Huskies Extend Scholarship Offer to Bay Area Tackle
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Kevin Gogan was a University of Washington offensive lineman from San Francisco with a bad temper. He was equally frightening for teammates and opponents to contend with.
On one occasion, Gogan entered the dining hall at the UW's Conibear Shellhouse, loudly accused a freshman defensive back of backing into his car and gave him a Will Smith-like slap in front of everyone. That helpless first-year player not surprisingly transferred out.
On the field, the three-year Husky starter at right tackle in the 1980s was even more fearsome, tossing players around like rag dolls before heading to the NFL, where he was nicknamed "Mr. Nasty."
On Saturday at the UW football camp, the Huskies hosted another potential Bay Area bad boy, from actions strictly limited to his work in the trenches.
In a video making the rounds, John Mills from San Francisco's St. Ignatius College Prep is shown taking a couple of steps back in a drill and next throwing down the player opposite him.
A coach can be heard yelling, "Ho, ho, hoooo," which was a cautionary exclamation than celebratory.
Yet no harm, no foul.
That play, in fact, might have helped Mills land a subsequent Husky scholarship offer, his first. He owned the other guy. It was not an isolated play by any means either.
Mills, a 6-foot-5, 290-pound sophomore offensive tackle and a member of the Class of 2025, has video highlights showing him shoving countless opponents 10 yards off the ball. How Gogan-esque.
His Catholic high school, St. Ignatius, actually is located just two miles from Gogan's alma mater, Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory, which are separated by San Francisco's Fillmore district.
As they say, Live at the Fillmore.
While Mills is just getting started, Gogan was a second-team, All-Pac-10 selection who was taken in the eighth round of the 1987 NFL draft. He played for the Dallas Cowboys, Los Angeles Raiders, hometown San Francisco 49ers, Miami Dolphins and then-San Diego Chargers.
Gogan appeared in the Aloha, Orange and Sun bowls for the Huskies, and a pair of Super Bowls in the pros.
Mills would do well to match some of that Gogan production, maybe earn his own football nickname, but definitely go without the slap.
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