2021 Miami Northwestern (FL) 4-star S Kamren Kinchens became the 17th commitment in the Miami Hurricanes’ 2021 class this past Saturday when he pulled the trigger for the orange and green. As for the UM coaching staff, they found out when everyone else did when Kinchens made his announcement on social media. He chose Miami over Auburn, Texas A&M, LSU, and Nebraska.
“It felt great joining the Canes family,” Kinchens said. “It’s just a relief, you don’t have to keep getting calls every day (from other schools).
“The day before, I just told the coaches of the schools I wasn’t going to, so for UM, it was a surprise. At 12pm when they saw that post, by 12:01 coach (Ephraim) Banda called and coach DVD (DeMarcus Van Dyke) called and told me congratulations on joining the family.”
Since offering him in February of 2019, the Canes and safeties coach Banda treated Kinchens like a top priority, and he reciprocated that interest with multiple campus visits to UM throughout the next year before coronavirus shut down campuses across the country in March of 2020. Ultimately, those visits proved to be invaluable in the time of COVID-19, as Kinchens admitted the campus shutdowns had an impact on his recruitment.
“As far as Nebraska and Texas A&M, they just got the short end of the stick because I wasn’t able to go visit them,” Kinchens said. “So it was really between the three schools I have seen – LSU, Auburn, and Miami. Eventually, that made me give Auburn and Miami an edge.”
With the choice coming down to the Tigers and the Hurricanes for Kinchens, the Miami Northwestern star felt the opportunity to change the culture and become a legend at the local school was too much to pass up.
“It really came down to where I could see me bettering myself,” Kinchens said. “Both of them are contenders, but to me, I feel like with UM’s class and the class they just previously got, we can be able to turn it around as far as the program, and turn it back to the old Miami you could say.
“Auburn always stayed in the mixed, but at the same time, why not stay at Miami and help turn the program around? They’ll put your name in stone. People (in the future) will say how they had a bad year (in 2019), but when that 2021 class came in, they really made an impact, and that’s something I wanted to be a part of.”
The 5-11 200 pound safety joins his four other Miami Northwestern teammates – TE Kahlil Brantley, WR Romello Brinson, CB Tim Burns, and LB Ja’Corey Hammett – as pledges in Miami’s class. But, according to Kinchens, who said he made his final decision last Tuesday, only one of them knew of his intentions beforehand.
“They only person that knew was Kahlil, I let him know on Friday,” Kinchens said. “Mello, Tim, Corey – I told them I was going to Auburn. It was funny because we had a photoshoot from 9am-11:30am, and the whole time I was telling Mello he had to take pictures of me in the Auburn jacket and he said ‘No, because it’s not the school I want it to be.’ Then when I pulled out the Miami jacket they were like ‘OHHH!’
Miami Northwestern has had a long history of sending players to UM, and Kinchens thinks this generation of Bulls will bring the winning edge back to the U.
“Just knowing that we’re going to bring the winning culture back to Miami is what I look at,” Kinchens said. “That’s how [Miami] began really - they had big-time players that stepped up in big-time moments in big-time games, and I feel like that’s what the Northwestern boys can bring.”
With his recruitment in the books, Kinchens is now turning his attention to some of the other local recruits that Miami is after. Kinchens is planning to be a vocal recruiter in continuing to bring talent into Miami’s 2021 class, and his focus is currently on the studs at Miami Palmetto.
“Of course I’m trying to get Brashard (Smith), of course I’m trying to get Corey (Collier), I’m talking to LT (Leonard Taylor),” Kinchens said. “As far as player-on-player recruiting, you can’t flip somebody’s mind from what they want because you don’t have anything to offer them besides ‘You can come play with me’. So they already have an idea in their mind, all you can do is help them see the reasons why they should pick Miami.”
On his own future at the U, Kinchens says he already has everything in place and is set to enroll at Miami this spring to begin his UM career.
“I know it’s going to be a big transition like always – Optimist to high school, high school to college, college to NFL,” Kinchens said. “It’s just about making that transition as easy as possible on myself. I want to come in and show I can play so that I’ll be able to get on the field early and help contribute.”
In the end, what type of football player is Miami getting with Kinchens?
