Jon Kitna

Jon Kelly Kitna (born September 21, 1972) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for the Seattle Seahawks, Cincinnati Bengals, Detroit Lions, and Dallas Cowboys.

He played college football for the Central Washington Wildcats and was signed by the Seahawks as an undrafted free agent in 1996.

He is currently the head football coach at Lakota East High School in Ohio.

Kitna was born and raised in Tacoma, Washington.

He attended Concordia Lutheran School, before transferring to Lincoln High School after his freshman season.

He lettered in football, basketball, and baseball.

He enrolled at Central Washington University.

He walked on to the football team and was named the starter at quarterback as a true freshman over Beau Baldwin.

He passed for 1,964 yards.

As a sophomore, he posted 3,241 yards.

He had 6 touchdown passes against Pacific Lutheran University.

As a junior, he registered 2,532 passing yards.

He passed for 456 yards and 7 touchdowns against Pacific Lutheran University.

As a senior, he started 14 games, tallying 4,616 passing yards (NAIA Division II record) on 364-of-576 completions (63.1%), 42 touchdowns and 14 interceptions, while leading the Wildcats to the NAIA Football National Championship.

He surpassed 300 passing yards in 8 contests.

He had 455 passing yards and 4 touchdowns against Western Washington University.

He passed for 454 yards against Whitworth University.

Kitna finished his college career with 43 games played, 911-of-1,550 completions (58.8%), 12,353 passing yards, 99 touchdowns and 59 interceptions.

He set the NAIA record for career total offense with 12,907 yards.

He had 17 games with over 300 passing yards.

In 2006, he was inducted into the Central Washington University Athletic Hall of Fame.

In 2014, he was inducted into the Pacific Northwest Football Hall of Fame.

Believing that his football career was over after the NAIA championship, Kitna finished his math education degree at Central Washington and began applying for high-school coaching jobs.

Seattle Seahawks head coach Dennis Erickson visited the campus to give a tryout for his nephew, Bryce Erickson, a receiver on the Central Washington team.

Impressed by Kitna's strong passes, the Seahawks signed him as an undrafted free agent on April 25.

He was waived on August 19 and signed to the practice squad on August 26, where he remained for the rest of the season.

Kitna was allocated to the Barcelona Dragons of the World League of American Football.

He appeared in 10 games, posting 171 completions (led the league), 317 pass attempts (led the league), a 53.9% average, 2,448 passing yards (led the league), 22 passing touchdowns (led the league), 15 interceptions.

He set the league record for quarterbacks with 334 rushing yards and 3 rushing touchdowns.

He was the runner-up to T. J. Rubley for World League MVP honors and was named the MVP of the title game, when he led the Barcelona Dragons to a 38–24 World Bowl V win over the Rhein Fire, completing 23-of-31 passes for 401 yards (league record), 2 touchdowns and one interception.

He returned to the Seahawks and was the third-string quarterback behind John Friesz and Warren Moon.

On December 14, he had his first career start against the Oakland Raiders after Moon injured his ribs, leading the team to the second biggest comeback in franchise history, from a 21–3 halftime deficit to a 22–21 win.

Moon returned to start in the season finale against the San Francisco 49ers.

Kitna played in 3 games, making 23-of-37 completions for 283 yards, one touchdown and 2 interceptions.

Kitna was the team's deactivated third-string quarterback in 10 of the first 11 games.

He made the first start of the season and second of his career against the Tennessee Oilers and earned AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors, after passing for 298 yards, 2 touchdowns and one interception, while leading a fourth-quarter comeback for the deciding 48-yard field goal in a 20–18 win.

He completed 17-of-24 attempts in the next game against the New York Jets, for 278 yards, 2 touchdowns, 3 carries for 25 yards and 2 interceptions.

He had a 70-yard touchdown pass to Joey Galloway in the first quarter and followed it 3 minutes later with a second 57-yard touchdown pass to Galloway.

He also rushed three times for 25 yards at the Jets.

In the fifteenth game against the Indianapolis Colts, he rallied the team to score 17 fourth quarter points in a 27–23 win, making 16-of-29 completions for 177 yards, 1 touchdown and no interceptions.