the Crimson Tide was because of Saban. The
graduate transfer wants to be a coach in the future and figured there was no
better person to learn under than a six-time national championship-winning
coach.
“That’s
like going to Harvard school for coaching,” he said.
In the end
though, one thing pushed Minshew to choose the crimson and gray over the
Crimson Tide — a chance to compete and play.
In
Tuscaloosa, the quarterback competition was already a two-man race between
junior Jalen Hurts and sophomore Tua Tagovailoa before Minshew decided to
commit to Alabama.
Minshew
knew his chances of seeing the field were slim if he stayed with the Crimson
Tide, so when Leach offered him a chance to compete for the Cougars’ starting
quarterback job immediately, he couldn’t pass it up.
Once
Minshew decided to come to WSU, he knew he would have to overcome a number of
obstacles to earn the title of starter he wanted so badly, the first being when
he arrived on campus.
It wasn’t
until May 5 when Minshew got to Pullman and officially became a part of the
team. He had to learn a whole new playback and adjust to a new environment.
Flint,
Minshew’s father, said his son’s personality made his move to WSU rather
seamless.
“We have a
saying in our family, ‘ball is ball,’ whether it’s in Mississippi or North
Carolina or Washington,” he said.
However,
Minshew was familiar with some of the aspects of the Air Raid before he
arrived, so the transition was smoother for him than most.
Minshew
also had to battle redshirt juniors Anthony Gordon and Trey Tinsley for the
starting job, something he said he is used to having been in a quarterback
competition every year of his collegiate career.
Despite
being in a competition, Minshew said Trey became one of his best friends on the
team and they helped each other out in any way they could.
But on the
field everything is different.
“When
you’re on the field you’re not really friends with anybody,” he said. “You’re
just out there playing, trying to beat the crap out of whoever you’re playing
against.”
Ultimately,
Minshew stepped on the field at War Memorial Stadium in Laramie, Wyoming, in
the Cougars’ season-opener as the starting quarterback and hasn’t looked back
since.
Minshew
says he isn’t afraid of the pressure that comes with playing quarterback. “I
love being the guy that has an impact on every play.”
Through
four games, Minshew has thrown for the third-most passing yards in the nation
and 11 touchdowns.
Minshew
will only be with the team for this one season, but he has embraced the
challenge of trying to prove himself to the Cougar faithful.
“I love it
man,” he said. “It’s been something I’ve been working on for 22 years,
something I’ve dreamed of for a long time.”
Flint said
his son began to find a love for the game when started playing flag football in
the second grade after the family moved to Brandon, Mississippi. After the
first practice, Flint said his wife Kim asked him how it went and he responded:
‘Well [Minshew’s] the quarterback and I’m the defensive coordinator.”
Flint said
Minshew went to that first practice with no vision of what position he wanted
to play, but they stuck him at quarterback and he’s been there ever since.
Despite
only being at WSU for one season, Minshew has lofty goals including leading the
team to a conference championship and leading the country in passing yards.
Minshew
has developed a unique nickname in his short time with the Cougars thanks to
offensive quality control coach Drew Hollingshead.
Hollingshead
labeled Minshew as “Mississippi Moustache” to recognize the facial hair growing
above his mouth and his Mississippi drawl.
Minshew
addressed the nickname in a recent postgame press conference and he admitted
its better than being compared to a certain character from “Napoleon Dynamite.”
“It’s
better than Uncle Rico, I’d say,” he chuckled.
Minshew
has also taken a leadership role with the team, which he said he earned by
putting in extra time on and off the field.
“The first
thing you have to do as a leader is earn respect,” he said. “You earn that
through work ethic, you earn that through making plays and through being the
guy that people can trust to do the right thing.”
Minshew is
used to the spotlight of the quarterback position and the pressure that comes
with it.
Flint
recalled a time when Minshew was playing goalie during a soccer tournament
growing up and the game came down to a shootout. He said Minshew’s team ended
up winning. He then asked his son after the game if he was nervous in that
situation, and Minshew replied, ‘No, I would’ve been more nervous if anybody
else would have been in there.”
Flint said
his son is considered a celebrity back home and handled the attention just as
well then as he does now. He also said Minshew was able to keep a level head
and stay humble despite the frenzy around him.
“We always
tried to expose him and show him there’s always someone bigger, there’s always
someone better,” Flint said. “So he’s always kept a good perspective abou
t that and
not get the big fish in the little pond syndrome.”
Minshew
said he embraces the role of being the person everyone looks to when things
aren’t going right.
“I love
being the guy that has an impact on every play,” he said.
:::::::::::::::::::::::
Pullman development, growth and opportunities discussed
during Pullman Kiwanis Club meeting
Commerce director is hopeful of
Pullman, community’s future
Marie Dymkoski, executive director
of Pullman Chamber of Commerce, speaks about her plans for downtown Pullman
Thursday at the Banyans Restaurant and Pavilion.
By Cheryl Aarino, Evergreen reporter
September 28, 2018
September 28, 2018
City and business development was
the topic of the Kiwanis Club meeting at the Banyans Pavilion Thursday.
Marie Dymkoski, executive director
of Pullman Chamber of Commerce, spoke at the meeting about business in Pullman
and how she is optimistic about the city’s growth.
“I think one of the things I’ve seen
in the last few years is really centered around communication,” Dymkoski said,
“especially between the university and the community and having this new
Town-Gown Collaborative, where we are talking to each other about the needs of
the community, whether it’s from the university’s perspective or the
community’s perspective.”
