Washington State Football: Luke Falk makes right call, skips Senior Bowl for funeral

Washington State football quarterback Luke Falk missed the Senior Bowl to attend his teammate’s funeral. Some things are more important than football.

Washington State’s backup quarterback, Tyler Hilinksi, took his own life earlier this month. Hilinski would have been the starting quarterback for the Cougars in the 2018 season.

In practices for the Senior Bowl, Former starting quarterback Luke Falk chose to change his number from No. 4 to No. 3–the number Hilinski wore–to honor his teammate, and also gave a press conference in which he spoke about his feelings about the tragedy. Falk stayed for practices, but chose to give the game a miss on Saturday in order to attend Hilinski’s funeral.

The coaches that are watching the Senior Bowl understand that personal and family matters supersede football.

Oklahoma Sooners’ former quarterback, Baker Mayfield, left Saturday’s Senior Bowl after the first half to be with his mother, who has been hospitalized with an unknown ailment.  Mayfield still got the recruiters’ notice–according to ESPN.com’s Mike Triplett, Mayfield was named the week’s best  quarterback. This comes as little surprise after his performance against Georgia in the College Football Playoffs.

Falk has mentioned that he wants his gesture to have an impact now and in future.

In an emotional and thoughtful quote, Falk stated,

"“I feel like at times we feel like we can’t express our emotions because we’re in a masculine sport and being a quarterback people look up to you as a leader so he felt like he probably felt like he couldn’t talk to anybody. We gotta change some of that stuff. We gotta have resources and not have any more stigma about people going to that.”"

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Despite his early exit, Falk has impressed the recruiters during the week of practices. The Chicago Bears interviewed the former Washington State star. Falk will also have other chances to impress scouts. The NFL Combine starts Feb. 27 in Indianapolis, and analysts have said that they expect Falk to be a mid- to late round draft pick.

Regardless of what happens with the draft, Falk’s poise and tactful comments on the tragedy should help other student-athletes.