SEATTLE – A year ago at Apple Cup, Carl Bonnell sat in the front row at Martin Stadium, right at the 30-yard line, and rooted for Washington State.
And why not? He was a WSU student and, he hoped, a Cougar quarterback someday.
He had little idea what was in store shortly afterward, when he journeyed on a path that would bring him to the University of Washington.
“I had no clue of what would come out of those two months,” Bonnell said. “Right then, I hadn’t even talked to anybody about it.”
He was about to. Once then-WSU coach Mike Price left for Alabama, then-UW coach Rick Neuheisel got on the horn to Bonnell and explained to him that, if he wanted to come to Washington, he could make it happen.
“I said, ‘I’m not even sure I should be talking to you,’” Bonnell said.
But he could.
Bonnell, who led the 2001 Kentwood High School football team to the Class 4A state title game, signed with the Cougars as a grayshirt. It is an above-the-board trick to have a player come to school in the fall on a part-time basis, not count against that class’ scholarship count, and enroll the next January.
The idea: Bonnell could start his eligibility behind prospects Josh Swogger and Chris Hurd and get more playing time down the road. The catch: Bonnell had to stay away from the football team, not talk to the coaches and had to pay his own way for the fall quarter.
He worked out, watched TV, went to class and waited.
“That was the hardest thing,” Bonnell said. “The waiting was very difficult. I’m goal-oriented, and I have to be doing something, working, trying to put myself into a better situation. I felt like I was just wasting my time. Everybody was getting better, and I was just lying around.”
Neuheisel knew that Bonnell was something of a free agent because his part-time status in school made his letter of intent null and void. He could sign with anyone.
Bonnell originally wanted to come to Washington. Indeed, had Price not left, he likely still would be a Cougar. On the night he declared for WSU, Bonnell called Neuheisel, asking if he had a scholarship available, but the Huskies already had committed to Isaiah Stanback.
In December 2002, Neuheisel returned the call and told Bonnell they could work something out.
“I wanted to,” Bonnell said. “I visited the UW and just fell in love with it. Washington always was my first choice.”
He signed, but two days before he was supposed to enroll at Washington, Washington State claimed the letter of intent Bonnell signed with the Cougars was binding. Washington appealed to the National Letter of Intent Program, which backed the Cougars. From January to August 2003, he was in limbo.
“It was hard on my family, my mother especially, not knowing what was going to happen,” Bonnell said.
However, seeing that Bonnell truly wanted to come to Washington, WSU released him of his letter of intent and he was free to enroll at Washington.
People called Bonnell a traitor, a turncoat, a Benedict Arnold.
“It wasn’t anybody I know,” he said. “It was people on the Internet. It was people letting out their frustration because they didn’t get the recruit. I didn’t take it personally at all. They didn’t know the exact circumstances. It wasn’t that big of a deal. I kind of laughed it off.”
He said he doesn’t expect any backlash from his ex-teammates, including his brother, Ray, a walk-on defensive end for the Cougars.
“He’s been very supportive through this whole thing,” Bonnell said.
Many said he transferred to Washington because he didn’t think he could make it as a quarterback at Washington State. He largely had shut out the noise, instead quarterbacking the UW scout team, getting the Husky defense ready for the next game.
Bonnell claims no regrets, not even knowing that WSU may be off to its second straight Rose Bowl, or at least a major bowl this season, while Washington likely will stay home.
“It’s unfortunate, what’s happened this year,” Bonnell said. “I thought we’d do a lot better than we did. But we’re going to turn the ship around and set things right.”
Bonnell hopes to put himself in the mix for the starting-quarterback job next spring, along with Stanback and Casey Paus. He weighs 205 pounds now and believes he’s improved greatly as a quarterback.
“I just want to get a grasp of the offense and put myself in a position where I can use my athletic ability,” Bonnell said. “Maybe I can start a little battle for the starting position.”
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