The Town-Gown Collaborative, which
started two years ago, is a collaboration between WSU and the community of
Pullman. There are five subcommittees, one of which is about first impressions.
The new welcome sign in Pullman, for example, was a result of that
subcommittee’s work.
“We want to welcome you regardless
of cultural diversity,” Dymkoski said. “We want you to know that this is your
community.”
She also said she realizes Pullman
still has areas that could be improved.
“[The south end of Pullman], that’s
certainly an area we could grow, especially with the bypass,” Dymkoski said.
For years, the community has wanted
a bypass, but it has not been built. People keep saying legislators will not
want to support one or that it costs too much, she said.
“Bishop Boulevard wasn’t engineered
for big, heavy traffic,” she said. “Pullman’s infrastructure is challenged by
the growth that we’ve had.”
Pullman Transit has grown, and it
would help if people would use the transit system more, she said. She also said
residents of Pullman do not use the transit system as much as the college
students.
“It’s retraining our brain. This has
been a small town for a long, long time, and we’re used to things a certain way,”
Dymkoski said.
The city continues to grow, but it
is important to keep the start-ups in Pullman and the entrepreneurial
businesses, she said.
She said it was likely Bishop
Boulevard will “build out,” especially with the Community Action Center RiverView
Apartments because those residents will need amenities.
She said she knows people like to
spend their time in Pullman and spend their money here, and wants for Pullman
to keep fostering that.
The Lumberyard is one example. With
food trucks, a bar, event hosting space and indoor and outdoor seating, it is
something the community should support, she said. She also said she thinks this
kind of expansion is an important investment in the community.
“There’s more opportunity for growth
and that’s just going to snowball,” Dymkoski said.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Proving
them right
Sophomore
forward from Hawaii wants to leave her impact on field, eager to affirm she was
rightfully recruited to WSU
By John
Spellman, WSU Daily Evergreen student newspaper
Sept 28,
2018
Almost
3,000 miles separate Kapolei, Hawaii, and Pullman, Washington. Despite the
distance between her hometown and where she
goes to
college, Makamae Gomera-Stevens feels right at home as a Coug.
“I love
the atmosphere here, and how everyone in Pullman is a die-hard Coug fan,”
Gomera-Stevens said. “When I was getting recruited, I realized I wanted to play
a sport here because we would have a ton of fans at our games and we would have
a lot of support from everyone that goes to this college. The coaches made me
feel like they wanted me to be part of this school.”
The
sophomore business major did not take the conventional path to becoming a
Division I soccer star.
“I started
as a cheerleader, but my dad did not want me to be a cheerleader for a long
time, so my parents signed me up for a random city team when I was young,” she
said. “I guess I was pretty good at it, so I continued playing,”
From then
on, she played for the Surf Hawaii Academy and Leahi club team where she won
the prestigious 2016 Surf Cup championship, a tournament between the top teams
in each state. Gomera-Stevens said this was her biggest accomplishment in her
soccer career to date.
Last year
during her freshman season, Gomera-Stevens scored a goal and two assists, but
she admitted she had higher expectations and wants to prove what kind of player
she really is this year.
“I feel
like I have a lot to prove,” Gomera-Stevens said. “I came in this past summer
feeling hungry to better myself. I go into each practice making sure me and my
teammates are improving and making sure the team needs go before my needs.”
Currently,
Gomera-Stevens is a forward for the No. 9 Cougar soccer team, which is ranked
the highest it has ever been in program history. The squad is also off to its
best start in team history as it is undefeated through eight games so far.
Gomera-Stevens
has been a big part of the team’s success this season. She is second on the
team in goals scored with three and she has one assist. Despite the work from
Gomera-Stevens and her teammates, she knows the Cougs have a tough task ahead
of them during Pac-12 conference play.
“We just
need to take it one game at a time and focus on winning each game,”
Gomera-Stevens said. “Every matchup is going to be a challenge because most of
the teams in the Pac-12 are doing really well this year, so every game will be
a battle.”
Though she
may only be a sophomore, Gomera-Stevens has good insight into what she wants to
accomplish during her time at WSU.
“I want to
have known that I made an impact on the field, and I want the coaches to know
they were right in recruiting me and I want to get my name out there, saying
that I was part of something successful for a great program,” she said.
Whether
it’s on or off the field, Gomera-Stevens is eager to show her talent and help
carry her team to victory.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Lumberyard
- a food hall with fun on the side - to open late October in Pullman
Food,
beverages, bars, children's corner and game room to occupy old Pullman Building
Supply space
By Katie
Short, Moscow Pullman Daily News staff writer Sept 28, 2018
Located
right along the South Fork of the Palouse River between North Grand Avenue and
Northwest State Street in Pullman, the Lumberyard is expected to soon bring six
new cuisine options, two bars, a children's corner and even an arcade room to
the city's residents.
While the
date is not certain, the Lumberyard is expected to open in late October,
co-owner Greg Petry said.
Petry, a
Pullman native, said he had been sitting on the idea of opening a food hall for
several years and even looked at locations as far as Eugene, Ore., and Walla
Walla, Wash.
He said
two years ago, he found the perfect location in the old Pullman Building
Supply. While the space needed to be gutted and brought up to current code
standards, his vision is finally becoming a reality.
"I
was looking for a warehouse property within half a mile from downtown," he
said, adding that, although the Pullman location fit everything he needed, he
spent the better part of a year getting the space rezoned to fall within the
business district.
