Kirkland Not Afraid of Ghosts, Maybe He Scared Them!

STILLWATER – Justin Kirkland didn’t register any stats in the Oklahoma State 29-21 win over Kansas State, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t do anything to promote the cause for the Cowboys defensively. If the stat keepers could see the cover picture of Kirkland in the face of K-State quarterback Will Howard they just might give him a quarterback hurry. I guarantee with the 6-4, 350-pound Kirkland in his face that Howard was encouraged to hurry whatever he was doing. Playing the nose guard position, Kirkland is an influencer, the heaviest of influencers. 

“It was genuinely fun to be out there,” the big native of Roy, Utah said of the Kansas State win. “There was one point I was out there trying to fire the crowd up. That game was fun, I’d do it again.”

Bruce Waterfield/OSU Athletics

Kirkland is an imposing figure.

On the season Kirkland has eight tackles, three unassisted. He has a tackle-for-loss, a pass deflection, and a quaerterback hurry. He has sped up and redirected a lot of plays into the hands of teammates at defensive end and linebacker. That’s what a guy like Kirkland does. 

Now, what does Kirkland do with a free Saturday after a win?

“I did watch some of the morning games and I have a lot of buddies that play, so it was fun to watch them,” Kirkland said when asked by a reporter if he watched a lot of football.

Then he admitted that he did something else with his Saturday evening, an appropriate seasonal activity for this time of year. 

It's in your state

Guthrie Haunts 

“My wife and I and soe other buddies went to a haunted house,” Kirkland answered. “It was good to get out of the football realm of things and go out there to a haunted house. It was a good haunted house.”

Kirkland said they went to Guthrie and that means Guthrie Haunts, which has become one of the most popular haunted houses in the state of Oklahoma. I said to Justin that it is hard to imagine him being scared and that it is much more likely that he would scare any ghost that popped into his view.

It's in your state

It looks a little spooky including the hearse out front of the building.

“I think when it comes to haunted houses, you get out what you put in to it,” he explained. “I went ready to laugh and if someone jumped out and spooked me then I was going to scream. It was fun to hold her (wife’s) hand and run around.”

Okay, I get that. That’s why so many of us males have invested time in a haunted house. Male chivalry and being there for that special soneone when they get scared. 

Kirkland said he has looked at the Kansas offensive line and said they are a good, physical group. My hope is that by 5:30 on Saturday afternoon that a few of them will look like they’ve seen a ghost.