Kam Kinchens does all the little things for Miami. It’s exactly what UM’s defense needed.
Pick a key moment late in either of the Miami Hurricanes’ past two wins against top-25 opponents in October, and there’s a good chance Kamren Kinchens was in the middle of it.
On Miami’s final defensive play against the then-No. 18 NC State Wolfpack last month, Kinchens was the last man between Thayer Thomas and a drive-extending first down, and the safety did the one thing the Hurricanes have struggled most with this year: He made an open-field tackle to force a turnover on downs. A week later, the freshman made his first career start and a potentially game-saving play in the fourth quarter, sniffing out a trick play and covering Kenny Pickett when the then-No. 17 Pittsburgh Panthers tried to target the superstar quarterback in the end zone on third down — Pittsburgh settled for a field goal and Miami won 38-34.
There’s a reason the Hurricanes have relied on the defensive back to play as much as any true freshman on the team and those two plays explained why.
“That guy right there is very smart, very special when it comes to breaking the game down mentally,” defensive end Deandre Johnson said Tuesday. “It’s pretty awesome to see at a young age.”
Kinchens will make his second consecutive start Saturday when Miami (4-4, 2-2 Atlantic Coast) hosts the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at 12:30 p.m. at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.
Pickett and the Panthers tested him in one way Saturday, with a pass-happy attack and a barrage of throws over the middle designed to exploit the natural communication hiccups that come with playing two freshman safeties. With a true dual-threat quarterback and one of the top running backs in the ACC, Georgia Tech (3-5, 2-4) will test the other so-far signature area of Kinchens’ game: his tackling.
With Miami’s defense struggling through the first two months of the season, Kinchens’ infusion of football IQ and reliable tackling has been the antidote to what had ailed the unit most.
What’s hard to fathom is this isn’t the player Kinchens was known as even just 18 months ago.
When he was a junior at Northwestern, he reeled in nine interceptions, helped the Bulls win a state championship and was one of the Miami Herald’s Miami-Dade County Defensive Players of the Year. He was a natural ballhawk, Northwestern defensive backs coach Ronard Whitehead recalled, but an incomplete player.
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Kinchens wasn’t quite yet a confident tackler coming downhill to wrap up running backs in the box. He definitely wasn’t confident in pass coverage, and the 5-foot-11, 200-pound prospect felt like he was often overlooked because he didn’t have the physical gifts of fellow safety James Williams, who was putting together a five-star resume just a few dozen miles north in Broward County.
“He didn’t trust himself, he didn’t feel like he was fast enough,” Whitehead said. “He would panic.”
What Kinchens did have was every single intangible coaches looked for.
Natural instincts? Those nine interceptions speak for themselves. Leadership? He was the quarterback of the Bulls’ defense when he was a junior. Work ethic? It’s the first thing Whitehead noticed when he got to Northwestern in the spring of Kinchens’ sophomore year and saw him go from private workout, to team practice to another private workout all in the same day.
Kinchens trained with former Hurricanes safety Kenny Phillips to hone his footwork and eye discipline in coverage. He got just a little bit stronger and more disciplined as a tackler, and now hasn’t missed one all season, according to Pro Football Focus. Even when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down high school football practices in the spring of 2020, Kinchens and Whitehead would talk on the phone multiple times per week, and break down film to be sure Kinchens wouldn’t miss a beat.
“That did a lot,” Whitehead said.
In the last two weeks, everything Kinchens made sure to improve has helped Miami get its two biggest wins of the season.
His eight tackles in the last two weeks, including one tackle for loss, have all been solo. He broke up one pass in the fourth quarter in Pittsburgh and made his biggest play of the game without recording a stat.
Kinchens admitted he was “a little more nervous” to make his first start and the speed of the game caught him off guard when he blew a couple assignments on third downs on the Panthers’ opening drive.
It was fine. He and Williams went to the sideline, and figured things out. They got better — Kinchens always does — and made the plays the Hurricanes needed to win.
“The biggest thing is that when they don’t do well, they respond,” coach Manny Diaz said Monday. “I just love the way they stay after it. I love the way they don’t panic when things don’t go well.”
This story was originally published November 5, 2021 at 12:52 PM.
