Originally published Feb. 5, 2009 in the Omaha World-Herald
• Did you know?Kinnie finished his final game at Fort Scott with just five catches and 26 yards, but still earned the Heart of Texas Bowl MVP award. Kinnie blocked a punt in the second quarter and recovered the ball at the 8-yard line. He then caught an 8-yard touchdown pass to put his team up by 10. Kinnie and a talented Fort Scott team eventually won easily 30-14 over Blinn College. Kinnie is one of five Greyhounds headed to Division I schools.
• Coachspeak: "We threw the ball up and told him to go get it. (Kinnie) can out-jump, out-muscle and out-grab everybody. He is a freak-of-nature athlete." - Fort Scott Community College coach Jeff Sims
• The gurus say: Scout.com rates Kinnie as a three-star recruit and Rivals.com lists him as the No. 77 junior college player overall, though neither service is too familiar with Kinnie since he has played just one season of junior college ball. But Sims says Kinnie has the physical tools. "He looks like Terrell Owens. And he's 19 years old."
•About Kinnie: He redshirted his first season at Fort Scott Community College, which gives him three years of eligibility at Nebraska. Last season, Kinnie led the Jayhawk Conference in receiving, catching 56 balls for a total of 815 yards. He had nine touchdowns in 10 games for Fort Scott, which finished the year ranked No. 6 in the final NJCAA/JCFootball.com poll. Kinnie had scholarship offers from Kansas and Arkansas, but settled on Nebraska in December with aspirations to make an immediate impact.
•Our take:It doesn't hurt to have a big-bodied receiver ready to compete for the open spots vacated by Todd Peterson and Nate Swift. Kinnie will certainly get a good look, but often the first-year transition from junior college to Division I doesn't go smoothly.