Petry said
the food hall will feature six different cuisines, each served from renovated
shipping containers purchased from the Port of Tacoma.
General
Manager Jenny Finau said what makes the Lumberyard unique is it is not renting
out spaces to other vendors, but instead curating all the food themselves.
"It
is all simple, scratch made and responsibly sourced," she said.
The
cuisine offered in the hall will include Puerto Rican food, coffee, ice cream,
Southern food, gourmet salads and burgers.
Other
features of the food hall will include a hotel room, two bars, and an arcade
with a shuffleboard and video games.
Petry said
in designing the Lumberyard, he wanted to create a space that not only appealed
to Pullman residents, but families and students.
"My
vision was to create the kind of space Pullman was missing," he said.
Finau said
one of her favorite parts of the entire space is the reclaimed wood they used
to make the banquet tables, chairs and bar tops. The name lumberyard was no
coincidence, Petry said. He chose the name for two reasons: the Pullman
Building Supply previously stored lumber where the new mezzanine bar will be
located and because the group saved as much of the original wood in the
building as possible, including the beams and the floors.
One of the
other repurposed features at the Lumberyard will include stand-up tables made
out of old electrical spools donated by Avista, he said.
Petry said
the Lumberyard leased an old pump house from the city and plans to provide
additional seating outside.
"It
is a significant investment for us," Petry said. "I want people to
feel like this has some of the best ambiance in Pullman."
::::::
Cougars
only women’s college soccer team in nation still undefeated
No. 9 WSU
defeated Ducks 2-1 to stay perfect in Pullman
By TAYLOR
DUNLAP, Evergreen
September
27, 2018
No. 9 WSU
soccer maintains an undefeated record after beating the University of Oregon
2-1 Thursday night. With two different
goal scorers, the Cougars advanced with another win added to their perfect
9-0-0 record for the season.
After
their win last week against then-No. 8 University of California, Los Angeles,
the Cougars came into the game tonight with motivation to keep their winning
streak. Head Coach Todd Shulenberger is proud of his team’s performance after
coming home from a crucial game away.
“It’s a
tough test for sure, what a great team Oregon is, but it was definitely
something I wanted to see. I mean you go and beat one of the best teams in
America, what are you going to do about your next opponent?” Shulenberger said.
“UCLA is in the national championship just about every year, so to beat them
and bounce back at home against a very good Oregon team is very impressive.”
In the
first half both WSU and Oregon battled back and forth on either end of the
field trying to get points on the board. The Cougars put up eight shots and the
Ducks put up seven in the first half, however, no goals were scored.
In the
first three minutes of the second half, sophomore forward Elyse Bennett scored
the first goal of the game. This was Bennett’s third goal of the season as she
was assisted by sophomore midfielder Sydney Pulver.
“We knew
that the wide channels were going to be open because they like to crunch the
middle, so I made my run wide and saw Syndey coming in the middle,” Bennett
said. “Then I saw that gap between the outside back so I just made a slit run
behind them and took and touch and hit then hit it near post.”
After a
foul on freshman defender Mykiaa Minniss, the Ducks had an opportunity for a
free kick where Oregon senior midfielder Sofia Chambers scored the Ducks’ only
goal of the night in the 58th minute. However, senior midfielder Maegan O’Neill
scored the Cougars’ final goal of the night as she was assisted by senior
defender Maddy Haro, her ninth assist on the season.
The
Cougars will be back on the field at noon Sunday as they take on Oregon State
in Pullman.
::::
WSU
SOCCER:
Moscow Pullman
Daily News
Maegan
O'Neill giveth and she taketh away.
The
Washington State midfielder inadvertently helped Oregon tie the score on a
deflection in the 57th minute but she also produced the game-winner for the
undefeated Cougars 12 minutes later Thursday night in a 2-1 women's soccer win.
Maddy Haro
assisted on the game-winner as the Cougs improved to 9-0-0 overall and 2-0-0 in
the Pac-12 in the conference match before 1,254 at the Lower Soccer Field.
The Cougs,
who have beaten Oregon seven straight times, are the only unbeaten and untied
NCAA Division I team in the country.
A free
kick by Oregon's Sofia Chambers deflected off O'Neill into the net to tie the
score, after Elyse Bennett of the Cougars scored in the 47th minute on an
assist by Sydney Pulver.
Rachel
Thompson made five saves for the Cougars, aided by repeated tackles by Grace
Hancock. Halla Hinriksdottir made seven saves for the Ducks (7-2-1, 1-1-0).
A Duck
foul in the offensive midfield set up O'Neill's decisive header off a set
piece, her third score of the season.
Haro
picked up her ninth assist of the year as she kept her national-best
assist/game average at 1.00. The Cougs continue their homestand with a matchup
against Oregon State on Sunday. The game is scheduled for noon on Pac-12
Networks.
Oregon 0
1-1
Washington
St. 0 2-2
WSU -
Bennett (Pulver), 47:56
Oregon -
Sofia Chambers, 57:29
WSU -
O'Neill (Haro), 69:22
Shots -
Oregon 14, Washington State 18
Saves -
Oregon 7 (Hinriksdottir 7), Washington State 5 (Thompson 5)
Attendance
– 1254
::::
Cougars
Run At Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational/Cross-Country
Jenkins,
Teigen lead the way for Washington State
From WSU
Sports Info 9/28/2018
WHO WHAT
WHEN WHERE
MADISON,
Wis. -- The Washington State Cross
Country programs ran in the 2018 Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational Friday
morning at the Zimmer Championship Course.
