He’s a 49er! Javon Kinlaw becomes highest selected Gamecock since Clowney
Javon Kinlaw came a long way for this.
He came through homelessness as a child in Washington, D.C. He came through three up and down years at Goose Creek High School, a sojourn to Mississippi to get his career on track. He returned to the University of South Carolina for a senior year many didn’t expect and wrecked opponents up and down. It all led to this.
Kinlaw is a first-round NFL Draft choice, a newly minted member of the San Francisco 49ers. He went No. 14 overall.
He was selected Thursday night, becoming the highest picked Gamecock since Jadeveon Clowney went first overall in 2014. The 6-foot-5, 315-pounder was considered one of the top defensive tackles available and will have his chance at the next level.
“Just a physical presence,” Kinlaw told 49ers reporters about what he adds. “Another physical, dominating presence attached with three more? You can’t ask for nothing better than that. I feel like I can come in and play a vital role.”
On ESPN’s draft show, the 6-foot-5, 324-pounder was compared to three-time Pro Bowler Marcus Stroud and seven-time Pro Bowler Richard Seymour, a Columbia product.
“Physically if you can draw a defensive tackle, it would be Javon Kinlaw” draft analyst Mel Kiper said.
He had the opportunity to be drafted before, but after a hip ligament limited him in 2018 he announced his return to USC for one more year with a message of, “Yes I’m coming back to school so stop asking. Relax.”
Then he blossomed into an All-American, posting six sacks and 35 tackles last season, a set of numbers that didn’t quite reflect his ability to blow through interiors of offensive lines. Even in that injured junior season, he still posted 10 tackles for loss and 4 1/2 sacks.
Kinlaw’s South Carolina journey started with arriving at 340 pounds, a byproduct of losing some structure his last season at junior college. He quickly slimmed down and worked his way into USC’s starting lineup.
Late in his career and through his pre-draft process, he started talking about his upbringing, dealing with homelessness after his family moved from Trinidad and Tobago and D.C. He moved to the Charleston area after his freshman year, and although Goose Creek provided a less chaos, he still only scratched the surface of his talents and left his coach unsure if he’d pull it all together.
But at Jones County Junior College in Mississippi, something clicked. His coach there remembered him finding his way academically and on the field. He left there inclined enough in school that securing his degree played a factor in him staying a final season in Columbia.
That mean’s he’ll reunite with former Gamecock Deebo Samuel who starred as a rookie for San Francisco’s Super Bowl team.
SF has built up a dominant defensive line the past few seasons, but traded away tackle DeForest Buckner this offseason. Their depth chart still includes Solomon Thomas and D.J. Jones as the top defensive tackles.
“I was watching DeForest since he was coming out of college,” Kinlaw told reporters Thursday night. “He started out as a raw player and developed into a monster. Once I get that type of coaching, I can probably be somebody that was like him.”
A father of a young daughter, he’ll now move on to the professional ranks, a man able to provide her with chances he never had and free from the sort of long journey he had to travel.
Other Gamecocks taken by San Francisco since 2010:
2011: Chris Culliver, third round
2013: Marcus Lattimore, fourth round
2014: Bruce Ellington, fourth round
2015: Mike Davis, fourth round
2015: Busta Anderson, seventh round
2019: Deebo Samuel, second round
2020: Javon Kinlaw, first round
This story was originally published April 23, 2020 at 9:59 PM.
