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Husky QB Commit Kienholz Shows Off Athleticism, Set to Have Ranking Increase

The UW recruit turns a simple catch into an attention-getter on social media.
Dan Raley|
Husky QB Commit Kienholz Shows Off Athleticism, Set to Have Ranking Increase
Husky QB Commit Kienholz Shows Off Athleticism, Set to Have Ranking Increase

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With the South Dakota state capital building serving as a regal backdrop, a shirtless, headband-wearing Lincoln Kienholz leaps in the air, slightly adjusts his body and ever so casually catches the football — with only his left hand.

While some might dismiss the significance of the moment, an athletic move as graceful as this by a future University of Washington quarterback is what recruiters spend months, even years, searching for as they hunt down championship talent.

Kienholz's acrobatics were tweeted out (see below) with the social-media poster asking, "Can your QB do this?"

On the job for nine months as the Husky football coach, Kalen DeBoer, another South Dakota native, has made a solid first impression in gaining the trust of his players, forcing them to rethink their fitness and getting them to buy into his fast-paced practices.

Donors, former players and even media members have offered positive reviews over how the new coach does business, describing him as genuine.

DeBoer and his staff lately have put together a surprisingly solid recruiting class, unexpected only because these guys collectively are so new to the Power 5 landscape and have had to go to great lengths to introduce and sell themselves. 

Out of all of this, DeBoer's most underrated and under-appreciated football move so far might be obtaining a verbal commitment from the 6-foot-3, 185-pound Kienholz.

His future quarterback. From his Midwest roots. Away from the football mainstream.

People gradually appear to be catching on to Kienholz's skill set and the fact he might be far better than anticipated coming from a lightly populated state known mostly for Mount Rushmore and its presidential portraits and a motorcycle rally that turns an innocuous truck stop into a small city each summer.

On3Recruits has singled out Kienholz as its player most likely to be elevated soon to a 4-star recruit, a move that even caught the eye of the low-key yet athletically gifted quarterback.  

DeBoer, while he can't comment on prospective players who aren't signed to national letters of intent, has said his program above all is quarterback-driven.

He has significant evidence to support his ability to develop them, too. At Fresno State, he and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb turned Jake Haener into a finished product capable of huge passing numbers, something Chris Petersen's staff couldn't get done when the quarterback was at the UW for two seasons.

DeBoer helped accelerate the play of Michael Penix Jr., making him an eventual, second-team All-Big Ten quarterback at Indiana, and they now have Penix running the UW offense heading into the season opener against Kent State.

Behind Penix on the Husky depth chart are Dylan Morris and Sam Huard, who might be in the best quarterback environment possible to rescue and/or develop their careers. 

Kienholz, who has directed T.F. Riggs High in Pierre, South Dakota, to two of its five consecutive state championships, was identified by the new UW staff as a top QB recruit along with 6-foot-2, 175-pound Avery Johnson from the suburbs of Wichita, Kansas, and 6-foot-4, 195-pound Aiden Chiles of Downey, California, who ended up with Kansas State and Oregon State, respectively.

Chiles committed before and Johnson after Kienholz publicly declared for the UW. These three showed that the DeBoer and his coaches want their quarterbacks tall and nimble.

They would never tell you this, but it would be interesting to hear in what order the UW coaches ranked Kienholz, Johnson and Chiles, and whether they might have signed two of them if given the opportunity. There's a good chance they got the guy they wanted most. For that matter, Kienholz and the designated 5-star Huard might wage some epic battles in the not-so-distant future.

Just as interesting will be what sort of QB-developing reputation DeBoer and Company will have created a year from now, with a deep California quarterback class coming up and possibly many of them trying to get DeBoer and Grubb's attention.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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