Washington Huskies Football: Kasen Williams and ASJ’s Time To Prove It
Nov 10, 2012; Seattle, WA, USA; Washington Huskies tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins (88) fights off the tackle by Utah Utes defensive back Reggie Topps (28) during the game at CenturyLink Field. Washington defeated Utah 34-15. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports
I have been wrestling with how to react to the ASJ and Kasen Williams incidents all summer. After hearing Sark’s press conference the other day, it’s become obvious that neither will miss significant game action, if any at all. The question before us is, now what?
Let’s put this into perspective. These are 20 year old kids. Before I go further, I am in NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM condoning, justifying or glorifying what they each did. But – how many of you reading this, when you were 20 or 25 or even 30 – had a few beverages and then got behind the wheel? I am willing to bet a majority of readers did, myself included (sorry Wife and Mom). Is it smart? Hell no. Is it potentially deadly? Absolutely.
I am a diehard Husky fan. I want to win at all costs. I want Rose Bowls, I want 49-0 Apple Cup wins where we are throwing in the 4th quarter to run up the score, I want to throttle Oregon in Eugene and then dance on the 50 yard line and I want my best players out there all the time. But if I were making this call, ASJ and Kasen would both miss the Boise State game. As a father, I would want my son to not only be exposed to the demoralizing legal ramifications but to have the very thing they love most taken away from them, albeit temporarily, so they can see how fast they can lose all that they hold dear. But for now, I’m very glad that I don’t have to make that call.
These two kids (and they are kids, don’t forget that) made incredibly bad choices and got caught. They were, according to all reports, punished through legal means as well as disciplined internally by the UW. Here’s where it gets dicey, however. Coach Sark needs to win, and he needs to win this year. He needs 9 wins at least, and he needs a win over Oregon to put his stamp on this team and legitimately claim that UW is back as a nationally relevant program. He can’t get there if ASJ and Kasen miss a game, and that’s the rub. If it were two walk-on players would they even be on the roster? I don’t think so. But all of that is moot now because they are not going to miss game time.
This puts Coach Sark and UW on shaky ground to say the least. WSU and Oregon message boards lit up with cries of hypocrisy, “Probation Nation,” win at all costs, Jerramy Stevens reborn, etc., and I don’t blame them. A good friend of mine who loves the Cougs the same way I love the Huskies posted on his Facebook page that “maybe next time a UW Football player should hit a person when they are driving while drunk so that they’ll actually get suspended.” That’s the external view of this decision. Throw in the fact that right before camp started Pio Vatuvie was kicked off the team for conduct detrimental and no further details, it brought a lot of focus on the “Star Player” treatment. What if it happens again with other players who are not at the level of ASJ and Kasen, then what? Do they get kicked off the team? Or is it handled “internally?” It’s a slippery slope to say the least.
For now, none of that matters; the decision has been made and both players now have something that the majority of folks in their position don’t get. They have a second chance to prove their bad decisions were aberrations and will not happen again. They have a chance to teach younger players just how precious the opportunity to play college football is and to help them learn from their mistakes.
So, I say this to our two budding superstars. Prove it. Prove to all of Husky Nation that you are worthy of this mulligan that you’ve gotten. Go out and have All –American seasons and set single season records, and at the same time go speak at middle schools and high schools in the area about your experience off the field. Talk to your peers about how close you were to losing everything you’ve worked for your entire life, or how close you were to being part of a catastrophic accident that would have altered multiple lives in the blink of an eye.
These are good kids from good families who made terrible decisions. I have no doubt that spending a day in jail was terrifying for ASJ – I would bet that just going through the legal proceedings shook him to his very core. I have no doubt that Aaron Williams (Kasen’s father and former Husky WR) made his son very aware of how disappointed and embarrassed he was by his son’s actions.
As we get into Fall Camp, everybody wants to put the ugliness behind them and focus on football. A few wins to start the season will put this whole mess in the rearview mirror, unless something else bubbles up to the surface. I hope this doesn’t get forgotten. I hope the lessons learned by ASJ and Kasen are not lost on their teammates and that their brush with disaster lays a foundation for young players and kids (and adults, who am I kidding) all over the place.
Go Dawgs and bow down.