“My mindset on the field is to just have fun doing what I love and giving my all for me and my teammates,” Kinchens said. “I’m just a rangy, ball-hawking safety that will take your best WR out of the game from the jump and still help control the run game.”
“It felt great joining the Canes family,” Kinchens said. “It’s just a relief, you don’t have to keep getting calls every day (from other schools).
“The day before, I just told the coaches of the schools I wasn’t going to, so for UM, it was a surprise. At 12pm when they saw that post, by 12:01 coach (Ephraim) Banda called and coach DVD (DeMarcus Van Dyke) called and told me congratulations on joining the family.”
Since offering him in February of 2019, the Canes and safeties coach Banda treated Kinchens like a top priority, and he reciprocated that interest with multiple campus visits to UM throughout the next year before coronavirus shut down campuses across the country in March of 2020. Ultimately, those visits proved to be invaluable in the time of COVID-19, as Kinchens admitted the campus shutdowns had an impact on his recruitment.
“As far as Nebraska and Texas A&M, they just got the short end of the stick because I wasn’t able to go visit them,” Kinchens said. “So it was really between the three schools I have seen – LSU, Auburn, and Miami. Eventually, that made me give Auburn and Miami an edge.”
With the choice coming down to the Tigers and the Hurricanes for Kinchens, the Miami Northwestern star felt the opportunity to change the culture and become a legend at the local school was too much to pass up.
“It really came down to where I could see me bettering myself,” Kinchens said. “Both of them are contenders, but to me, I feel like with UM’s class and the class they just previously got, we can be able to turn it around as far as the program, and turn it back to the old Miami you could say.
“Auburn always stayed in the mixed, but at the same time, why not stay at Miami and help turn the program around? They’ll put your name in stone. People (in the future) will say how they had a bad year (in 2019), but when that 2021 class came in, they really made an impact, and that’s something I wanted to be a part of.”
The 5-11 200 pound safety joins his four other Miami Northwestern teammates – TE Kahlil Brantley, WR Romello Brinson, CB Tim Burns, and LB Ja’Corey Hammett – as pledges in Miami’s class. But, according to Kinchens, who said he made his final decision last Tuesday, only one of them knew of his intentions beforehand.
“They only person that knew was Kahlil, I let him know on Friday,” Kinchens said. “Mello, Tim, Corey – I told them I was going to Auburn. It was funny because we had a photoshoot from 9am-11:30am, and the whole time I was telling Mello he had to take pictures of me in the Auburn jacket and he said ‘No, because it’s not the school I want it to be.’ Then when I pulled out the Miami jacket they were like ‘OHHH!’
Miami Northwestern has had a long history of sending players to UM, and Kinchens thinks this generation of Bulls will bring the winning edge back to the U.
“Just knowing that we’re going to bring the winning culture back to Miami is what I look at,” Kinchens said. “That’s how [Miami] began really - they had big-time players that stepped up in big-time moments in big-time games, and I feel like that’s what the Northwestern boys can bring.”
With his recruitment in the books, Kinchens is now turning his attention to some of the other local recruits that Miami is after. Kinchens is planning to be a vocal recruiter in continuing to bring talent into Miami’s 2021 class, and his focus is currently on the studs at Miami Palmetto.
“Of course I’m trying to get Brashard (Smith), of course I’m trying to get Corey (Collier), I’m talking to LT (Leonard Taylor),” Kinchens said. “As far as player-on-player recruiting, you can’t flip somebody’s mind from what they want because you don’t have anything to offer them besides ‘You can come play with me’. So they already have an idea in their mind, all you can do is help them see the reasons why they should pick Miami.”
On his own future at the U, Kinchens says he already has everything in place and is set to enroll at Miami this spring to begin his UM career.
“I know it’s going to be a big transition like always – Optimist to high school, high school to college, college to NFL,” Kinchens said. “It’s just about making that transition as easy as possible on myself. I want to come in and show I can play so that I’ll be able to get on the field early and help contribute.”
In the end, what type of football player is Miami getting with Kinchens?
“My mindset on the field is to just have fun doing what I love and giving my all for me and my teammates,” Kinchens said. “I’m just a rangy, ball-hawking safety that will take your best WR out of the game from the jump and still help control the run game.”
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