Kam Kinchens: Battle to start not a big deal, defense getting better

This fall camp’s seen an interesting starting safety situation. The Miami Hurricanes have three extremely talented players at the spot: James Williams, Kam Kinchens and Avantae Williams. All showed last year that they can make plays when called upon, with James Williams in particular considered a high-level NFL-caliber talent.

Coordinator Kevin Steele’s already said that James Williams can work in the box at times, so there will be occasions all three are on the field together. In base defense? Well, it’s a battle between Kinchens and Avantae Williams to start.

Kinchens has better covering ability; Avantae is the more physical of the two. So it’ll be interesting to see how Steele decides who to go with. For now, it appears Kinchens may have a let up. And he performed well in Saturday’s scrimmage, grabbing an interception but getting his foot banged up in the process.

He sat out the rest of the scrimmage but is back at practice this week.

“It was an over route, he threw the ball, I jumped it,” Kinchens said.

Last year Kinchens got his chance to shine after Bubba Bolden went down with injury and with veteran Gurvan Hall struggling and eventually leaving the team. At 5-11 and 202 pounds, Kinchens wound up starting the final five games and was one of UM’s most consistent tacklers, ending with 44 tackles, 1 TFL and 4 PBU.

But late in the season his shoulder was bothering him, and after it ended he had it checked out. It turns out Kinchens was playing with a torn labrum and rotator cuff. He had surgery, missed the spring, but now is back full go and very much looking the part of an outstanding safety.

But he still has to win the starting job.

“(The competition) never changed no matter who is in the room,” Kinchens said. “Me, James, Avantae, Keshawn (Washington), (Brian) Balom, all of us are pushing each other to be the best.”

With that said, he adds that “It’s not every important (who starts). It doesn’t matter who starts. It matters who is in the game when there are critical moments.”

Kinchens is very instinctive and an excellent tackler. He has a knack for being in the right spot and making the play. Kinchens graded out at an excellent 77.8 percent (per Pro Football Focus) for tackling last year at Miami and also is good enough when asked to cover tight ends or running backs (67.8 grade – note that 70 is considered very good).

Kinchens also has gotten stronger since his freshman season. He’s gone from a 400-pound squat last year to 515 this off-season. His body fat has decreased significantly.

So he’s poised for a big year and looks forward to helping this Steele D succeed.

The scrimmage was a good start on that side of the ball.

“After watching film, I think it went great,” Kinchens said. “Of course we had a little bit of mental mistakes, but we are getting better.”

The Miami defense will look to continue its strides this Saturday with scrimmage No. 2 around the corner. It’s a good bet that how James Williams, Avantae Williams and Kinchens perform will have a big effect on the overall performance on that side of the ball.

“We all have different abilities that we are better at,” Kinchens said of the three main safeties. “Just whatever we need at the moment, that’s what will be on the field.”

*How has Ed Reed helped him?

“If he sees something he says something,” Kinchens said. “Stuff I may not notice, he’s restating it into our brain.”