The Fall and Rise of Sergio Kindle

[sasquatch69 583]

Good read...

Quote

In 2002, he’d arrived at Woodrow Wilson High in East Dallas, a 14-year-old dynamo of man-sized proportions, crashing into the Texas high school football scene. A fearsome linebacker and overpowering running back who almost never came off the field, Kindle was considered one of the top recruits in the country by his senior year. He landed at the University of Texas, recording 10 sacks as a junior and earning All-Big 12 honors. He began his senior season on the watch list for several major awards and finished it in the 2010 BCS title game against Alabama. In a losing effort against the Crimson Tide, Kindle recorded six tackles and 2.5 sacks.

All those exploits seemed to be a prelude to a stellar professional career. The Ravens drafted him in the second round that year, one pick before future Hall of Fame tight end Rob Gronkowski. One of college football’s best defensive ends was joining one of the NFL’s best defenses. Kindle was, as former Woodrow coach Bobby Estes puts it, “on the road to being one of the best ever.” And then, just when pro football stardom seemed within his grasp, it evaded him, leaving him empty-handed.

Late one night in Austin, mere days before he was set to report to his first pro training camp, Kindle had stumbled in the dark of an unfamiliar house and crashed down a flight of stairs. He suffered a skull fracture and was in a medically induced coma for two days while doctors alleviated pressure on his brain through a hole in his cranium. He doesn’t remember waking up or any of the several days that followed, but he knows doctors told him that resuming a football career was out of the question.

He resolved to test that diagnosis, but he was never the same after that. He lost hearing in his left ear and his equilibrium with it. Over two years with the Ravens, he appeared in three games, recording just one tackle. He doesn’t remember the player he brought down. In 2013, just weeks before the Ravens won the Super Bowl, he asked for his release. He didn’t catch on anywhere else and never played again. Despite appearing in one game that year for the eventual champions, he did not receive a ring.

“The fact that I didn’t get to contribute the way I wanted to, it wasn’t memorable at all,” he says.

But if his pro career feels like a footnote, it is no longer the end of his football journey. Last month, Kindle joined Woodrow as an assistant coach, after more than a decade away from the game. Those years have passed in anonymity. Kindle worked nine jobs in the past 10 years, he says, including selling cars, driving for Amazon, and cordoning off highway accidents with traffic cones. But now he once again roams the practice fields where his football story began. For Kindle and for Woodrow, it’s a happy new chapter to what had been a sad tale. He had made it and then, painfully, lost it.

Now, absent from the game more than long enough to miss it, Sergio Kindle starts anew.

https://www.dmagazine.com/sports/2023/08/the-fall-and-rise-of-sergio-kindle/

[Dennis Taylor 18706]

Sad story.  He had all the potential in the world. Hope the coaching gig works out for him

[Brothahorn 10085]

Quote

In 2013, just weeks before the Ravens won the Super Bowl, he asked for his release. 

Why not just wait until the offseason?

[Jkwellborn 6653]

Dude was a fucking beast. Didn’t he knock the contacts out of Taylor Potts?

I always wanted to see him line up in short yardage.

I think he was the first Dlineman I remember lining up in a 4 point stance all the time.

[Had Enough 2057]

I think he was the first Dlineman I remember lining up in a 4 point stance all the time.

Did you fall down the stairs with him?

[Foosters 17730]

I still take partial credit for the Ravens drafting him. At the 09 NC game, I randomly sat next to Ozzie Newsome (not great seats, TBH) and spent roughly two entire quarters drunkenly singing Kindle's praises, convinced I was offering welcome advice to the sitting NFL GM.

[Post Oak 20184]

I'd give almost anything to have Sergio on this year's team.

[Auto Driller 2504]

He was a great Longhorn. Glad to see he’s found what seems like a more stable landing spot.

[Revolution512 1480]

1 hour ago, Brothahorn said:

Why not just wait until the offseason?

That’s what you picked out of the story?

[Murfdogg21 4412]

It doesn’t mention that he was one of the many 5-star freaks that got the classic Mack Brown “I don’t play young guys, gotta bleed for the program!” treatment. Dude should’ve started from Day 1 somewhere on defense. 

[Dennis Taylor 18706]

Had 1 carry for 5 yards in the Alamo Bowl his freshman year 

[Brothahorn 10085]

1 hour ago, Revolution512 said:

That’s what you picked out of the story?

Yep. Super Bowl rings don't come around very often.

[South Austin 52141]

12 hours ago, Brothahorn said:

Why not just wait until the offseason?

