ZACH WATKINS

I caught up with Washburn senior linebacker Zach Watkins on Wednesday afternoon and came away extremely impressed — and ready to dole out some serious Sunflower Slate karma.

Here’s the skinny on Watkins — the 6-foot, 235-pound linebacker from Independence, Mo. (hometown of Harry Truman) is only the second player in Washburn history to go over 400 tackles, with 403, and could break the career mark of 459 this season. He’s had 100 tackles in each of his first three seasons; 100 in 2006, 143 in 2007 and 119 in 2008 and has led the Ichabods to a No. 17 ranking and 4-1 record this season.

Dude didn’t really want to give himself too much credit — but that’s what we’re here for. Gotta love when your linebackers wanna talk more about their defensive line than themselves. And his pregame music? Killswitch Engage. The Ichabods have got Fort Hays State coming to town on Saturday in Topeka.

Here’s our talk:

Sunflower Slate: You’re in your final year at Washburn and closing in on a pretty lofty record in the career tackles mark. In the middle of all of it do you ever catch yourself thinking about your accomplishments?

Zach Watkins: I really haven’t because I’ve been so focused on trying to help this team win games and be a leader out on the field. I get so wrapped up in the day-to-day stuff that all the personal stuff … I just never think about it.

SS: Did you think you’d have this type of impact coming out of high school?

ZW: You can’t go into college football thinking you’re going to be the best player, but once I got on the field I felt like I could definitely make an impact. As the years progressed I feel like I’ve become more of a leader and a player that the other teams need to prepare for.

SS: You’ve been on some teams that have come really close to being great but couldn’t seem to quite get over the hump when it came to the heart of MIAA play. What is it about this group that you think is different?

ZW: My sophomore year we made the playoffs, but we do feel like we’ve fallen short a couple of times. We feel like we’ve got a special group this year … we’re excited about keeping up what we’ve started this season.

KILL THE QUARTERBACK. KILL EVERYBODY.

SS: We’ve all got the idea  — well at least I do — of the stereotypical middle linebacker who is kind of the frothing at the mouth, always ready for battle type of guy. Do you fit into that role? What are you like before games?

ZW: I feel like I’m pretty laid-back, and I’m not against pulling a prank … but when it comes to practice and to games I definitely am able to get that really intense focus and put everything else aside. I feel like I’m a hard-nosed player and to have any type of success I’ve got to be able to get into that mode. And it doesn’t hurt to have a great d-line.

SS: Nice. Giving the d-line props is never bad.

ZW: Without them I’m not going to get where I need to be. They play the way they do and it makes my job a lot easier.

SS: So what are you listening to before a game? Anything in particular?

KILLSWITCH ENGAGE

ZW: (Laughing) That’s easy. Killswitch Engage.

I show my age and have him repeat the name of the band several times.

SS: What about away from football? What do you do for fun?

ZW: Play a lot of basketball, a lot of golf. We’ve got a group of seniors who have been together for four or five years and we’re pretty close. Just typical college-kid stuff … anything competitive usually catches our attention.

SS: Are you any good at golf?

ZW: Consistent low 80s.

SS: Last question. Biggest hit ever? College, high school, pee-wee football … what’s the biggest?

ZW: Mo-Kan All-Star game, senior year of high school. Tight end came right across the middle.

SS: Thanks for doing our Q&A. Best of luck this year.

I’m out. TA

KELLEN LANE

Sunflower Slate hustled and got ESU hero Kellen Lane on the phone Thursday night (thanks to a little help from Josh Slaughter) after his dramatic, two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth sent the Hornets to Saturday’s NCAA Division II College World Series title game in Cary, N.C. Lane, a senior from Borger, Texas, played junior-college ball at Odessa (Texas) College before coming to Emporia.

SS: What do you remember about hitting the homer?

KL: I was just looking for a base hit. I wasn’t running that hard because I knew it was either going to be caught or we just won the game. I got to see it go out. I was thinking fastball and I got my hands started then it winded up being curveball and I poked it out. My first thought was that my teammates give me a hard time because I don’t hit home runs. I told them I saved it for the big one.

SS: Ever hit another game-winning HR?

KL: First-time ever. You always dream about it as a little kid. You dream about it but you never think it’ll actually happen.

SS: Have you talked to your family yet?

KL: My dad, my aunt, my uncle and my grandma were here and my mom and stepdad just flew in today. It was awesome. A lot of them haven’t seen me play in a couple of years — seeing their reaction was awesome — they were ecstatic. My aunt and my grandma cried. My mom, I don’t ever think I’ve seen her cry, but she was so happy she couldn’t even talk. My dad always has words of advice — he kind of knew I was going to get a base hit but he didn’t expect that either.

