Inside The Huskies

UW Roster Review, No. 2-99: Can't Stand the Heat, You're Not Kinchen

The walk-on cornerback made a big financial sacrifice to play at Washington. For now.
Dan Raley|
UW Roster Review, No. 2-99: Can't Stand the Heat, You're Not Kinchen
UW Roster Review, No. 2-99: Can't Stand the Heat, You're Not Kinchen

Kasen Kinchen toured the hallowed football grounds of Notre Dame. He reportedly received scholarship offers from California and Oregon. He ranked No. 52 nationally among players at his position. 

A speedy cornerback from Lake Stevens, Washington, he experienced recruiting moments that most prospects can't fathom.

So did Kinchen sign his national letter of intent with the Golden Bears, the Ducks or the Fighting Irish?

None of the above.

He offered his services to the University of Washington, free of charge, at least for the time being.

Determined to play for the home-state Huskies and convinced he ultimately could make the school pay for his secondary services, Kinchen enrolled a year ago and joined Jimmy Lake's team as a preferred walk-on. 

“It was definitely a hard decision, giving up a full-ride scholarship," he said. "At the end of the day, I just wanted to be a Dawg.”

In the recently conducted spring practice, Kinchen did the following: 1) he shuffled in and out of the first to the third teams, getting a chance to show his stuff; 2) he intercepted freshman sensation Sam Huard in one of the earliest workouts; and 3) no wallflower, he took part in the most heated spring skirmish, trading serious punches with wide receiver David Pritchard after a pass play.

Going down the roster in numerical order, this is another of our post-spring assessments of all of the Husky talent at hand, gleaned from a month of observations, as a way to keep everyone engaged during the offseason.

The 5-foot-10, 185-pound Kinchen wears No. 36, which he shares with his offensive opposite, walk-on wide receiver Mason Wheeler.

While just getting started at the UW, he hopes to match the career path of Myles Bryant, who went from walk-on defensive back to scholarship recipient, Husky starter and a multiple second-team All-Pac-12 selection to the NFL and the New England Patriots. He's similarly motivated to overcome a lot of obstacles.

"He actually had offers coming out of [several schools], but it was just him wanting to come and be developed, and be part of the best unit," Husky secondary coach Will Harris said. 

Still, Kinchen took the requisite visit to Notre Dame in March of 2019, and fielded a half-dozen offers overall from schools at various levels a year before the pandemic shut down everything across the sports world. 

Kinchen checked into the UW as a new freshman in June 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 outbreak, unable to get much done in fall practice and during the abbreviated Pac-12 season, both of which were subsequently delayed and suppressed.

Spring practice was his first real opportunity to audition for the Huskies and he made himself noticeable in the spring game, finishing with 5 tackles for the Gold team.

He appears to ahve no regrets over his financial boldness, after also reportedly passing on scholarship money from Air Force, Hawaii, Eastern Washington and Northern Colorado.

So he presses on, this bargain UW player trying to add value, patiently waiting for things to open up for him, diligently going about his work. 

"I like working hard and grinding," Kinchen said.

That is clearly apparent.

Kinchen's 2021 Outlook: Projected reserve cornerback

UW Service Time: None

Stats: None

Individual Honors: None

Pro Prospects: Not yet

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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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