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Walk-on Kinney delivers in debut without O’Toole’s fanfare

Related Topics: Punt (gridiron football)

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Like most college punters, Billy Kinney is borderline anonymous outside the program. Then again, other punters don’t have to follow Nick O’Toole, a special-teams celebrity the past three seasons at West Virginia where he crushed punts and oozed personality.

Kinney doesn’t have a #Boomstache hashtag, a following of students wearing his T-shirts, or a series of “Hang Time” videos. Kinney doesn’t even a scholarship.

Whereas O’Toole was recruited across the country from California, Kinney walked on from nearby University High. That made it all the more stirring Saturday when he played in his first college game, averaging more than 45 yards on five punts.