SEATTLE — When you roll up the numbers Johnie Kirton did at Jackson High School, you give him a chance at whatever position he wants, regardless of what the recruiting gurus might say.
Kirton rumbled for 2,675 yards as a senior tailback. But some looked at his 248 pounds and questioned whether he could become an effective tailback at the Division I level.
University of Washington head coach Keith Gilbertson wasn’t one of those, which is a major reason Kirton was one of 23 athletes who signed a letter of intent to play for the Huskies in the fall. As of now, Gilbertson said, Kirton is a back, not a linebacker or even a defensive lineman, as some have projected him to be.
"I like our backs, but we don’t have a big back on our team," Gilbertson said. "Johnie is a big back. I think we need that in our offense."
Gilbertson compared Kirton to Maurice Shaw, but not even Shaw, at 230 pounds, could match Kirton’s power. Kirton will compete with Chris Singleton, Shelton Sampson, Louis Rankin and Kenny James, all smaller, quick backs, but backs who can’t consistently run over tacklers.
"That’s the direction we wanted to go," Gilbertson said.
Kirton is one of two Snohomish County standouts who signed with the Huskies Wednesday.
Mariner linebacker Trent Tuiasosopo drew raves from Gilbertson not only for his quickness on the football field, but also on the wrestling mat.
"If you’ve ever seen Trent wrestle, you’d better go early because it doesn’t last very long," Gilbertson said. "The guy blows the whistle and then boom, he pins the guy."
Gilbertson said the program weathered well the events of last summer, when coach Rick Neuheisel was fired, causing a series of investigations and litigations that have yet to be settled.
"There were questions that were asked, like when was this all going to end," Gilbertson said. "There were some that I couldn’t answer. I don’t have answers to everything, but I talked about this university. We’ve been playing for 114 years, so we’re going to keep playing for a while."
The crown jewels of the class are quarterback Matt Tuiasosopo (Trent’s cousin) of Woodinville and Keauntea Bankhead of Ballard.
Matt Tuiasosopo, named the No. 3 player in the Long Beach Telegram’s Best in the West poll, missed part of his senior season with a sprained knee, but still ran for 831 yards and 10 touchdowns. He also passed for 778 yards. Gilbertson said he is ahead of his brother, former UW quarterback Marques Tuiasosopo, at this stage, especially in his passing ability.
Bankhead, a fearsome safety, was the consensus Washington State Player of the Year and led Ballard to its first state-title game in 60 years.
"We didn’t feel like, regardless of whether we did anything else, that, if those two guys weren’t on our list, that we’d feel very good about this class," Gilbertson said. "The fact that both of them are here is marvelous for the University of Washington."
Gilbertson addressed the Huskies’ need for linemen by signing 10, five on offense and five on defense. Other points of emphasis were pass-rushing specialists, safeties and linebackers.
"You’ll see this spring that we have eight scholarship (offensive) linemen," Gilbertson said. "This group answers a lot of those questions. It may not answer next year’s depth problem on the offensive line, but we did not identify junior college players who we felt could come right in and help.
"Once these youngsters grow and mature, I think you’ll see a lot of quality in our line of scrimmage players."
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