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Saturday, June 20, 2015

2015 Season Countdown: #71 Tyree Kinnel


Tyree Kinnel
Name: Tyree Kinnel
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 200 lbs.
High school: Huber Heights (OH) Wayne
Position: Safety
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: #17
Last year: Kinnel was a senior in high school. He was a 247 Composite 4-star, the #11 safety, and #195 overall.
TTB Rating: 74

Kinnel was an early commit to the 2015 class, pledging in August of 2013 going into his junior year. Despite efforts by other schools to flip him, he stayed true to his word and signed with the Wolverines this past February. His dad said that he was given a University of Michigan football on the day he was born, and he came to a bunch of spring games in Ann Arbor when he was growing up. Kinnel was a part-time running back in high school, but his main position was safety.

Michigan is not in dire need of safeties to be on the field this fall. Between senior Jarrod Wilson, junior Delano Hill, and sophomore Jabrill Peppers, the coaching staff seems to think they have three starting-caliber players on the back end. Meanwhile, redshirt junior Jeremy Clark and junior Dymonte Thomas both have a significant amount of playing time. I rank Kinnel here based largely on the fact that he could potentially play cornerback, and the depth chart at cornerback gets questionable after the top three. Ideally, Kinnel would redshirt and give a little more space between himself and the guys ahead of him, but injuries or underperformance could put him on the field at some point.

Prediction: Redshirt if possible

4 comments:

  1. Peppers got that year back, didn't he?

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  2. Possible ST player early on, I'd think.

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  3. I hope that he gets his redshirt. The 2016 class looks like it's going to be a miserable one at the safety position.

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  4. Seems a smidge low for a pretty well regarded DB. Not expecting him to start but he could be in the mix for playing time in the secondary and special teams.

    It also would not surprise me if the coaching staff sprinkles in some young safeties in pretty regularly in anticipation of 2016. If they don't think guys like Thomas and Clark will be ready to replace Wilson they may want to groom someone like Kinnel.

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