How Seahawks RB Kenny McIntosh became "The Blueprint"
"The youngest brother is always the best, they know it's true"--The complete story of Seattle's 7th round running back, 5/19/2023
Something was up with NSU University School’s athletic program in the late ‘10s and I think I know what it was: They were a “University” playing against high school teams. That’s at least the best I can come up with so far.
NSU, which in actuality is a pre-K through 12 private prep school in Davie, Florida, had great football and basketball programs around that time and why wouldn’t they? On the basketball team, for a short period of time at least, were 2020 NBA Draft second round pick Vernon Carey Jr. and 2022 NBA Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes.
On the football team were two players who would become NFL draft picks last month: First round receiver Zay Flowers and seventh round running back Kenny McIntosh.
If that wasn’t enough, 30 years ago NSU graduated Scott Weinger, aka “Steve” from Full House, aka the voice of Aladdin in Aladdin.
Maybe the Seattle Seahawks would have paired up Flowers and McIntosh again if not for the fact that Jaxon Smith-Njigba was still available at pick 20, but clearly Florida’s got something going on with their football player development” Six first round picks in 2023 are from the state of Florida, including Pensacola native Devon Witherspoon, as well as a nation-best 36 draft picks overall.
It is the fourth time in the last six years that Florida high schools have led the way in the NFL Draft. Though Florida is the third-most populous state in the country, it has the same number of people as New York (which only produced three NFL draft picks) and roughly half as many as California (which produced 21, but had the top-two picks for the first time in 54 years); Georgia, which has one-quarter the number of residents as California, produced 23.
To Witherspoon and McIntosh, the state of Washington, which produced zero NFL draft picks this year, must feel like a whole new world.
Seattle may not make many NFL players, but can McIntosh help make the Seahawks into Super Bowl contenders? In today’s bonus post for Regular Joes, we’ll review Kenny McIntosh’s life and football career leading up to this moment.
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Football Family
Some stories start with, “He was the first person in his family to go to college” or “He was the first person in his family to become a college athlete” or “He was the first person in his family to go pro”. But so often the stories of premier college players or NFL hopefuls do not start out that way.