WSU WOMEN
The WSU
women's program, currently ranked ninth overall in the west region, placed 31st
overall in the 6k race against some of the top squads in the nation.
The top
finisher for Washington State was freshman Emma Jenkins who placed 95th overall
with a time of 21:10.9 in the race. Following Jenkins was Kaili Keefe who
posted a time of 21:39.0 for a finish of 145th overall. Desi Stinger placed
183rd (22:08.0), Kelsey Takeuchi at 191st (22:16.4), Melissa Hruska in 195th
place (22:18.4), Samantha King-Shaw in
209th (22:47.0), and Marie Gaudin finished in 214th overal(22:57.4) each
followed up for the Cougs in this premier event.
Colorado
took home the top spot in the race with 80 overall points, followed by Boise
State with 90, and New Mexico in third with 130 total points.
WSU MEN
The men's
squad, currently ranked No. 15 in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country
Association (USTFCCCA), finished 11th overall in the 8k race.
Leading
the way for Washington State was senior Chandler Teigen finishing 26th overall
with a time of 23:49.9 during the meet. Nathan Wadhwani followed Teigen in 55th
place, with a time of 24:04.8. Amir Ado placed 67th overall (24:12.6), Paul
Ryan in 89th (24:24.6), Justin Janke in 97th overall (24:27.0), Colton Johnsen
finished 133rd (24:43.0), and Kennan Schrag at 173rd (25:07.4) each followed up
for the Cougs in the race, against several of the other top ranked programs in
the nation Friday morning.
Northern
Arizona finished first overall in the Invitational, with 46 total points,
followed by Wisconsin in second with 135, and Portland in third overall with 140
points scored.
MARK YOUR
CALENDAR
Washington
State will next compete at the Inland Empire Championships located at Lewiston,
Idaho, Saturday, October 13, and will be held at the Lewis-Clark State College
Orchards Course. The Cougs will be sending a squad back to Madison, Wisconsin
to compete once again at the Zimmer Championship Course in the Pre-National
Meet on October 13 as well.
:::::::::::::::::;
FOOTBALL
Washington
State cashed in by taking chance on Calvin Jackson Jr. of ‘Last Chance U’
UPDATED:
Fri., Sept. 28, 2018, 1:48 p.m.
By Theo
Lawson Spokane S-R
PULLMAN –
Calvin Jackson Jr. exited the airplane in Tulsa, Oklahoma, hopped into a car
and quickly met the reality of his new life.
This was
not Pompano Beach, Florida. No more crystal oceans. No more white-sand beaches.
No more majestic palm trees waving through the tropical air. This was something
else. Cows, cornfields and more cows. Where one pasture ended, the next one
began. Corn stalks lined either side of the highway, leading Jackson Jr.
farther away from civilization one row at a time.
Jackson
Jr. slept through most of the two-hour ride and part of him probably wishes he
would have kept his eyes shut once he arrived at his destination. The town of
10,000 people in the heart of rural America has a community college. Its campus
is made up of four buildings: two rugged dormitories, an academic hub with
classrooms/study areas and a cafeteria most would advise you to avoid.
Independence
Community College is the last place a high-profile football prospect such as
Jackson Jr. expects to land. But the school’s deficiencies create its allure.
The less time spent here, the better. If you arrive in Independence, Kansas, at
1:30 p.m., you’re ready to leave by 1:31.
Anyone who
attends ICC seems to latch onto that concept. The school’s football program has
used it to bring in some of the country’s most talented misfits – a Florida
State quarterback with an attitude problem, a Texas Tech receiver who was
booted for marijuana use, a Michigan running back who wasn’t happy with his
workload.
Also,
people like Jackson Jr., who may not belong in the knucklehead category, but
need a place to reboot their academic career after taking a foot off the pedal
their final year of high school.
“We pull
up to the regular dorms and it just looked like jail. It was awful,” said
Jackson Jr., now a junior outside receiver at Washington State. “The grass was
high, you see cows behind the school. We see plain open fields, hills, and I
was like, ‘This is crazy.’ ”
Especially
crazy when you considered Jackson Jr.’s previous 24 hours and the sudden
circumstances that left him on the doorstep of a school many now identify as
“Last Chance U.”
Just a day
earlier, Jackson Jr. was back home in sunny southeastern Florida savoring the
final moments of the summer of 2016, eagerly anticipating the next phase of his
life. His duffel bags were stuffed and his suitcases were zipped.
But
Independence Community College was never supposed to be their destination.
WSU's
Calvin Jackson Jr. (85) runs the ball during practice on Friday, August 3,
2018, at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Wash. (Tyler Tjomsland / The
Spokesman-Review)
WSU's
Calvin Jackson Jr. (85) runs the ball during practice on Friday, August 3,
2018, at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Wash. (Tyler Tjomsland / The
Spokesman-Review)
♦ ♦ ♦
The son of
Calvin Jackson Sr., a six-year NFL defensive back who was a strong safety for
Auburn’s undefeated 1993 team, Jackson Jr. was a speedy wide receiver who
doubled as a free safety and returned kicks at Coral Springs Charter in the
Fort Lauderdale/Boca Raton region of Florida.
Recruiting
services voted Jackson Jr. a three-star receiver prospect. While he’d shown
bursts of excellence in coverage as a DB, the Panthers’ two-way star preferred
to have the ball in his hands. Flashing back to his childhood, that had always
been the case.
