Gobbla2001
12-06-2007, 11:05 PM
dunno if it's been posted already...
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A Whittington family tradition
Cuero’s running back’s family no strangers to success
BY MIKE FORMAN - ADVOCATE SPORTS WRITER
CUERO – Arthur Whittington’s cell phone has been extremely busy on Friday nights. The calls come from wherever Cuero is playing football and the subject is always Quincey Whittington.
“Every game he plays I get like 20 calls,” Arthur said. “They all tell me he did something special.”
Arthur is not surprised by Quincey’s accomplishments. Arthur figures his nephew is carrying on a family tradition.
“He’s supposed to do that,”Arthur said by phone from Los Angeles, where he works as a sports agent. “He’s a Whittington and we’ve got to be leaders.”
The Whittington tradition started with Arthur, who was a running back on Cuero’s 1973 state championship team and went on to become an all-Southwest Conference performer at SMU before playing in the NFL with the Oakland Raiders. It continued with Quincey’s father, Quincy, who was a running back on the Gobblers’ 1974 state championship team and the 1975 team that advanced to the state final before playing at Blinn College.
“I always tell him, ‘Son, don’t forget where you came from,’”Quincy said. “But I can see it when he hits the hole. He’s mine.”
Quincey has done his best to live up to a legacy he has mostly heard about. He’s too young to have ever watched his uncle or father play and he has seen only one tape of his father playing at Cuero and has watched a highlight video of his uncle when he played for the Raiders and they won the Super Bowl XV.
“I wanted to play running back because my uncle and my dad played the position,” Quincey said. “I wanted to show them I could play the position.”
Quincey played at wide receiver or slotback as a sophomore, when he was the Newcomer of the Year on the Advocate’s all-area team, and did the same last season as a junior before moving to running back this season where he has rushed 170 times for 1,599 yards and 23 touchdowns to help lead Cuero (11-2) into the Class 3A, Division II quarterfinals against Palacios (10-3) on Friday at 7 p.m. at Memorial Stadium in Victoria.
“We knew Quincey would be a good running back,” Cuero coach Mark Reeve said. “All you have to do is watch what he does when he gets his hands on the ball.”
Reeve has done whatever he can to get the ball in Quincey’s hands this season. Quincey has caught 38 passes for 695 yards and five touchdowns and thrown two touchdown passes while playing full time in the secondary and returning punts and kickoffs. In Cuero’s 51-20 win over Palacios earlier this season, Whittington rushed for 256 yards and one touchdown.
“He’s physically tough, he’s mentally tough and he’s got great skills,” Reeve said. “He’s also got something you can’t coach and that’s intuition. Those are the things that make a great running back. He just has that God-given talent to make something happen when it isn’t there.”
Quincy and Arthur Whittington had the same capabilities and while they stake a claim to Quincey’s ability to catch the ball, they take no credit when it comes to the way Quincey runs with the ball.
“A lot of that instinct he has, you can’t teach that,” Arthur said. “The quickness, the vision, you can’t teach that.”
“The rest of the football team kind of feeds off him when he runs the ball,” Quincy added. “He just has that instinct that you can’t teach and coaches can’t coach.”
Quincey, who stands 5-foot-8, which may or may not include his Afro, and weighs 168 pounds, has also inherited the toughness his uncle and father exhibited for their lack of size, which allows him to run inside as well as outside.
“Quincey and Kaeron Johnson are probably the strongest kids in our program,” Reeve said. “He can squat 480 pounds and bench 310 pounds. He’s just in such great physical condition that he can go as many plays as he needs to.”
Quincey’s workload figured to expanded in the playoffs but what has really taken off is his productivity. He touched the ball nine times and scored six touchdowns in Cuero’s 64-7 bi-district win over Mathis, he had 15 touches and scored four touchdowns and threw a touchdown pass in the Gobblers’ 42-14 area win over Port Isabel, and he rushed 23 times for 142 yards and two touchdowns and caught four passes for 41 yards in last week’s 29-15 regional win over Wimberley.
“He’s a leader, a true, true leader,” Quincy said of his son. “Quincey always keeps the team up. I’ve told him if he sees the team is getting down to get them fired up and talk to them.”
Quincey isn’t shy about making his feelings known but he has done most of his talking on the field and he’s hoping it will be enough to add another championship to the Whittington family tree.
“You want to win in the regular season to prepare for the playoffs,” Quincey said. “You want to show what you’ve got in the playoffs because that’s when the real players come out. My dad and my uncle always told me I’d never be as good as they were, but I think I’ve changed their minds so far. What I’ve done in the playoffs let’s me know what I can do when I put my mind to it. I’ve still got goals for myself and the team.”
