Kinder fire

Photo courtesy of berecruited.com

It seems that if you were to play running back or on the offensive line for San Joaquin Memorial in Fresno, that would be your best bet to be spotted and recruited (Chris Brown at Oregon State, David Keller at Fresno State).

But can the same be the case if you throw passes for the Panthers?

Looks like for incoming senior Nick Kinder, maybe he gives a Panther quarterback a greater chance at getting spotted on the recruiting trail.

The 6-foot-1, 195 pound Kinder has already generated the interest of Dartmouth, Cornell, and Brown through the Ivy Leagues even with zero offers right now. Portland State is also picking up steam when looking at him.

Maybe one explanation for Kinder having a slow recruiting period is because realistically, the Panthers have always built themselves through offensive line play and a punishing ground attack, which makes the passing game pretty irrelevant.

Yet, I also will say, after looking and evaluating him, he's not the most fleet-footed passer and certainly not the quickest with his mobility. Even though the Panthers allowed him to roll out on a few occasions, Kinder doesn't look like a trailblazing runner. He's clearly a pocket passer and benefited greatly from having Brown in his backfield, plus those big boys up front run blocking. Kinder also completed just 51% of his throws last year.

However, again keep in mind, the Panthers only threw the football nearly 200 times, and pounded the rock on nearly 400 plays in 2011.

This time around though, with the rumbling of San Joaquin Memorial being downsized to just 24 players on varsity for 2012, and with a much younger backfield, maybe the Panthers will allow Kinder to throw it around even more.

He recently scored points with me thanks to an improved accuracy. Kinder made the short throws, but also the long ones at the recent DB Guru Skills camp in Visalia on Saturday. He also showed off his smarts when adjusting to certain coverages, which caused him to change his throwing motion and also give him more patience before tossing the ball. Those traits can give him momentum for his senior year. His smarts also allowed him to not get intercepted once, even at a camp where there was highly touted defensive backs Hatari Bryd, L.J Moore, even former Panther teammate and wide receiver Johnny Johnson, all of Central-Fresno.

He'll be a very effective play-action pro style quarterback at the next level. He'll need to continue to polish his football IQ, his patience when allowing routes to develop, and of course his running ability. The potential is there for him to become one of the better thinking-man quarterbacks in the Central Valley, and maybe some increased numbers in what could be a much smaller Panther roster.

MORE ON KINDER:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6IgQW-1aQY