[Longboard Horn 40138]

11 hours ago, Jkwellborn said:

Dude was a fucking beast. Didn’t he knock the contacts out of Taylor Potts?

I always wanted to see him line up in short yardage.

I think he was the first Dlineman I remember lining up in a 4 point stance all the time.

 

[lilMAC25 3778]

26 minutes ago, Longboard Horn said:

 

I was in the endzone behind Potts. That video does nothing to demonstrate just how hard Kindle hit him. Tech fans still cry that it was a dirty hit (it wasn’t).

[Guest]

He hit the stairs harder.

[Guest]

and that building( crank up the UT legal team)

 

but yeah, he hit that QB really hard that one time.

 

[South Austin 52141]

31 minutes ago, lilMAC25 said:

I was in the endzone behind Potts. That video does nothing to demonstrate just how hard Kindle hit him. Tech fans still cry that it was a dirty hit (it wasn’t).

There used to be several slow-motion high-quality gifs of this hit that one could easily find.  But nothing came up in a recent Google search, and probably due to tightening up decency standards.

[LTtxfan 48966]

Sergio Kindle Days to Kickoff !!! 🤘

[Dennis Taylor 18706]

1 hour ago, Longboard Horn said:

 

Someone show me a college team with 2 badder motherfuckers than Rak and Kindle playing edge...I'll wait

[rungeflash 322]

40 minutes ago, Dennis Taylor said:

Someone show me a college team with 2 badder motherfuckers than Rak and Kindle playing edge...I'll wait

They both got held every fuckn down in Lubbock the year before…..Yormark was supervising the zebra crew

Edited August 31, 2023 by rungeflash

[Viethorn 34]

visited a woman in an unfamiliar house... pussy never get defeated 🙂

[Atticus 3922]

He was a mainstay on 6th street for a while. I think he was selling cars when I last shared drinks with him. Good to hear he’s getting back into football. 

[animaltobacco11 107]

The demon of alcohol for sure.

Thanks for posting the link, great read. This guy was an absolute beast and amazing to watch and like everyone else, I was so sure he was going to be the next Derrick Johnson as far as making an impact in the NFL at the LB position. Tragedy after tragedy, some self-imposed, some less than.

It's really sad and encouraging to read this though and I'm rooting for him and wish him all the success in coaching.

Edited August 31, 2023 by animaltobacco11

[Rimbo 25777]

18 hours ago, Brothahorn said:

Why not just wait until the offseason?

 

I don't think his head was completely working at that time.

 

4 hours ago, Dennis Taylor said:

Someone show me a college team with 2 badder motherfuckers than Rak and Kindle playing edge...I'll wait

 

Rak alone is badder than any edge rusher I've ever seen. Never seen a guy where, even at the NFL level, officials just turned a complete blind eye to offensive line holding calls for the sake of player safety.

Imagine if he'd played for an NFL team that wasn't a total dumpster fire.

[Braff Zacklin 13414]

22 minutes ago, Rimbo said:

Rak alone is badder than any edge rusher I've ever seen.

Do you even Brackens, bro? 

[Rimbo 25777]

1 hour ago, Braff Zacklin said:

Do you even Brackens, bro? 

The best hit Brackens delivered was on our coach. And for that, we will always be grateful.

[Braff Zacklin 13414]

5 minutes ago, Rimbo said:

The best hit Brackens delivered was on our coach.

I know of a Tech punter who would strenuously object.

Edited August 31, 2023 by Braff Zacklin

[Rimbo 25777]

6 minutes ago, Braff Zacklin said:

I know of a Tech punter who would strenuously object.

second-best hit 🤣

[ATXbronco 4060]

8 hours ago, Longboard Horn said:

 

With today's nanny rules, would it still be a legal hit?
Or targeting with the helmet?

[Dennis Taylor 18706]

33 minutes ago, Braff Zacklin said:

I know of a Tech punter who would strenuously object.

Kicker actually...the holder who hot-potatoed it to the kicker is now an orthopedic surgeon btw 

To be fair he was right because Texas forced the pitch and it wasn't Brackens that did that...he was actually lined up in the A gap, gave almost 10 yards of ground to get around a Tech double team to literally blow up the ball carrier...the more I've watched it the more amazing that play is

 

[TexArcher 37508]

7 hours ago, Braff Zacklin said:

I know of a Tech punter who would strenuously object.

If he could talk.

[futureman 22415]

9 hours ago, Dennis Taylor said:

the holder who hot-potatoed it to the kicker is now an orthopedic surgeon btw 

 

[runthebone 7932]

Good luck to him