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A Whittington family tradition
Cuero’s running back’s family no strangers to success
BY MIKE FORMAN - ADVOCATE SPORTS WRITER
CUERO – Arthur Whittington’s cell phone has been extremely busy on Friday nights. The calls come from wherever Cuero is playing football and the subject is always Quincey Whittington.
“Every game he plays I get like 20 calls,” Arthur said. “They all tell me he did something special.”
Arthur is not surprised by Quincey’s accomplishments. Arthur figures his nephew is carrying on a family tradition.
“He’s supposed to do that,”Arthur said by phone from Los Angeles, where he works as a sports agent. “He’s a Whittington and we’ve got to be leaders.”
The Whittington tradition started with Arthur, who was a running back on Cuero’s 1973 state championship team and went on to become an all-Southwest Conference performer at SMU before playing in the NFL with the Oakland Raiders. It continued with Quincey’s father, Quincy, who was a running back on the Gobblers’ 1974 state championship team and the 1975 team that advanced to the state final before playing at Blinn College.
“I always tell him, ‘Son, don’t forget where you came from,’”Quincy said. “But I can see it when he hits the hole. He’s mine.”
Quincey has done his best to live up to a legacy he has mostly heard about. He’s too young to have ever watched his uncle or father play and he has seen only one tape of his father playing at Cuero and has watched a highlight video of his uncle when he played for the Raiders and they won the Super Bowl XV.
“I wanted to play running back because my uncle and my dad played the position,” Quincey said. “I wanted to show them I could play the position.”
Quincey played at wide receiver or slotback as a sophomore, when he was the Newcomer of the Year on the Advocate’s all-area team, and did the same last season as a junior before moving to running back this season where he has rushed 170 times for 1,599 yards and 23 touchdowns to help lead Cuero (11-2) into the Class 3A, Division II quarterfinals against Palacios (10-3) on Friday at 7 p.m. at Memorial Stadium in Victoria.
“We knew Quincey would be a good running back,” Cuero coach Mark Reeve said. “All you have to do is watch what he does when he gets his hands on the ball.”
Reeve has done whatever he can to get the ball in Quincey’s hands this season. Quincey has caught 38 passes for 695 yards and five touchdowns and thrown two touchdown passes while playing full time in the secondary and returning punts and kickoffs. In Cuero’s 51-20 win over Palacios earlier this season, Whittington rushed for 256 yards and one touchdown.
“He’s physically tough, he’s mentally tough and he’s got great skills,” Reeve said. “He’s also got something you can’t coach and that’s intuition. Those are the things that make a great running back. He just has that God-given talent to make something happen when it isn’t there.”
Quincy and Arthur Whittington had the same capabilities and while they stake a claim to Quincey’s ability to catch the ball, they take no credit when it comes to the way Quincey runs with the ball.
“A lot of that instinct he has, you can’t teach that,” Arthur said. “The quickness, the vision, you can’t teach that.”
“The rest of the football team kind of feeds off him when he runs the ball,” Quincy added. “He just has that instinct that you can’t teach and coaches can’t coach.”
Quincey, who stands 5-foot-8, which may or may not include his Afro, and weighs 168 pounds, has also inherited the toughness his uncle and father exhibited for their lack of size, which allows him to run inside as well as outside.
“Quincey and Kaeron Johnson are probably the strongest kids in our program,” Reeve said. “He can squat 480 pounds and bench 310 pounds. He’s just in such great physical condition that he can go as many plays as he needs to.”
Quincey’s workload figured to expanded in the playoffs but what has really taken off is his productivity. He touched the ball nine times and scored six touchdowns in Cuero’s 64-7 bi-district win over Mathis, he had 15 touches and scored four touchdowns and threw a touchdown pass in the Gobblers’ 42-14 area win over Port Isabel, and he rushed 23 times for 142 yards and two touchdowns and caught four passes for 41 yards in last week’s 29-15 regional win over Wimberley.
“He’s a leader, a true, true leader,” Quincy said of his son. “Quincey always keeps the team up. I’ve told him if he sees the team is getting down to get them fired up and talk to them.”
Quincey isn’t shy about making his feelings known but he has done most of his talking on the field and he’s hoping it will be enough to add another championship to the Whittington family tree.
“You want to win in the regular season to prepare for the playoffs,” Quincey said. “You want to show what you’ve got in the playoffs because that’s when the real players come out. My dad and my uncle always told me I’d never be as good as they were, but I think I’ve changed their minds so far. What I’ve done in the playoffs let’s me know what I can do when I put my mind to it. I’ve still got goals for myself and the team.”