When
Jackson Sr. returned home from games with the Miami Dolphins, his toddler-aged
son would be waiting at the front door with a plush football clenched between
his small hands.
“Anybody
that came into the house used to duck because he was very accurate,” said
Jackson Sr., an undrafted free agent who spent all six NFL seasons with the Dan
Marino-era Dolphins. “We thought he was going to be a quarterback.”
But
Jackson Jr.’s senior season offered a glimpse of what he could be as a
collegiate defensive back. He intercepted six passes for the Panthers as a
senior and returned one for a touchdown. Jackson Sr. recorded 239 tackles, four
sacks and four picks as an NFL player and with an athletic makeup that mirrored
his father’s, Jackson Jr. briefly pondered that route.
“My dad
always used to preach, it’s in your blood, we can do this, I can teach you
this, show you this, show you that,” Jackson Jr. said.
“He probably
could be one of the better corners in college football,” Jackson Sr. said, “as
good as he is at wide receiver.”
Jackson
Jr. was a 4A all-state first-team selection at receiver as a senior. He caught
51 passes for 897 yards and 16 touchdowns, and often did it with flair. One
play, he can be seen catching a high screen pass out of the air with his right
hand – it’s the nose of the football he grasps, not the middle – before pulling
it into his body, splitting two tacklers and booking it down the sideline for a
35-yard gain. His left hand doesn’t touch the ball for the duration of the
play.
Dad, who
once thought his son was built to play defense, admits now, “He proved me.”
♦ ♦ ♦
How
Jackson Jr. wound up in the Midwest, playing for a manic junior college
football coach and becoming a pseudo Netflix celebrity, began with a phone call
from Derek Sage.
Sage is
now coaching the tight ends at UCLA, but formerly worked under Mike Leach as an
outside receivers coach at WSU. Prior to that, he served as a wide receivers
coach at the University of Toledo.
A few
major schools in the south, including LSU, had approached Jackson Jr. in high
school, but most operated power run schemes on offense and the receiver didn’t
want to be left in the shadows or, “lost in the system,” as Jackson Jr. said.
He sought out receptions.
Sage and
Toledo had been persistent from the beginning and Jackson Jr. felt he could
stake out an important role with the Rockets early on.
“If he had
to see me two, three times he’d come (to Florida),” Jackson Jr. said of Sage,
who spent three seasons at Toledo. “… He’s a great guy. He goes the extra mile
to make sure he gets you and you’re in check.”
Jackson
Jr. rewarded Sage’s dedication with an oral commitment to the Mid-American
Conference school in June 2015 and signed a letter of intent the following
February. But a few months later, Sage phoned Jackson Jr. and delivered some
dispiriting news. The same week he planned to move to Ohio and enroll at
Toledo, Jackson Jr. learned he wasn’t academically eligible after slipping up
in a few classes his final semester of high school.
“It was a
huge wake-up call,” he said.
Jackson
Jr. loitered in his bedroom, where he’d already prepared clothes and things for
Toledo, and tried to find the words he’d use to tell his father what Sage had
just told him. After about an hour, he emerged.
“That was
by far the hardest thing I’ve ever had to tell my dad about because me and my
dad, we talk about legit anything,” he said. “It could be a hiccup and we’d talk
about it. … But looking at him and looking at his face, I felt like I let him
down.”
Unbeknown
to Jackson Jr., Sage had already relayed the news to the elder Jackson, who
wanted his son to initiate the conversation and own up to his mistake
“That’s part
of being a man,” Jackson Sr. said, admitting, “it was a tough day for both of
us.”
The two
spent the next few hours trying to salvage any FBS opportunities still on the
table, but nothing worked out. That’s when Jackson Sr. got in touch with Kansas
State running backs coach Eric Hickson, a former teammate on the XFL’s
Birmingham Thunderbolts. Hickson put the Jacksons in touch with ICC coach Jason
Brown and recruiting coordinator Jesse Ornelas.
They
salivated over the receiver’s game film and offered him the same day. Jackson
Jr. hardly knew where to locate Kansas on a map, and knew even less about
junior college football, but approximately 24 hours later he was on his way to
Independence.
“Calvin
was probably my first big-time guy I brought in,” Ornelas said. “I knew he was
going to be special, so I spent a lot of time getting his academics right. … He
was a little bit different. From day one, he always wanted to get out. He was
going to do anything possible to do that and he wasn’t a hard guy to get to buy
in.”
♦ ♦ ♦
When
Netflix viewers sit down to binge through the newest season of the acclaimed
“Last Chance U” reality series, an impassioned, vulgar speech from Brown, the
head ICC coach, is the first thing that captures their attention. Still shots
of Indy football players roll across the screen as Brown drowns the audience in
profanities. Wearing a team sweatsuit, with a gold necklace draped around his
neck and bleached curls on top of his fade haircut, Jackson Jr. is the fourth
one shown.
Season 3
of “Last Chance U” aired on July 20. From his apartment in Pullman, Jackson Jr.
made it through five consecutive episodes – each about an hour in length –
before finally leaving his television for a team workout.
“It showed
a little bit, but it didn’t show all of it,” Jackson Jr. said. “I can tell you
that.”
After two
seasons on East Mississippi Community College’s campus in Scooba, Netflix
producers called an audible and decided to film at another junior college
outpost. Seven schools were in the running, and when reigning national champion
Garden City turned down an offer, Netflix went to a Kansas junior college on
the rise.
