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Paving their own path (Isaiah Strong, Pullman FB)

Paving their own path

Yes, both of their dads were pro athletes, but Isaiah Strong and Konner Kinkade are making their own names with the Pullman football team

  • By STEPHAN WIEBE FOR THE TRIBUNE
  • Oct 5, 2018 Updated Oct 5, 2018


PULLMAN - The sons of former professional athletes, Konner Kinkade and Isaiah Strong are making their own names for themselves this season - in a big way.

The Kinkade-to-Strong, quarterback-to-receiver connection has been the downfall of many an opponent on the Pullman football team's path to a 4-1 record entering the heart of its season.

The Greyhounds' duo also have a pair of recognizable last names: Konner Kinkade is the son of former Major League Baseball player and Washington State star Mike Kinkade, and Isaiah Strong is the son of former National Football League fullback Mack Strong, who played all 14 seasons for the Seattle Seahawks.

But both of the Greyhounds made one thing clear - they're setting out to pave their own paths.

"(Mike's) coached me all my life and he's a great coach, great dad, but I try not to focus on that too much," Kinkade said of his dad's pro background. "I'm trying to build a name for myself instead of following his footsteps. But he does give some great advice, great coach, great dad."

Said Isaiah Strong, "I don't really see it in that (Mack) was an NFL player, just 'cause I'm used to him being my dad, so we don't focus on that too much. But it's still a plus to have had him (play) in the NFL."

As for the dads, they're just happy their sons are working hard, having fun and enjoying some success along the way.

"I just want him to be happy," said Mack Strong, who is also an assistant coach for the Greyhounds. "It's funny, I think that this generation of kids, if you try to push them in a certain direction, more than likely they'll probably rebel and probably not do it just because you asked them to.

"Honestly, I'm just very proud of Isaiah."

He should be.

Isaiah Strong, a 6-foot-2 junior wide receiver and corner, has recorded 25 receptions for 641 yards and eight touchdowns as Kinkade's favorite target.

Konner Kinkade, a 5-foot-10 senior quarterback and linebacker, owns a 65-percent completion

percentage, 1,426 passing yards and 18 touchdowns to four interceptions.

The pair set the tone right away this season when Kinkade threw a deep touchdown pass to Strong in double coverage during their first game - a play that still stands out to Pullman coach David Cofer as one of the moments of the year.

Cofer said the coaches asked Konner what he saw on the play and he said he didn't see anybody open, so he threw it up where Isaiah could get it because he knew he could make a play.

"He actually threw it up for Isaiah on a post pattern into double coverage and Isaiah made a highlight-level catch and it was a touchdown," Cofer said. "It's nice to have that trust between both of them that they know they can get it done."

Both Konner Kinkade and Isaiah Strong are three-sport athletes - football, baseball and basketball for Kinkade and football, basketball and track for Strong - and both said playing other sports together has helped develop better chemistry between them.

"I think our connection comes from also playing on the same team for football and basketball for all my three years pretty much," Isaiah Strong said. "And just hangout outside of that, going to the field on summer off days and stuff, all that."

Cofer describes Kinkade as "all business," although he is known to crack a joke from time to time. Strong is more outgoing and goofy, but he also can buckle down and be all about business too.

Getting a chance

Despite having super-athletes for dads, the path wasn't always easy for Kinkade and Strong.

Mike Kinkade said Konner always wanted to be a quarterback ever since he was little in flag football, but coaches usually said he was too small. It wasn't until high school that he really got a full chance to show what he could do, he said.

"I think that's when finally people realized he's got an arm and he gets rid of it quick and his footwork is good," Mike Kinkade said. "I think in 11th grade he opened some eyes."

Konner Kinkade's stellar breakthrough came to a halt in the fifth game of his junior season when he broke his collarbone in the first drive of the game against West Valley. A huge defensive lineman, twice the size of the then-140-pound Kinkade crushed the then-junior quarterback and ended his season.

So instead of being on the field, Kinkade went up to the press box for games the remainder of the season and watched defenses and formations and improved his game through observation and studying.

"It definitely helped a lot being up above and seeing everything instead of being down on the field - just seeing everything together," Konner Kinkade said.

As for Isaiah Strong, he was thrust into a starting role at cornerback as a freshman in 2016. That was just one year after his first year of tackle football in eighth grade, although he had been playing flag football since he was young.

Since he was smaller than most of the players he was guarding back then, Strong relied on other facets of his game to keep up.

"Eventually I just had to get confidence in myself," Strong said. "Just knowing that I could guard pretty much any of the players out there, it was good to start off like that."

A look to the past and the future

Both players have come a long way from going to their father's professional games and practices as young children.

Konner Kinkade said his dad has coached him as long as he can remember and still does in baseball. Isaiah Strong said he remembers meeting Seahawk greats like Shaun Alexander and Matt Hasselbeck, who were close with Mack Strong.

Mack Strong joked that Isaiah probably remembers more about playing with toys up in the press box at games since he was only 6 years old when Mack retired in 2007.

Mack Strong played in the 2005 Super Bowl when the Seahawks lost to the Steelers. After the game, a family friend asked a young Isaiah Strong what his favorite food was.

"(He was) thinking he would say like pizza, hamburgers or something like that," Mack Strong said with a laugh. "He said 'candy.' I would say that was a pretty accurate statement by him during that time."

Both Konner Kinkade and Isaiah Strong said they plan to continue playing sports after high school.

Strong so far has a Division I football offer from Idaho to play cornerback. Kinkade said he hopes to go somewhere to play baseball.

Both Kinkade and Strong said they've received invaluable advice from their dads over their sports careers, but the best advice for Konner was passed down from Mike's mom, Margie Kinkade.

One quote has stuck with him.

"He gets a lot of his quotes that he tells me from his mom actually," Konner Kinkade said. "He calls them 'his mom truisms.'

"One that stands out to me is 'Never toot your own horn. If you're good enough, others will toot it for you.'