Javon Kinlaw’s homeless past makes the South Carolina DT the draft’s most motivated player

INDIANAPOLIS – How do you impress teams at the NFL combine without working out? You have a story like Javon Kinlaw’s.

The South Carolina defensive tackle, expected to be a first-round pick in April, is skipping drills in Indianapolis because knee tendinitis discovered during the Senior Bowl pushed back his training. It’s a minor setback for a guy who had to overcome a lot to get to this point.

“I’ve seen a lot of things kids shouldn’t have to see and done a lot of things kids shouldn’t have to do,” Kinlaw said Thursday.

Kinlaw spent much of his childhood homeless. His parents split when he was 5 years old, and neither was able to provide a consistent home for him and his brother. Kinlaw’s mother had difficulty finding consistent work, leading to a slew of temporary shelters. They’d often stay with friends, which included a two-month stretch in a basement.

School was a sometimes thing. More common things included a lack of electricity or heat, or having to steal convenience store snacks and call it a meal.

When Kinlaw was older and spent time living with his father, the address was often a motel, or, as Kinlaw sometimes suspected, a place his father probably wasn’t supposed to be living.

Kinlaw was recruited by South Carolina, but poor grades and behavior problems led him to a junior college in Mississippi, where he could take advantage of its GED program and play a season of football.

But that’s not the only reason he went.

“I always tell people, I didn’t go to junior college for football, really, I just went because I had somewhere to sleep,” he said. “I had some free food to eat. That’s really why I went. The expectation wasn’t, ‘Man, I’m gonna go to the SEC. I’m gonna go to the league.’ I just went because I had somewhere to sleep.”

Standing at a podium and talking with reporters on Thursday, Kinlaw said he was trying to soak in the experience of the combine.

“God is good. There is a God, for sure,” he said. “With the situation I was put in, I shouldn’t even be here in front of you right now.”

While Kinlaw could be drafted by the middle of the first round, he admits he has a lot to learn, and draft analysts agree.

According to Pro Football Focus, “The scary thing is, the senior is only scratching the surface. He doesn’t have too much more than a push-pull and swim move in his pass-rushing arsenal at the moment. The fact that that’s led to pass-rushing grades of 88.7 (2018) and 90.7 (2019) the past two seasons is what gets us so excited.”

Kinlaw’s take on where he’s at as a player is more simple: “I’m just learning how to use these hockey sticks I have right here,” he said, holding up his arms.

He said Thursday that, when his career is done, he wants to be known as the best defensive tackle of all time. But you get the feeling he’d settle for being the best father.

Kinlaw has an 11-month-old daughter.

“I’ve got a baby girl I’ve got to provide for,” he said. “So I just never want her to grow up how I grew up.”

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