San Diego State may have found something special in Javion Kinnard

The San Diego State Aztecs knew Javion Kinnard was versatile when he transferred in from Colorado State, and he proved it with a big-time performance in place of injured running back Lucky Sutton in a dismal 26-13 home loss to James Madison on Saturday night.

The sophomore from Nashville carried 33 times for 181 yards and a 3-yard touchdown for SDSU’s first score, in the third quarter. He also caught four passes for 70 yards.

His performance was one of the few bright spots for the Aztecs, who trailed 19-0 at halftime after another slow start.

Why Javion Kinnard was thrust into a bigger role

Sutton was held out of practice last week and coach Sean Lewis said it was “veteran’s rest” and indicated that he’d be good to go to face the Dukes.

Sutton went through pregame warmups but didn’t set foot on the field during the game.

Lewis said only that Sutton “got a little dinged” in a 28-10 loss at UCLA the previous Saturday and that it was game-time decision that he wouldn't play against JMU.

Lewis said Sutton “hopefully” can play this Saturday at Toledo.

What Javion Kinnard said after his breakout performance

Kinnard said he knew “kind of early in the week” that he’d have to be ready to step in for Sutton. “He was out all this week trying to get better on limited practice. He didn't do a lot of contacts, so I've been getting a lot of runs. I've been prepared for moments like this. Early in the week, I was trying to get myself in that game mindset: I got to take a load for the running backs tonight.”

Did he ever. He carried the load for the whole offense as quarterback Jayden Denegal continued to struggle, throwing two more interceptions that led to nine points for JMU, and just one touchdown pass.

“I can say (JMU) started off faster than us,” Kinnard said. “We had a lot of corrections. I had a couple corrections. I had a lot of different looks that I haven't seen all season. This is my first real game actually having to step up. We just started off slow, but we started to pick up as I got runs. We’ve got to start off faster, and that's been our thing as a team. Got to start off faster than the other team.”

What Sean Lewis saw from Kinnard

“Chop is a heck of a player,” Lewis said. “He works extremely hard. He’s a very explosive playmaker and I thought he had some good plays where we got him in space. I thought he did a really nice job fighting and turning for dirty yards inside as well. I thought he did a really nice job, one-cut, getting downhill on some of the

inside run scheme, staying square and having patience for those things to develop.

“So yeah, pleased with his effort, obviously carrying the full load, not having Lucky tonight. I think the two of them when they're both healthy is a pretty tremendous one-two combo that we can lean on pretty heavily,” Lewis said.

Up next

Kinnard and the Aztecs travel to Toledo for a 9 a.m. PT Saturday showdown in their final non-conference game.

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