From homeless to first round? Javon Kinlaw opening eyes at Senior Bowl

South Carolina Gamecocks defensive lineman Javon Kinlaw overcame near-homelessness as a kid. Now, he’s opening eyes at the Senior Bowl as a potential first round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Javon Kinlaw is a testament to hard work and never giving up.

The Senior Bowl is always one of the best parts of the football offseason. Each January, dozens of talented college football seniors head to Mobile, Alabama to take part in this glorified exhibition in front of all sorts of NFL scouts. These players’ stories are incredible and no story is as remarkable as Kinlaw’s.

The 2019 All-SEC First Team selection from the South Carolina Gamecocks overcame near-homelessness as a kid growing up near Washington, D.C. Kinlaw had to go the junior college route out of Goose Creek, South Carolina. He landed on Will Muschamp‘s team in 2017 and is poised to be a late first-round pick in the upcoming 2020 NFL Draft. Kinlaw’s journey to even get to this point is amazing. He had this to say.

“Well, my mother from Trinidad and Tobago, my two older brothers, just growing up in Northeast Washington, D.C.,” Kinlaw said at the Senior Bowl. “Pretty much homeless, living in basements. We went without electricity or running water. We had to use the neighbor’s hose to fill up totes of water. We would take them back to the house.”

“We had gas, a gas stove. We would light the stove with a little match or something. Get a tall pot, boil the water. Mix it with some cold water, put it in a bucket, take it upstairs and take a shower like that. At a young age, we just thought that was normal. That’s how we were living. We didn’t know how everybody else was living and we were cool with that.”

We’re only a few weeks from the upcoming NFL Draft and we’ve now got a fan favorite to cheer for. How can you not respect a guy like Kinlaw, as he has overcome so much to even be here? South Carolina might have had a down season in 2019, but Kinlaw certainly shined for the Gamecocks. He had 35 total tackles, six sacks and two fumble recoveries from his defensive tackle position.

It’s not just on-field performance that makes Kinlaw such a compelling draft prospect. He has the necessary mental toughness that will surely help him get through the tough times as a young professional football player. Kinlaw has overcome all odds thus far and he’s going to continue to bet on himself at the next level.

He’s about to make life-changing money in a few weeks, but his humble beginnings will definitely keep him grounded. At 6-foot-6, 310 pounds, Kinlaw has the frame and the productivity many teams would love to have. Given that he’s likely to go in the latter part of the first round, Kinlaw is expected to join a very good NFL team in the process. He’s about to go into a very good situation.

Playoff teams like the New England Patriots and New Orleans Saints could be fits for him. Near-playoff teams like the Pittsburgh Steelers and Atlanta Falcons also make sense for the South Carolina standout.

Ultimately, Kinlaw’s climb from poverty to being a potential first-round draft pick is an incredible success story. Through hard work and determination, you can overcome anything.

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