Ex-Cadet Now Stands At Attention King Finds New Life At Osu
Oregon State running back Akili King knows the importance of lining up in the correct formation.
His willingness to do so has already cost him plenty- most notably, it helped him get kicked out of West Point.
King was already on Army’s version of double-secret probation when a missed formation - West Point jargon for a uniform inspection - prompted his release.
It’s an intricate story, one King tells succinctly and without emotion, as if it involved someone else.
“When I was a sophomore, I got into a barroom brawl - me and four other Cadets,” the 5-foot-11, 230-pound senior explained. “Got in trouble for that.”
“And then I got in trouble for driving without a license that summer. Then I got in trouble for missing a formation - every morning about 6 o’clock you go out, you get dressed in uniform, you go out to be inspected.”
“Well, I didn’t go to the formation on Friday and Saturday (as ordered). I went to formation on Sunday, instead.”
Big mistake.
“That was a major infraction, according to my technical officer, and I had a conduct investigation,” King said.
The initial recommendation was six months’ probation, King said, but a superior officer pulled rank. At 22, King was no longer a Cadet.
He ended up in Corvallis - the football teams at Oregon State and Army have run similar offenses - and insists he’s a changed man.
“I was a bit arrogant at the time,” King conceded. “At West Point, it’s the whole situation that no one’s different.
‘And what I was saying was, well, that’s not always true. You know, I don’t do the same thing as a regular Joe Blow Cadet.’
King calls his rebellion a natural reaction to a strict upbringing, although he says that doesn’t excuse it. The eldest of four children, King was raised in Jackson, Miss., the son of a Presbyterian minister.
“I really didn’t cut loose a lot at West Point,” King said, “but when I did cut loose, I really cut loose.”
He was stabbed during the barroom brawl, which happened in 1993, but has no regrets about his Army experience. Appropriately, his favorite book is “Without Remorse,” by Tom Clancy.
“It was a good experience for me,” said King, who plans to be married in the summer. “Sometimes I wish that I would have been a little bit more level-headed and tried to understand that even though all institutions of higher learning have their idiosyncracies, they also have rules.
“And you have to follow those rules, no matter who you are or what you might be doing at that institution at that particular time.”
In addition to his off-field troubles at Army, King was often slowed by injuries. He seems to be holding up this season, and carried 19 times for 101 yards and three touchdowns in a triple-overtime loss to California two weeks ago.
For the season, King has 68 carries for 284 yards and four TDs.
OSU freshman quarterback David Moran will make his first college start today, the Beavers announced Friday.
Starter Tim Alexander has been limited by a pulled hamstring.
WSU backup cornerback D.J. Mitchell, a regular on special teams, did not make the trip. He pulled a hamstring in last week’s loss at Arizona.
The Cougars and Beavers won’t play in Corvallis again until 2000. The teams aren’t scheduled to play each other the next two seasons, and the 1999 game will be in Pullman.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Cougars at Oregon State