A quarter of the way through the season, it looked pretty clear that the true freshman class was going to make only minimal contributions with just wide receivers Grant Perry and Brian Cole seeing action. That changed on Saturday though with Tyree Kinnel taking the field for the first time, and it’s possible that more could follow in his lead.
Kinnel, a 5-11, 200-pound defensive back out of Huber Heights (Ohio) Wayne, wore the No. 23 jersey against Maryland instead of his initially assigned No. 17, drawing the important duty of covering one of the top kick returners in the nation in Will Likely.