Camera
crews poured into the tiny community of Independence the day after Brown
accepted and spent months tracking the lives and obtaining footage of Pirates
players and coaches.
As one of
ICC’s leading receivers, Jackson Jr. is featured prominently throughout the
eight-episode season. Camera crews trailed him and his teammates throughout
campus, spent time in their classrooms and even flew home to Florida with
Jackson Jr. when he signed his letter of intent with WSU. Some players soaked
in the attention. Jackson Jr. embraced it, but didn’t seek it out and admits it
became invasive at times.
“Even if
we’d go talk to our guidance counselor, they were right behind us, so it was
very overwhelming,” he said. “I’m looking over my shoulder.”
Jackson
Jr. said he was only nervous about one scene. In a game late in the season, he
and embattled QB Malik Henry, a former four-star recruit who transferred from
Florida State, engage in a verbal altercation on the sideline.
Other
scenes reflected his mission to improve in the classroom. During another
episode, cameras visit a weekly book club, held by English teacher LaTonya
Pinkard, who becomes one of the show’s starring figures as she works to enhance
the academic resume of ICC’s football players and ensure they’ll become
eligible to transfer.
Jackson
Jr. attended the voluntary book club on a regular basis and said it rubbed off
on him as he straightened out his grades.
“What Ms.
‘P’ spoke to me and (teammate) Emmit (Gooden) about, was, ‘A man with a book is
dangerous,’ ” he said. “I took that and I ran with it.”
Ornelas
also took initiative to guarantee Jackson Jr. wouldn’t have to spend more than
the obligatory two years on ICC’s campus.
“A lot of
late nights in my office writing papers and checking in on classes,” he said.
Sixty-four
class credits and 74 catches later, Jackson Jr. earned his escape from
Independence. The detour may have been unexpected, but the WSU receiver
believes it was necessary and it ultimately rerouted him back to an FBS school.
“I’m so
grateful for what I’ve been through,” Jackson Jr. said. “That’s what I’m
saying, it was a humbling experience.”
Ornelas,
now a linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator at Iowa Central, said, “I
actually do use Calvin a lot in recruiting (as an example), probably more than
he would like, but it is what it is.”
♦ ♦ ♦
Jackson
Jr. and Sage maintained their relationship while the receiver did his time at
ICC. When Sage left Toledo to take a position with the Cougars, he showed Leach
the player’s film and convinced him to offer Jackson Jr. a scholarship.
“He was
just quick, came out of his cuts quick,” Leach said. “He’s gotten bigger, so
kind of a quick, savvy guy out there.”
Jackson
Jr. has played mostly at the outside “Z” receiver position and made the first
catches of his career in the Cougars’ last home game against Eastern
Washington, reeling in three balls for 36 yards. He’s listed as one of two
backups, along with Rodrick Fisher, at the other outside position, “X,” ahead
of this week’s clash with Utah and could spell starter Tay Martin.
Most of
Jackson Jr.’s fellow receivers have taken interest in the “Last Chance U”
series and habitually began calling their teammate “Netflix” when WSU camp
opened in August.
“I always
bug him about it,” Easop Winston Jr. said earlier this week. “I’m always like,
‘Dude, were you that guy on Last Chance U?’ He gets mad.”
But
Winston Jr. is also complimentary of Jackson Jr.’s skills.
“He’s
definitely a great player,” Winston Jr. said. “He can do a lot of things for
our offense, he’s good with the ball after he catches it and he has great
hands. He’s going to look to see a lot of PT coming up.”
Martin
believes Jackson Jr. already has a solid handle on Leach’s Air Raid playbook
and is capable of helping the Cougars at both “X” and “Z.”
“He’s a
fast guy,” Martin said, adding that it was “surreal” to see his teammate on the
hit Netflix show.
Saturday’s
game against the Utes should be plenty meaningful for Jackson Jr. He’s facing a
longtime companion, Utah QB Tyler Huntley, who played in the same youth league
as Jackson Jr. while both lived on the sandy shores of Florida.
And pops
will be in attendance, watching his first game inside Martin Stadium.
“I was
afraid when he went to Kansas and then he chose another school that’s clear
across (the country),” Jackson Sr. said. “I’m like, ‘Bruh, you can’t find a
school that you want to go to nearby?’ He fell in love with the campus, the
atmosphere and everything. He said, ‘Dad, it’s for me,’ so I had no choice but
to play along.
“It’s been
a tough road for him, but he’s where he wants to be, so I’m very pleased, very
happy for him.”
:::::::::::::::::::
WSU
football
Two-minute
drill: Keys to victory for Washington State against Utah
UPDATED:
Fri., Sept. 28, 2018, 3:49 p.m.
By Theo
Lawson of the Trib of Lewiston, Idaho
PAC-12
FOOTBALL
At Martin
Stadium, Pullman
➤ Saturday, Sept. 29:
Utah Utes at Washington State Cougars, 3 p.m. PDT TV: Pac-12 Networks
Don’t take
your eyes off …
They’ll be
up against it playing opposite one of the country’s top defensive secondaries,
but Washington State’s “Z” receivers, Easop Winston Jr. and Dezmon Patmon, each
turned in their best games of the season last Friday at USC. They combined for
12 catches, 198 yards and three touchdowns. Winston is the smaller option, but
he’s more elusive and has the best hands on the team. Patmon, at 6-4, is more
imposing and can become a matchup nightmare for smaller defensive backs. Julian
Blackmon, the Utah corner that’ll presumably be on his side of the field most
of the game, stands just 6-1.
