Kendrick L. McKinley (January 31, 1987 – September 20, 2010) was an
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...
wide receiver for the
Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...
of the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
(NFL). He was selected by the Broncos in the fifth round of the
2009 NFL Draft
The 2009 NFL Draft was the seventy-fourth annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 25 and 26, 2009. ...
. He played
college football at
South Carolina
)'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
.
Early years
Born in
Mableton, Georgia
Mableton is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Cobb County, Georgia, United States. According to the 2020 census, Mableton has a population of 40,834. Upon Brookhaven's cityhood in December 2012, Mableton became ...
, he graduated from South Cobb High School in
Austell in 2005. As a quarterback during his senior year, he passed for 1,470 yards and 16 touchdowns and rushed for 750 yards while scoring 12
touchdowns
A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...
. He was rated the 29th-best player in the state of Georgia and the 54th-best athlete in the country by Rivals.com.
Collegiate career
As a true freshman while playing for the University of South Carolina Gamecocks, in 2005, he worked his way into the starting lineup at wide receiver and also handled the punt return duties. He started six games and ranked third on the team with 25 catches for 291 yards and returned 18 punts for 83 yards.
During his sophomore year in 2006, McKinley started all 13 games and recorded 51 receptions and 880 yards, which ranked second on the team behind
Sidney Rice. McKinley's best game was an eight-catch, 110-yard effort against Auburn, the first 100-yard receiving day in his career.
He would go on to earn first-team honors from: the SEC coaches (All-SEC), the Associated Press and CollegeFootballNews.com. He was second-team All-SEC by Rivals.com and honorable mention All-America honors from CollegeFootballNews.com.
Despite playing with
turf toe
A metatarsophalangeal joint sprain is an injury to the connective tissue between the foot and a toe (at a metatarsophalangeal joint, one of the joints in the ball of the foot). When the big toe is involved, it is known as "turf toe".
Causes
Turf ...
most of the year, as the
Gamecocks' #1 receiver, McKinley not only led the team but led the
Southeastern Conference (SEC) in receptions (a then school-record 77), receptions per game (6.42) and in receiving yards per game (80.7). He also was number one at
South Carolina
)'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
in yards (968) and touchdowns (9). He had four 100-yard receiving games in 2007, including a school record 14 catch performance against
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
where he had a career-best 151 yards.
In 2008, McKinley entered his senior year as an
All-America
The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...
candidate that was in position to break every
South Carolina
)'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
school career receiving record. He began the 2008 campaign ranked tied for fourth in career receptions (153), sixth in career receiving yards (2,139) and tied for sixth in receiving touchdowns (15) in Carolina history. Despite being out of the lineup for a three-game stretch due to a right
hamstring
In human anatomy, a hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in between the hip and the knee (from medial to lateral: semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris). The hamstrings are susceptible to injury.
In quadrupe ...
strain, he set school career records for receptions and receiving yards, while also closing out his career second on the school's all-time touchdown catches list. McKinley also placed his name in the
SEC record books. His 207 receptions placed third in conference annals, becoming just the fifth SEC player to amass more than 200 catches in a career. He also became the 12th player in league history to record more than 2,700 receiving yards (2,781).
Professional career
McKinley was selected by the
Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...
in the
fifth round, 5th pick (141st overall) during the
2009 NFL Draft
The 2009 NFL Draft was the seventy-fourth annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 25 and 26, 2009. ...
. McKinley played in eight games in 2009 as a kick returner. He returned seven kicks for a total of 158 yards.
[Stapleton, Arnie, (]Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...
),
Sheriff: Broncos WR Kenny McKinley found dead
''Yahoo! News
Yahoo! News is a news website that originated as an internet-based news aggregator by Yahoo!. The site was created by a Yahoo! software engineer named Brad Clawsie in August 1996. Articles originally came from news services such as the Associate ...
'', 21 September 2010. He also recorded 3 special teams tackles.
He was placed on
injured reserve with a knee injury on December 28, 2009.
Death
McKinley was found dead on September 20, 2010, from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
His death was reported as a
suicide by local media, and later confirmed by members of the Arapahoe County Sheriff's office.
A 131-page report was released by the
Arapahoe County Sheriff's Department on December 1, 2010, concluding the investigation into McKinley's death. It stated that
depression over debt, injury and his post-playing career were the main factors for his suicide.
The report stated that McKinley had a
gambling
Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three el ...
problem and was deep in debt. His freshman roommate
O.J. Murdock was also highly touted going into college, eventually being signed by the
Tennessee Titans
The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their hom ...
as an undrafted free agent. Murdock also died by suicide because of depression, injuries, and issues in his personal life on July 30, 2012.
References
External links
Denver Broncos bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:McKinley, Kenny
1987 births
2010 suicides
2010 deaths
People from Mableton, Georgia
People from East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana
Players of American football from Austell, Georgia
American football wide receivers
American football return specialists
South Carolina Gamecocks football players
Denver Broncos players
Suicides by firearm in Colorado