‘Force to be reckoned with’ Kurt Hinish earns a deserved day of recognition
SOUTH BEND — Kurt Hinish soaked it all in as he left the Notre Dame Stadium field Saturday evening.
The graduate student nose tackle finished his on-field interview with NBC’s Kathryn Tappen and skipped toward the tunnel, waving at the crowd as a smile overtook his eye black-caked face. The north end zone faithful reciprocated the love. He tossed his towel into the stands, high-fived a few folks in the first row and jogged to the locker room for what would be a warm welcome.
This was his moment, a well-earned day of widespread recognition after five years in the program and three seasons starting in a critical but sometimes anonymous role. The spotlight rarely shines on those who smash into 600 pounds of offensive linemen on most plays, therein freeing up teammates to make tackles and rack up the stats.
“They’re the reason anyone else can make plays,” junior linebacker JD Bertrand said. “It starts up front. It’s awesome and we’re thankful to have guys willing to do that job.”
In this game against Navy’s triple option, though, Hinish’s job took center stage. The light found him. He made sure it stayed on him all afternoon. In a matchup that requires grit, arguably Notre Dame’s most consistent supplier of it answered the call. The Irish slowly suffocated Navy like a boa constrictor, and Hinish was the head of the snake.
Hinish made a career-high 10 tackles, including two tackles for loss and a sack, in No. 10 Notre Dame’s 34-6 win. He set up camp in the backfield from the first drive and stayed there all game. He made his tenth stop midway through the third quarter.
“We were hoping that was going to be the case, and it came out that way,” head coach Brian Kelly said.
In all, it was a dominant day. Navy’s offensive line couldn’t block him. Here’s hoping Hinish had a little mercy and stayed far away from Navy linemen when the two teams gathered postgame to sing their alma maters. The Midshipmen needed no more reminders of his presence.
Hinish entered this game — the 57th of his career — with 14 tackles this season. He was on pace to nearly match it before getting a breather for much of the fourth quarter.
“Every play, he was a force to be reckoned with,” junior rover Jack Kiser said.
With less speed than normal to stretch the field horizontally, Navy largely plugged away up the middle and hoped to nickel-and-dime its way into long drives. That meant Hinish and Notre Dame’s interior line would see steady action coming right at them. On cue, the middle of the Irish defense vacuumed up Navy’s run game, with Hinish leading the way.
“We had some guys on this defense that had some experience playing the option, he being one of them,” Kelly said. “We were relying heavily on him.”
Though Notre Dame kept Navy at arm’s length for most of the day, the Midshipmen mounted a quintessential clock-milking drive in the first quarter after a pair of Irish three-and-outs. They had first-and-goal on Notre Dame’s 14-yard line late in the opening quarter, with visions of a 7-0 lead. This is when Hinish struck first.
Navy called a pass on first down, a play presumably designed to throw to the end zone. Hinish thwarted it when he whipped center Darrellson Masaniai with his quick first step and barreled toward quarterback Tai Lavatai. He bear-hugged Lavatai and took him to the ground for an eight-yard loss. Navy’s offense went backward twice more and settled for a field goal.
The sack was his fifth tackle of that drive alone. Five tackles was his prior career-best in one game.
One quarter later, Navy began a possession trailing 10-3 following Notre Dame’s first touchdown. Hinish shot through the right side of Navy’s line unblocked and dropped fullback James Harris II for a one-yard loss. It jump-started a three-and-out.
He still wasn’t done.
Navy had first-and-goal at Notre Dame’s eight-yard line on its opening drive of the second half, trailing 17-3. A touchdown here would make for a more claustrophobic third quarter than expected. But the Midshipmen’s next two plays netted just four yards — courtesy of Hinish stops. Navy chose a 21-yard field goal following a third-down stuff and never threatened the Irish from there.
Perhaps it’s fitting a player with an oft-overlooked job was arguably Notre Dame’s most valuable player in a game that won’t be among this year’s headliners. The Notre Dame Stadium crowd felt passively invested at times, at one point breaking out the wave. Its reaction when one of the pilots from the pregame flyover proposed on the field was as loud as some that followed a touchdown or defensive stop.
It was, in fairness, a rather mundane game.
Still, anyone in the stands couldn’t help but notice Hinish. His contributions sometimes require a trained eye to see. Not on this day, when everyone saw what Notre Dame sees the other six days of the week.
“At his size, playing that amount of snaps, taking on double-teams all the time, his ability to be tough and compete — the ultimately competitor,” Kiser said. “That’s what you want in a captain. We have him, fortunately. I don’t want to play against him, I’ll tell you that.”
The team in the visitors' locker room Saturday would agree.
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