Former U-M commit Antonio Kinard at JC
By Michael Rothstein
Antonio Kinard could have been halfway through college by now, might have been entering his junior season at Michigan and could have even seen the field as a linebacker.
None of that happened, though. Instead, Kinard found himself on a twisting journey involving two colleges, a prep school and a junior college, a job working at a wine store and now, a trip to Arizona and a second chance at Arizona Western, where Kinard will play next season.
A three-star linebacker prospect out of Liberty High School in Youngstown, Ohio, Kinard committed to play for the Wolverines as part of the Class of 2010. He was going to join one of his closer friends and the father of his niece, running back Fitzgerald Toussaint, along with another former teammate, Isaiah Bell.
“I’m not going to lie, I wanted to go to Michigan so bad,” Kinard said two weeks ago. “That was a good school, close to home, had Fitz going up there along with Isaiah Bell, I know those guys, this program is good.”
The three of them discussed Michigan often -- and it looked like it would happen. Then grades got in the way, disappointing both Toussaint, who had been looking forward to seeing his daughter more often, and Kinard.
“We’d talk, talk, talk, like I can’t wait for you to get there,” Kinard said. “Then when (Toussaint) found out I wasn’t qualified and all this stuff, he was like ‘Dang, man, I was looking forward to this so much.’
“It was kind of heartbreaking a little bit but it taught me a lesson to take school more seriously and get more serious with what I needed to do.”
It sent him to Hargrave (Va.) Military Academy for a season to get his grades up. He thought he did and while he wanted to return to Michigan, there had been a change in coaching staffs so he planned to enroll at Miami, Fla.
He said as he was unpacking his bags at Miami he was informed there was an issue with his eligibility. He thought it would be worked out, but it wasn’t, so he went home to South Carolina before this season and took a job in a wine store with his father, all the while working out and hoping for one more shot.
Kinard said he worked at the wine store in Columbia, S.C., for “four or five months.”
“I knew for a fact that I would play football again. It took a while, a whole year,” Kinard said. “But I figured I needed money in my pocket. I didn’t want to walk around broke, who wants to walk around with no money in their pocket. I needed a job, got a job. I wasn’t the type that’s going to sit around being lazy at home.”
He tried to stay in shape -- harder than he thought, Kinard said -- and eventually found a place willing to take a chance on him as he works to find his way back to a Division I school, potentially Miami, he said, if it were to work out: Arizona Western.
The time away gave him perspective -- and left him thankful for one more shot.
“I do think it is a fresh start,” Kinard said. “I think it is a good start for me. They play wonderful football down there, great football.
“I am thankful they gave me another opportunity.”
