As undrafted rookie Kendall Hinton heads into his unlikely NFL debut against the Saints on Sunday, count his high school coach as one who’s betting on the Broncos’ emergency quarterback.
After all, Hinton’s spent all but one season of his football career playing quarterback. He starred at the position at Southern Durham (N.C.) High School while leading the Spartans to the program’s first state championship as a junior.
“He’s prepared for this moment,” said Southern Durham head coach Darius Robinson. “He just has to get used to the speed of the game, and once he gets used to the speed of the game, he’s going to make plays.
“It’s natural for everyone to be like, ‘Who is this guy?’ But those of us that know him know that the Denver Broncos saw the same thing that we saw to be able to say, ‘Hey, we’re going to bring somebody from the practice roster to be our starting quarterback.’ I’m here to tell everybody to get your popcorn, get your soda and enjoy what we’ve already seen in Kendall.”
In that North Carolina Class 3AA state title game in 2013, Hinton rallied his team from a 21-point first-half deficit with an array of dazzling throws. Southern Durham ended up winning 38-31, capped by Hinton’s 80-yard touchdown pass with 57 seconds left.
“Everyone was panicking on our sideline in that first half,” Robinson recalled. “We looked out on the field, and needed Kendall to get the offense going. He gave us that look, signaled for us to calm down, and put together a 60-yard drive to give us a touchdown going into the half. Then he came back out in the second half and threw consecutive touchdowns to put us in the lead. That told us right then and there that the young man does not fold under pressure.”
Hinton was recruited to Wake Forest as a quarterback, where he started two of the nine games he appeared in as a true freshman, throwing for 929 yards and four touchdowns. An ankle injury cost him his sophomore year, and after losing the starting quarterback job, Hinton switched to being a full-time wideout ahead of his final collegiate season.
“He had solid numbers — 73 catches for over 1,000 yards — and that was just one year at the position,” Robinson said. “That should let you know that he can actually play at that level, and why he’s hung around Denver as a wideout.”
After going undrafted, Hinton signed with the Broncos on April 26. He was waived after training camp and brought back to the practice squad on Nov. 4.
Called up from the practice squad to the active roster Sunday, Hinton will start at quarterback against the Saints at Empower Field after Denver’s four roster quarterbacks (Drew Lock, Brett Rypien, Blake Bortles and Jeff Driskel) were sidelined by COVID-19, the former three ruled ineligible by the NFL due to contact tracing concerns following Driskel’s positive test.
Hinton, 23, is set to write himself in the record books as the NFL’s first starting non-quarterback at the position since Dec 18, 1965, when Baltimore running back Tom Matte started at quarterback for the Colts in a 20-17 win over the Rams.
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November 30, 2020 at 03:11AM
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Broncos emergency QB Kendall Hinton “prepared for this moment,” says high school coach who watched him lead comeback win for state title - The Denver Post
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