When Latarie Kinsler Jr. considered his different college options — varying from LSU to Penn State to Syracuse — he only wanted to play at a school where he’d earn meaningful snaps as a freshman. When he visited central New York in June, he talked with senior defensive linemen Alton Robinson and Kendall Coleman. 

The two told Kinsler how they started during their first few months at Syracuse, while maturing with the coaching staff. As juniors, Coleman and Robinson tallied 10 each sacks in 2018 and are both on track to make the NFL.

“I felt like I could come in and do the same thing,” Kinsler said. “We all got the same goal to play in the NFL and I think what Syracuse did with them shows how good of a coaching staff they are.”

That was the same message that safeties/nickelbacks coach Nick Monroe pitched him on over the past three years. Even though he was offered by Tennessee, Oregon, Nebraska, Texas A&M and South Carolina, Syracuse stuck out. Kinsler, a four-star recruit on Rivals.com, felt validated by the recruiting process but wanted to go somewhere where he felt wanted. For Kinsler, that meant heading north to a 3-6 football team that’s losing its two best pass rushers heading into 2020.

Of the 15 commits in Syracuse’s 2020 class, Kinsler is the highest-ranked. He’s the third four-star to commit to head coach Dino Babers in the last two years, following none in his first two years at the helm, according to Rivals.com.

“You got all these big schools recruiting you, they recruited me pretty hard,” Kinsler said. “It started getting more clear.”

Early on in high school, Monroe and Kinsler began speaking. That relationship grew over the course of high school and conversations quickly surpassed just football.

Kinsler asked Monroe for life advice. Questions arose about how to navigate the last few years of high school and family life. The Pahokee (Florida) High School student felt comfortable moving so far north knowing that he had a mentor in Monroe. 

“Coach (Monroe) always kept it 100 with me about football and outside of football,” Kinsler said. “About anything, Coach always told me what it was and how it was. He was just real.”

Before committing, Kinsler talked with various fellow Florida natives, including freshmen linebackers Lee Kpogba and Mikel Jones. When he visited campus in June, he was impressed with their generosity when Jones hosted him.

Walking around campus and touring Manley Field House and the Clifford J Ensley Athletic Center, Kinsler envisioned himself wearing Orange as he spun past tackles and sacked quarterbacks. It all made sense.

“The players are very friendly, great guys,” Kinsler said. “My family loved it.”

Published on November 3, 2019 at 4:31 pm

Contact Adam: adhillma@syr.edu | @_adamhillman