With four
TDs in four games, WR Easop Winston is thriving in first season at Washington
State
When Utah
has the ball …
The Utes
have been balanced on offense, at least in terms of their play-calling, with
112 passing attempts on the season and 103 rushing. But they’ve been significantly
more productive on the ground with 459 rushing yards and three touchdowns,
while averaging 4.5 yards per carry. Utah will need Tyler Huntley and the
passing game to pick up momentum at some point, though, and the quarterback has
thrown more than 70 passes since firing his last touchdown. In the last two
games, the Utes have manufactured only 424 passing yards – something that
probably has direct correlation to their points output against Northern
Illinois and Washington. They scored just 24 combined points in those contests
and will probably need at least that many to match the Cougars.
When
Washington State has the ball …
Even in a
39-36 loss to USC, Gardner Minshew and the Air Raid offense were able to move
efficiently, completing 71 percent of their passes for 344 yards, three
touchdowns and no interceptions. But the degree of difficulty increases this
weekend as the Cougars face another Pac-12 South secondary that looks to be
more talented than the last one. Utah’s defensive backs are fundamentally
sound, they’re physical and they’re experienced, but they haven’t seen an
offense willing to throw it around the yard at the rate Washington State’s
will. Likewise, the Cougars haven’t seen a defensive backfield this season
that’s better equipped to contain their Air Raid. The Cougars won’t necessarily
need to scale down the amount of passes they throw, but Minshew can’t afford to
make many mistakes either.
The
architect, his pupil, and his son: Hal Mumme, Mike Leach and Matt Mumme are
wedded to the Air Raid offense
The year
was 2000 and Matt Mumme had decided to tag along with his father, Hal, for an
American Football Coaches Association convention in Florida. The two were
strolling through a conference room when someone at a nearby table spoke up to
get Hal’s attention. And Matt remembers this vividly. He and his father stopped
in their tracks as Howard Schnellenberger belted out: “Hey Hal, you know you’re
ruining football, don’t you?” | Read more »
Did you
know?
Washington
State can extend the second-longest home winning streak in program history by
capturing a victory at Martin Stadium Saturday afternoon. The Cougars have won
nine in a row at home dating back to the 2017 opener against Montana State,
something that hasn’t been done since the early to mid 1940s. A 10th straight
win in Pullman would put this WSU team in rarefied air. The only other
double-digit home winning streaks in program history happened between 1928-33,
when the Cougars won 19 consecutive games, and from 1904-08 when they won 14
straight.
::::::::::::::
FOOTBALL
Red All
Over: Ute defensive backs will have plenty of opportunities for pickoffs at
Washington State
By Kurt
Kragthorpe Salt Lake Trib
Red All
Over is a weekly newsletter covering University of Utah athletics. To receive
it free, subscribe here.
Utah's
defensive backs went into the season with a goal of being remembered as the
best secondary in school history.
That group
has performed well in the first three games, with one notable element missing:
interceptions. “That's for sure something that's on our minds,” cornerback
Julian Blackmon said this week.
Linebacker
Chase Hansen and tackle Pita Tonga have made Utah's two interceptions. In
defense of the secondary, the Utes have faced only 79 passes in three games.
Washington State could approach that number of attempts Saturday in Pullman,
Wash.
I’ll have
much more to say about this matchup in a preview posted Friday, but here’s the
question: Which group faces more pressure this week, Utah’s defense, facing the
prolific Cougar offense? Or the Ute offense, which has had two weeks to stew
about its seven-point effort vs. Washington?
Rounding
them up
Long ago,
I planned a story for this week about Weber State student Kelly Hilinski and
how he cheers for his brother, the Washington State quarterback. As we know,
the story changed, and Kelly spoke eloquently about Tyler’s life. (TRIB)
…..
‘I refuse
to let Tyler die twice': A man in Utah keeps his promise to his brother, who
would’ve been the quarterback facing the Utes this week
Tyler
Hilinski was Washington State’s presumed quarterback of 2018, before he died by
suicide.
By Kurt
Kragthorpe Sept 26 2018 Salt Lake Tri
·
Ogden,
Utah –
Kelly
Hilinski will spend Saturday night in the emergency room, admitting patients
who come to McKay-Dee Hospital needing his help. That’s where he was working
last September, when he kept sneaking into an office to glance at a computer
screen showing Washington State’s football game.
In between
patients that evening, he watched his brother Tyler come off the bench and lead
WSU’s fourth-quarter comeback in an eventual triple-overtime victory against
Boise State. Hilinski never will forget that moment, or the brother who made it
happen.
This story
was supposed to be about Hilinski, a former Weber State quarterback and
aspiring doctor, spending another similarly distracted shift Saturday. That's
when Utah would play in Pullman, Wash., with his brother as the Cougars' QB.
The script changed in January, when one life ended and others were permanently
altered.
Tyler
Hilinski died by suicide, leaving a family and a football team searching for
answers and wondering what to do next. The Cougars found a graduate transfer to
replace Hilinski, the presumed 2018 starter as the successor to Logan’s Luke
Falk. Tyler’s family created a foundation to raise awareness of suicide and to
make sure he is remembered as they move forward in a process that Kym Hilinski,
Tyler’s mother, describes not as day to day, but hour to hour.
