Kinsey rushes to front of offense

Southeast Missouri State University football coach Tim Billings entered the season with high collective hopes for his running backs but was virtually certain none of them could individually begin to replace last year's standout, Curtis Cooper.

So far, the Indians' three primary backs have performed well, as Billings anticipated.

But if Corey Kinsey keeps up his production through the first two games for the rest of the season, then Southeast fans might wind up saying "Curtis who?"

While that might be an exaggeration -- Cooper rushed for nearly 1,200 yards last year and led the Ohio Valley Conference in both punt returns and all-purpose yardage -- Kinsey is certainly off to a monster start.

The sophomore from Miami rushed for 180 yards in his first college start as Southeast opened the season with a 42-41 double-overtime win over Arkansas-Monticello. Last Saturday, he picked up 133 yards as the Indians' improved to 2-0 for the first time since 1990 with a 21-14 victory at Southern Illinois.

Kinsey, who is averaging 6.9 yards per carry and ranks fifth nationally with 156.5 yards per game, figures to get plenty of more chances Saturday as the Indians shoot for their first 3-0 start since 1958 when they play at Division I-A Eastern Michigan (0-2).

"I was confident I could play like this, but it's really because of my offensive line," the soft-spoken Kinsey said following Tuesday's practice. "I don't have to do anything, just run the ball."

While Southeast's offensive line has performed well in front of Kinsey, he's probably being a bit too modest. The diminutive Kinsey -- who is listed at 5-feet-9 and 175 pounds although he appears to be shorter than that -- has used his darting quickness and change of direction to get plenty of yards on his own.

Kinsey carried just 13 times for 55 yards last year as a true freshman during a season