Kurt Hinish (born April 27, 1999) is 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 ...

defensive tackle for the Houston Texans 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 played college football at Notre Dame and was signed by the Texans as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in .

Early life and education

Hinish was born on April 27, 1999, and grew up in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. He attended Central Catholic High School. As a junior in football, he recorded 32 tackles and helped the team compile a 15–1 record. As a senior in 2016, he made 27 tackles and three sacks, earning first-team all-state honors. He also was named to the ''

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Descended from the ''Pittsburgh Gazette'', established in 1786 as the first newspaper published west of the Alle ...

'' Fabulous 22 and the '' Pittsburgh Tribune-Review'' Terrific 25. He was ranked the eighth-best player in Pennsylvania and the number 26 overall defensive tackle by

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

. Hinish committed to the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

in March 2016. He played his first season on their Fighting Irish football team in 2017 and appeared in 13 games, recording eight tackles. In 2018, as a sophomore, Hinish played in all 13 games and made 13 tackles along with 1.5 sacks. The following year, he started every game and registered 15 tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble. As a senior in 2020, Hinish recorded 19 tackles, 7.5 tackles-for-loss and two sacks in 11 starts. In 2021, he was named team captain and broke the all-time record for most games played by a Notre Dame player. He graduated following the 2021 season and finished his college career with All-Conference honors, 61 games played with 35 starts, 81 tackles, 7.5 sacks, 20 and one forced fumble.

Statistics

Professional career

After going unselected in the

2022 NFL Draft The 2022 NFL Draft was the 87th edition of the National Football League's annual draft and was held from April 28–30, 2022, at the Caesars Forum on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The first round was held on Thursday, April 28, and ...

, Hinish was signed by the Houston Texans as an

. He began preseason near the bottom of the depth chart, but worked his way up until he was receiving first-team reps at the end of it. He ended up edging out

Ross Blacklock Ross Blacklock (born July 9, 1998) is an American football defensive end for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at TCU. Early years Blacklock's father, Jimmy, played for and later served a ...

for a spot on the final roster, being one of three undrafted rookies to make the team.

NFL career statistics

References

External links

Notre Dame Fighting Irish bioHouston Texans bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hinish, Kurt 1999 births Living people American football defensive tackles Players of American football from Pittsburgh Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players Houston Texans players