Kirton barks for the Dawgs
The Washington Huskies do what the Huskies do best and that is protect their boarders and keep the Evergreen State’s best talent at home. The Dawgs picked up the verbal commitment of running back/linebacker John Kirton (6-3, 248, 4.6) from Mill Creek (Wash.) Jackson.
The Huskies want him to report to camp at about 235 pounds. The UW brass has huge plans for Kirton. They want him to be the big powerful tailback that the Huskies haven’t had since Corey Dillon.
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Kirton is a tremendous athlete who came into the season as one of the state’s top linebacker prospects and ended up as the state’s best running prospect in a long a time.
The Dawgs get a player who came up one yard short of the State of Washington’s single season rushing record. Kirton rushed for 2,675 yards and 34 touchdowns.
Ironically Kirton played in one less game and four times this season, he didn’t play in the second half.
The opposition that he played against was impressed too.
Get a load of what one opposing coach said about Kirton.
“Athletes like Kirton are simply not normal,” Edmunds (Wash.) Woodway head coach John Gradwohl said. “Backs like Kirton only come around once every twenty years.”
“The only player that I can compare him to is (former KC Chief great) Christian Okoye,” Gradwohl said. “Kirton’s size, speed and moves make him that way.”
Washington wins the services of Kirton over offers from Oregon and Washington State. He also had interest from Oregon State, UCLA, Cal, Michigan and Nebraska.
This get harkens back to the day when Washington was landing the top talent in the northwest and competing for national championships.
Brian Cook of RealDawg.com contributed to this story.