Miami’s Kinchens leads nation, trails Sean Taylor, Bennie Blades for UM interception record

After his second interception Saturday at Georgia Tech, Miami safety Kamren Kinchens was approached by running back Lucious Stanley, who gave him some useful advice.

“I wasn’t really thinking too much about another one,’’ Kinchens said, “and then Lucious came up to me and was like, ‘You already got two and you dropped one. You might as well just catch another one.’

Kinchens did more than just “catch another one.’’ He picked off the Yellow Jackets with 1:46 left in the game — then ran the interception back 99 yards for a touchdown that put the Hurricanes up 35-7 toward their eventual 35-14 victory.

Kinchens, a 5-11, 202-pound, 20-year-old sophomore, now leads the nation with six interceptions. Behind him: eight players tied with five.

Even more meaningful to Kinchens: He trails Sean Taylor and former Jim Thorpe Award winner Bennie Blades for Miami’s single-season interception record of 10 (1986 and 2003) and is tied with Artie Burns (2015) with his six picks. There are two more games in the regular season — and three should the Canes win one of them and qualify for a bowl.

Kinchens has his next opportunity for the Hurricanes (5-5, 3-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at No. 9 Clemson (9-1, 7-0) in South Carolina.

“That’s the goal,’’ he said. “You chase the greats. Proud to have three.’’

Kinchens, who has 39 tackles, four pass breakups and a fumble recovery, is the first ACC player with three interceptions and one for a touchdown since 2009.

He said Saturday that it seems like “every game we’ve been having has been kind of down to the wire,’’ despite UM’s “motto’’ being ‘We gotta keep our foot on their neck.’ Today, we went out there and proved we can do that.

“Progress.’’

Kenny Phillips is the last UM player to have three interceptions in a game — in 2006.

As it turns out, Phillips, now 35, a former Super Bowl winner and 2008 first-round draft pick with the New York Giants, is friendly with Kinchens. While congratulating him after Saturday’s game, Phillips told him he was “going to be a little mad if I broke the record because he wanted to stay in the books, too.”

“He was saying, ‘You had three but you were supposed to have four,’ but the four would have probably broken him down.’’

Northwestern Bull

When Kinchens was a junior at Miami Northwestern High, he had nine interceptions to help lead the Bulls to a state championship, becoming a Miami Herald’s Miami-Dade County Defensive Player of the Year. In his first UM start last year against Pittsburgh, he had a potentially game-saving play in the final quarter. The Panthers called for a trick play and he was all over (legally) future first-round NFL Draft pick Kenny Pickett, when the then-No. 17 Panthers tried to target the quarterback in the end zone on fourth down. Pittsburgh kicked a field goal and Miami won 38-34.

He said he was nervous before that game, and said Tuesday during a Zoom interview that he still gets nervous before games.

“I’d still say I’m pretty nervous the first play,’’ Kinchens said. “It’s just kind of like with the atmosphere and everything going on you just get in a zone and are feeling the scenery. Because I promise you, every time before the first play it feels like a movie. After the first play, you get in the flow of the game. And then it’s like you’re still in a movie. You don’t even realize where you’re at. You’re just kind of like going along with it.”

UM coach Mario Cristobal, known for his seemingly endless energy and extremely long hours in the UM facility, told WQAM this week that Kinchens’ “film-study sessions are already legendary.’’ He later joked with reporters that he likes to think he has the building all to himself late at night, but there’s always Kinchens hanging around.

‘Legendary’ sessions

“When I see someone in there, it’s [makes me] a little uneasy,’’ the coach said. “I feel like someone’s trying to outwork me... He’s always in there with that clicker, just finding a way to gain a step, gain some leverage, gain a tip here and there...It’s crazy to think he’s only a sophomore. He’s on his way to being elite.’’

Defensive coordinator Kevin Steele said Monday that Kinchens’ disciplined eyes are what set him apart.

“People don’t understand,’’ Steele said. “Eyes are as important to a football player as they are [to] a Nascar driver with 50 cars around him going 200 miles an hour. You better have your eyes on what you’re supposed to have them on. And he has phenomenal eyes.”

Kinchen’s gift for vision comes from training and listening to UM secondary coach Jahmile Addae — “His main thing is train your eyes right.” But he said it can also be “a curse.’’

“If you’re looking at the wrong thing or looking at something too long it can hurt you.’’

Kinchens will certainly have his eyes on 6-4, 235-pound Clemson quarterback DJ Uiagalelei, who threw for 3,160 yards, with 14 touchdowns (10 interceptions) last season, adding 368 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns. This season, he’s 196-of-301 (65.1 percent) for 2,179 yards and 19 touchdowns, with five interceptions, and has rushed for 405 yards and five touchdowns.

“A very hard challenge and you have to face it,’’ Kinchens said of Uiagalelei. “Great quarterback. He can use his legs very well. He’s the second leading rusher on the team and still throwing the ball phenomenal.”

Kinchens’ teammates have no doubts he’s up for the battle.

“I know he’s a ball hog,’’ tailback Jaylan Knighton said. “He even do it in practice. The preparation is hard. The winning is easy.”

Not that easy. UM is still at .500 and needs one more win to qualify for a bowl. He said the previous week’s 45-3 loss to Florida State was filled with “trials and tribulations.’’

“We just made it a thing to work hard so we wouldn’t get that feeling no more,’’ he said. “I think we took the next step.’’