CHENEY – Since helping lead the Mariner High School football team to the 1998 state championship game, Darius Washington might seem like he’s fallen off the face of the earth.
Not quite.
He’s quietly been spending the last few years in Cheney, which is a highway exit or two east of nowhere.
It’s amazing Washington didn’t get lost along the way.
Now a senior running back at Eastern Washington University, Washington is finally on the verge of playing his last college football season.
“I’m not going to say anything I’m going to do, but I have the highest expectations,” Washington said of his senior season. “I’m going to have the best year of my career.”
Washington was a star running back at Kamiak as a junior in 1997, but quit the team that year after a disagreement with the coaching staff. He says that his transfer from Kamiak to Mariner caused schools like Washington, Washington State and Oregon to back off in recruiting, and by the end of his senior season only EWU remained in the hunt.
He spent a year at a modeling agency in Seattle before enrolling at Eastern for the fall quarter of 2000, then had to sit out the football season as an academic non-qualifier.
Washington began practicing with the Eagles in the fall of 2001 and saw some playing time on special teams, but he wasn’t happy with his position. The EWU coaches played Washington as a cornerback.
Not until 2002, his junior year of college, did Washington finally get to play offense. Jesse Chatman, the best running back in school history, had moved on to the NFL, and the Eagles had no one to develop behind senior Jevon Griffith.
“It’s really what he wanted to do all along,” head coach Paul Wulff said of Washington’s position change. “When it’s your first love, you have more of a passion about it.”
Washington didn’t see much playing time as a junior, which was understandable. Griffith went on to finish his career as EWU’s second-leading all-time rusher – behind only Chatman.
Last year, with Griffith no longer in the program, Washington entered his senior season as the starter. He had traveled a long road to the starting lineup and finally appeared to be on the verge of something big.
But discomfort in his right knee led Washington to have it scoped during the offseason, and his status for the year was uncertain. He rehabbed hard all summer long and came into the year feeling strong.
It was Washington’s left knee that let him down. In the early stages of the second game of the 2003 season, a non-conference win over Idaho, Washington endured an ordinary hit to the side of his left leg. The medial collateral ligament gave way, and Washington’s senior season was over.
“I was favoring this knee so much that I had no strength in the left knee,” he said, pointing to his right leg.
His college career apparently over, Washington went into a period of depression. He locked himself in his Cheney apartment and refused to answer phone calls from EWU coaches.
“I went in the shadows for a long time,” he said. “I didn’t want to come out.”
Washington’s moment of clarity came at an odd time. He was observing his 1-year-old daughter, Jayla Jae, watch the Teletubbies on television. She was so focused and undisturbed that Washington couldn’t help but stare.
“I just looked at her and figured: I want to try to give her something,” he said. “I want to give myself an opportunity to do something with my life.”
A month after injuring his knee, he began attending EWU practices and games. A few weeks later, his knee wrapped in a tight bandage, he took part in practice as a member of the scout team.
During the week of the season finale, he was named the scout team player of the week.
Washington’s story could have had a happy ending there, but the NCAA granted him another year of eligibility as a medical redshirt. Washington’s forgettable senior season could be replaced by a more impressive one.
He recently reported to camp weighing 205 pounds, with nine percent body fat. He’s in the best shape of his life and ready to put up big numbers. Once again, the Eagles have him listed as the starter.
“I’ve been waiting so long for this,” Washington said. “I’m the most energetic and excited person out here. I thought my career was over.”
Wulff, the EWU coach, is happy to have him.
“I think being a redshirt last year was a blessing in disguise, and it was the best thing for our team this year,” Wulff said. “He had another year to reflect and realize that when some people’s backs are against the wall, they have to respond.
“He realized that for him, this was his last option to play college football. And he came into spring ball like a man on a mission.”
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