Near the
end of a conversation this week on the Weber State campus, where he will
graduate in May with a degree in microbiology, Kelly Hilinski asked to make one
point clear. “We’re not doing this to get a pity card or get sympathy,” he
said. “We don’t need that. We’ve got our family for that.”
And then
he said, “We're going to change the way the world works.”
To the
Hilinskis, that means talking about Tyler, not being afraid to say the word
“suicide” in hopes of removing the stigma around mental illness and to make
sure other victims are remembered for how they lived.
Born 18
months after his brother, Tyler became Kelly’s best friend. That phrase only
begins to describe their bond. “We did everything together, literally
everything,” Kelly Hilinski said.
Hilinski
intends to name his first son after his brother. So it could be said that he’s
looking for the mother of the next Tyler, amid his packed schedule of working
graveyard shifts at the hospital and preparing for medical school. This shows
how close they were: Hilinski ended his relationship with a woman after asking
himself if he loved her as much as he loved Tyler.
At this
point during an otherwise upbeat discussion, Hilinski paused. He shook his head
and said, “It's just a shame.”
Interesting
choice of words. Shame is exactly what the Hilinski’s Hope Foundation is trying
to take out of the study of suicide, treating it like cancer or any other
illness. “Tyler got sick,” Kym Hilinski said from Southern California. “We
didn’t see it. Nobody saw it.”
Mark and Kym Hilinski pose for a picture at
their home Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018, in Irvine, Calif. The parents of Washington
State quarterback Tyler Hilinski, who killed himself in Pullman, Wash., in
January, have become advocates for greater awareness of mental health issues
among student-athletes and are channeling their energy into Hilinski's Hope, a
foundation created to bring resources to bear on the issues. (AP Photo/Chris
Carlson)
Mark and
Kym Hilinski pose for a picture at their home Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018, in
Irvine, Calif. The parents of Washington State quarterback Tyler Hilinski, who
killed himself in Pullman, Wash., in January, have become advocates for greater
awareness of mental health issues among student-athletes and are channeling
their energy into Hilinski's Hope, a foundation created to bring resources to
bear on the issues. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
This is a
case of skipping ahead in Kelly Hilinski's story, considering everything
involved in becoming a physician, but his brother's death changed his direction
in medicine. His original plan was to become a cardiac surgeon, motivated by
his father, Mark, having undergone open-heart surgery. Not surprisingly, he now
hopes to study neurology, after the family learned that Tyler was affected by
the degenerative brain condition CTE.
“No
offense to my dad,” Kelly Hilinski said, smiling, “but Ty's my guy.”
Tyler's
condition presumably stemmed from hits he absorbed in football, yet the
family's view of the sport is not affected. Ryan Hilinski, the youngest child
and a star quarterback at Orange Lutheran, plans to enroll at South Carolina in
January. Kelly will join his brother in Columbia, S.C., next summer, while
studying for the medical school entrance exam.
Hilinski’s
own quarterbacking career ended early. After starting four games as a Columbia
University freshman during an 0-10 season in 2013, he gave up an Ivy League
education to pursue a better college football experience. He transferred to
Riverside (Calif.) Community College and then signed with Weber State, where he
redshirted in 2015 and would have competed for the Wildcats' starting job the
next season. But he severely damaged his throwing shoulder in a 3-on-3,
tug-of-war exercise in winter conditioning. Advised of a strong possibility of
re-injury, he stopped playing football and devoted himself to academic work.
After
Tyler's death, Kelly took a leave of absence from the hospital and left school
for a semester, going home to California in a move his mother forever will
appreciate. “He really took care of us,” she said. “We sort of took care of
each other.”
Kelly
Hilinski has gone to Pullman four times since his brother's death. Those visits
are difficult, yet rewarding. “Every time,” he said, “I get to hear another
story.”
The
Cougars wear No. 3 decals on their helmets and have maintained Tyler's locker.
The family was disappointed this month, however, after attending WSU's home
opener vs. Eastern Washington. The school painted suicide prevention ribbons on
the Martin Stadium field, but didn't show a highlight video or say Tyler's
name, apparently out of concern for celebrating a suicide.
That's
wrong, the Hilinskis believe. They're driven to deter suicide; they're equally
determined to make sure suicide victims are not forgotten. This explains two of
several rubber wristbands Kelly Hilinski wears on each arm, one for his brother
and another from a mother who asked him to remember her son.
Long
before his brother died, Hilinski's Twitter account featured this quote: “They
say you die twice, one time when you stop breathing and a second time, a bit
later on, when somebody says your name for the last time.”
During the
funeral in January, the older brother repeated those words and concluded, “I
refuse to let Tyler die a second time.”
That won’t
happen, as long as Kelly Hilinski lives. Or even longer.
The
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline provides 24/7, free and confidential
support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources:
1-800-273-8255.
TYLER
HILINSKI’S FINAL SEASON
Tyler
Hilinski’s 2017 statistics at Washington State sophomore quarterback, playing
behind Logan’s Luke Falk:
Montana
State • 7 of 9, 50 yards.
Boise
State • 25 of 33, 240 yards, three TDs, one interception.
Oregon
State • 5 of 9, 35 yards.
Nevada • 2
of 3, 27 yards, one interception.
California
• 4 of 5, 28 yards.
Colorado •
3 of 9, 15 yards.
Arizona •
45 of 61, 509 yards, two TDs, four interceptions.
Michigan
State • 39 of 50, 272 yards, two TDs, one interception.