SS: What has this run been like? You guys really turned it around after a hot start and a shaky finish, including the MIAA Tournament.

KL: It’s amazing — completely turning it around after the conference tournament. We had to kind of become a family again. We managed to get some good things going and now we’re rolling. It’s not over yet.

Vic Trilli, Newman AD

Here’s some excerpts from our interview:

SS: Coach, thanks for taking the time for Sunflower Slate. How’s things at Newman? Have you found a house yet?

VT: No house yet. I’m still working on getting rid of the one I have in Garden City! I’ll tell you what, though, there’s a lot of nice places here in town, west side, east side, I’m looking, that’s for sure.

SS: So you’re moving to the suburbs?

VT: Come on now (laughing) I just said there’s a lot of nice places here in town. I’m looking. That’s all I’m saying is that I’m looking.

SS: So what’s been the hardest part of the transition?

VT: Well two things jump out right now; schedules and budgets. Coming in, I have no control over the schedules and had to take them as is.

SS: So you’d change the schedules?

VT: Right now it’s just something I have to come in and accept and embrace, because we can’t do anything about it at this point. Yes, there’s things I’d adjust, but we’ll get through this year and then think about the future.

SS: And the budget? Is it a fundraising sort of thing?

VT: Budgets were another thing. They were finalized long before I took the job. What I’m going to do is go out and set up some booster club drives and find the right kind of people to go out and help us make this transition to Division II. That’s another thing that’s been kind of bothering me. We’ve gone to NCAA Division II, the only private school in the state to make that move, and we haven’t had any sort of celebration. We need to celebrate that fact. And let people know we can play for championships now.

SS: So a party is in the works?

VT: Definitely a celebration. We need to let people know. This is a big deal.

SS: True. What about the men’s basketball team? What do you think of Coach (Mark) Potter from what you’ve seen so far.

VT: I know he’s got a good chance to have a good men’s basketball team this year. Coach Potter has the coaching background, and the passion he brings to the game … I’m excited about what we can do. I’m also excited about our women’s team .. (Coach) Tracy Anderson has that thing headed in the right direction.

SS: Coach, thanks for your time. Last question. Have you found a favorite place to eat at yet? There’s a little more variety here than in Garden City.

VT: Oh, man! Lots of places, lots of places. How about you let me take you to one? Sooner than later.

SS: Of course coach.

Williams, a 6-foot-2 freshman from Wichita Southeast, is 10th in the nation in blocks per game, and came to Butler to play for coach Rick Younger after originally making an oral commitment to the University of Alabama-Birmingham last season but deciding, along with her her parents, that she wasn’t ready to make the jump to a four-year school quite yet.

TA: Hi Demetria, thanks for taking the time to talk with us. You’re the first Q&A subject for this blog, so congratulations, I guess.

DW: Wow. Really? I think that’s a good thing.

TA: It is. I was looking at the Butler roster and it says you’re 6-foot-2. Everybody knows that rosters always exaggerate heights and weights. So how tall are you? Tell the truth.

DW: (Laughing) I’m 6-2! That’s a legit 6-2, no lie.

TA: Okay I believe you. So how did you decide on Butler?

DW: Academics and sports were the two biggest factors. I committed to UAB but my parents made the decision that I wasn’t ready yet and they didn’t want me to leave Kansas. I’m happy I didn’t go there now because I don’t think I was ready for that, to go to a four-year school right away.

TA: So your team is ranked No. 3 in the country now, which is a huge jump. I talked to Coach Younger and he was pretty excited about it. How did you find out?

DW: We just kept checking the computer in our apartment and when it finally showed that we were No. 3 it was like the best thing ever. We were just going crazy, running and screaming all around the apartment. It was nuts.

TA: What’s coach Younger like?

DW: He is just a crazy, crazy man. So funny. He’ll like try to talk slang to us, like come into practice and say “What up?” and it just sounds crazy coming from him. He’s a lot of fun.

TA: On to non-sports stuff. What’s your favorite movie?

DW: Superstar!

TA: The old Molly Shannon movie? Mary Catherine Gallagher?

DW: I love that movie. She’s crazy, she’s out there, and that’s pretty much me.

TA: What about music? What are you listening to right now?

DW: A lot of gospel, Kirk Franklin, the new Trey Songz album. And as far as a song, I’m not sure who sings it, but the song is Never Would Have Made It (Marvin Sapp) and I listen to that all the time.

TA: Excellent. Well, Demetria, you made it through. Thanks for taking time for Sunflower Slate and good luck tonight.

DW: Thanks. We’ve got Neosho here, so we’re pretty pumped.

-TA