When Kamren Kinchens went down with a head injury against Texas A&M it put a damper on one of the most impressive wins by any college football team this season. Kinchens was carted off the field with 1:33 left in the game after attempting to tackle Aggie wide receiver Ainais Smith.
"Trying to just make a routine play," Kinchens said in a Zoom press conference. "Just got, I guess, a little whiplash to the head. That was pretty much about it. I was kind of nervous on the field and stuff like that, but, just seeing all the fans rooting for me and my teammates showing me love, you know everything was good."
The injury kept the safety out for the next two games against Bethune and Temple. Kinchens hasn't missed any games since his youth football days. Now, after the bye week, the All-American is set to return.
"It was a rough patch missing those games because I kind of pride myself on making sure I'm fighting through whatever, but it's a lot of excitement to be back out there with my family."
In Kinchens' absence, Jaden Harris stepped up for the Hurricanes. According to Pro Football Focus, Harris graded in tackling 78.6 and 76.3 grades on 97 defensive snaps.
"Jaden Harris stepped up tremendously," Kinchens said. "I didn't see a drop off between me and him being out there."
Kinchens received tackling grades of 81.5 and 85.7 in the first two games against Miami (OH) and A&M.
During the bye, Kinchens decided to give back to the community. The star safety and several of his teammates that included Te'Cory Couch, Anez Cooper, Malik Bryant, Shemar Kirk, Jaden Harris, Chase Smith, and others, donated food to the homeless in Overtown in Miami.
"That's how easy it is. We don't have to set nothing up," Kinchens said. "We got a hundred chicken sandwiches, a hundred four-piece nuggets. Go out there, everybody get a bag, and you just walk around. We see a bunch of people in the tents and stuff like that. As far as...we've been doing it so much, we know the section to go to. To where we don't have to waste time trying to find people. We already know where they be at."
On the football field, last year, Kinchens put together a historic performance against Georgia Tech. Kinchens had three of Miami's four interceptions tying a single-game record with former Hurricane and mentor Kenny Phillips.
Georgia Tech has many new players, and the offense has a new quarterback in Texas A&M transfer Haynes King. Although last year's game brings up some good memories for Kam, he understands that this is a new year, team, and game.
"Very explosive. You got Haynes King from A&M. You got Christian Leary, you got Malik Rutherford," Kinchens said. "Reall good. Real explosive, all deep threats; when they got the ball, in the open field, can make you miss. Real good team."
Miami will wear its 'Miami Nights' uniforms for the first time this season against the Yellow Jackets, and Miami hinted at Kinchens return earlier in the week via social media. Miami originally was to debut the uniforms in the Bethune game. The team honored Kinchens by saving the uniform change for his return.
"I would've been too mad if we would have wore them before I came back," Kinchens said. "It's an alternate uniform, you know, and you only get one time to wear it a year, you know, so I wanted to be a part of that."
Miami will host Georgia Tech on Saturday night at Hard Rock Stadium. Kickoff is set for 8 PM Eastern.
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