Monday, March 8, 2010

Sunflower League All-Decade Team: Jim Bouknight

Name: Jim Bouknight
School: Olathe North
Graduated: 2003
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 175lbs.
Position: Running Back

If two is good, then three is better—at least in the eyes of the Olathe North faithful. The third member of the three year Simone run at Olathe North was running back Jim Bouknight. Bouknight came as the biggest surprise of the three. Despite his obvious skill set, Bouknight never fully displayed his athletic potential to the masses until his senior year of high school when he took over at the running back position.

Bouknight had been an understudy of Darren Sproles and Maurice Mack. Following the lead of those two, it’s no wonder Bouknight knew what to do under the Friday night lights when he earned his opportunity. In his second true varsity start of the 2002 season, Bouknight scored two touchdowns on runs of 80 and 3 yards. He went on to rattle off 14 total touchdowns in Olathe North’s 5-0 start. The sixth game of the season proved to be a special one for Bouknight.

In a rivalry game against Olathe East, Bouknight rushed for 330 yards—a number that at that point in time was the Olathe North rushing record—and three touchdowns. From then on, Olathe North rolled to a 13-0 record, and won the 6A State Championship in a 41-12 trouncing of Derby. Bouknight’s season totals were simply amazing. He rushed for 2,793 yards (the Olathe North record at the time) and scored 34 touchdowns.

For his efforts, Bouknight was named First Team All-Class 6A, Kansas Top 11, and First-Team All-Metro Sports at the running back position. Bouknight received an even greater honor when he was awarded the Simone Award, becoming the third straight Olathe North running back to receive the award. Most notably he beat out one of the most hyped high school football players in the Kansas City Metro’s history, Rockhurst’s Tony Temple.

Bouknight did not have the size or speed of Sproles or Mack, but outdid both in terms of yardage as a senior. Bouknight went on to enjoy a successful career as a running back at Central Missouri.