Senior kicker Daniel Kinney was gaining momentum as one of the Class of 2025’s top kicker recruits in the country until he tore his ACL last spring.
Kohl’s Professional Camps still has Kinney ranked as the No. 43 kicker prospect in the country, but he has had a long recovery from his injury.
“It was definitely hard coming off a starting position and not being there for my team,” he said. “My knee definitely put a hold [on playing in college], but … it opened some doors that I didn’t know were there.”
Kinney resumed his place kicking duties Oct. 18 in Bearden’s 35-6 win over Oak Ridge. He went 5-for-5 on extra points, but he did not get an opportunity to attempt a field goal.
Those opportunities have certainly come in the past two games, though.
First, he kicked the game-winner in the second overtime of Bearden’s 20-17 win at Morristown West on Oct. 25, and his 53-yarder in the 31-22 win over Bradley Central last week was just four yards shy of putting him in the top 10 all time in the state of Tennessee.
With a healthy Kinney and senior punter William Pendergrass, the Bulldogs (7-3) now have two star kicking specialists as they prepare to host Jefferson County (6-4) in the first round of the playoffs Thursday night at 7.
Kinney’s injury caused a big change for the football program, as Pendergrass also took all of his kicking responsibilities.
Pendergrass settled right in, though, as he made three field goals – from difficult angles – in Bearden’s triple overtime win over West to start the season.
“The first game where I had to kick all of the tight field goals the pressure was off,” Pendergrass said.
Even though Kinney has gone back to taking all of Bearden’s field goals and extra points, Pendergrass is still punting and handling kickoff duties.
“Through my doctor, I’m not cleared to kickoff yet,” Kinney said. “[Pendergrass] was already doing well at kickoff, so I just slipped in to kick field goals.”
Special teams coach Jay Whinery said he is thankful that Bearden has two star kickers on its roster.
“We are fortunate enough to have someone like Will on our team,” he said. “Usually, if you lose a 4-star national rank kicker in your program, you don’t really have anyone behind him.
“It’s either a younger guy or nobody. Will is an accomplished kicker, and is more well known for his punting and probably will go to college and punt.”
When Pendergrass found out Kinney was injured, he started training outside his position as a punter to ultimately fill in those shoes.
“When he found out Daniel was hurt, he said that [he was] gonna go train kick offs and PATs, and I didn’t know what to expect,” Coach Whinery said. “Then he showed up, and he did an amazing job.”