SEATTLE – Chris Hemphill said he was caught off guard.
He knew that there was a possibility that he may be asked not to return to the Washington football team next season, but he thought there was also the opportunity for him to earn his way back.
He found out this week though, that despite a career-day against Oregon two weeks ago, his days as a Husky football player are coming to an end.
Hemphill was a surprise name that landed on the list of fourth-year juniors who were honored on Senior Day at Husky Stadium Saturday, meaning that his career as a Husky has just one more game left.
“Coach (Willingham) mentioned it to me earlier,” said Hemphill, a junior safety from Gardena, Calif. “I wasn’t sure if it was 100 percent. I guess when he put my name on the board as a leaving senior, it kind of hit me hard that this was my last home game, my last season with this place that I fell in love with. It hurt, and it especially hurt today with the loss. But there are things in life you have to deal with like that.”
Along with kicker Michael Braunstein, Hemphill was one of the surprises when Willingham released the official list of seniors who would be honored prior to Saturday’s Stanford game. Willingham has a policy in place where a fifth year is not guaranteed, and Hemphill said he believes he just didn’t fit into the vision of what Willingham has for the program.
“He just said he felt like I could be more of a consistent player,” said Hemphill, who started against Stanford and finished second on the team with 10 tackles. “He felt like I wasn’t the player he was looking for, that I wasn’t playing up to my potential. There’s nothing I can do about that but try to change his mind through my play when I got the opportunity in Oregon. I tried to show him. … I tried to do even better this game. it looked like he pretty much had his mind made up.”
Hemphill redshirted the 2003 season as a freshman and saw limited action before the last two weeks. It had been rumored that he was quietly suspended earlier this season, but he said that wasn’t the case and instead said he was simply coming back from an injury he’d suffered in fall camp. In his first significant playing time of his career, he had 14 tackles, an interception and a fumble recovery two weeks ago against Oregon.
Hemphill was an honorable mention all-Pac-10 academic choice in 2004 and says he is on target to graduate with a degree in history. He has also been involved with the Husky Nation project, a fundraiser that helps terminally ill children.
“I was hoping he’d change his mind,” Hemphill said. ” (I thought) I could show him through my play how much I want to be a part of this team. I’ve done stuff in the community. There’s different things I’ve tried to show that I really love and respect this program and him as a coach.”
Hemphill said Willingham first approached him about the possibility after the Arizona State game on Oct. 28. Hemphill said he was shocked but didn’t think the decision was written in stone, and instead thought it was something to motivate him to play harder.
Hemphill said some of his teammates were upset to learn that he would no longer be on the team and thought it may have been in the back of their minds during the Stanford game.
Hemphill said he still hopes there’s something he can do to remain a Husky but said he has other options. There’s a new NCAA rule that would allow a player who has graduated in four years to transfer to any other school and play right away. He said he has no ill feelings toward Willingham but said he’s open to any option in order to stay with the team.
“I love this team,” Hemphill said. “I love this university. I’m willing to try anything to stay with my teammates, to stay with the coaches. Since I’ve been here, we’ve been through too many coaches. I haven’t really felt at home. I started to feel at home with this coaching staff. …So I think it would really help my career in the future if I could stay another year.”
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