Box Score ELLENSBURG, Wash. (Sept. 15) — Central Washington University's starting middle linebacker KEVIN HAYNES is having quite a career for the Wildcat football team. And his career is just two games old.
 
A redshirt freshman, Haynes (6-0, 230, Brush Prairie, WA—Battle Ground) led the Wildcats with nine tackles and also had his team's two interceptions in a 48-14 home win over Dixie State University Saturday. He helped key a Wildcat defense that limited the Red Storm to just 235 yards in total offense. That was just a week after DSU gained 640 yards at Colorado Mesa.
 
For his efforts, Haynes was named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week, an award he called "a big honor."
 
"I wasn't very happy with my performance in the first game," Haynes said. "I worked pretty hard [last] week to correct a few things that I thought I could get better at. I went out there and gave it my best in our second game and ended up having a little bit of success. It was very cool to be honored in this way."
 
Despite being unhappy with his play in his first collegiate game, Haynes still recorded five tackles in front of 24,697 fans at the University of Montana.
 
Haynes noted that his two interceptions Saturday marked just the second time in his playing career that he's had multiple picks. The other was during senior year high school against Battle Ground High School's rival Prairie High School.
 
"Never on this kind of stage have I done that before," he said, acknowledging that his collegiate career is just getting underway.
 
CWU first-year head coach Ian Shoemaker says, under the Wildcats' new defensive schemes, the middle linebacker is going to have lots of opportunities to make plays. And he thinks Haynes will respond to the challenge.
 
"If he does a good job of reading [the quarterback's] eyes, and as good an athlete as he is, I think he could put up huge numbers over the next four years," Shoemaker said. "I think he could be a four year starter for us, no question. He's a great kid. He prepares right and is a fun kid to have around. He's just scratching the surface of what he's going to be."
 
Haynes says he chose CWU based, in large part, on the Wildcats' winning tradition on the gridiron.
 
"It was just very intriguing to be somewhere in my home state that was close enough for [my] parents and family friends to be able to come and watch," Haynes points out, "and be a part of a program that has the history like Central does."
 
Sophomore wide receiver KENT MCKINNEY JR. (6-1, 177, So., Seattle—O'Dea), who caught five passes for 140 yards and a touchdown against Dixie State; and sophomore kicker SEAN MCDONALD (6-0, 158, So., Sammamish, WA—Skyline), who connected on all six extra point tries along with 24- and 31-yard field goals, weas each named an Honorable Mention GNAC Player of the Week.
 
This Saturday, the Wildcats travel to Monmouth, Ore. to face Western Oregon University. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.