Former Roger Bacon and Cincinnati Bearcats running back Corey Kiner could see action in the NFL's opening week for the New England Patriots, a team he was traded to less than two weeks ago.
Kiner scored thefirst NFL touchdown of the preseason in the Hall of Fame exhibition game in Canton while playing for the Arizona Cardinals.
The Patriots announced their No. 1 running back TreyVeyon Henderson is out with an ankle injury. Rhamondre Stevenson is next in line, as is Kiner, who recently came to the team from Arizona.
The Patriots also have Lan Larison and Hassan Haskins on their practice squad.
"I'm very confident," Kiner toldPatriots On SI.com this week. "The coaches and the staff, my teammates put me in a good position to do my job and help the team in any
way possible."
Former Cincinnati Bearcats RB Corey Kiner's NFL experience
Kiner played in four games for Arizona last season, gaining 58 yards on 12 carries. He also had two catches for 15 yards. Kiner did play against the hometown Bengals last season, getting one carry for 2 yards.
In one season at LSU and three with the Cincinnati Bearcats, Kiner had 2,882 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns and caught 32 passes for 172 yards. He surpassed 1,000 yards rushing in his final two seasons at UC, with 1,047 in 2023 and 1,153 in 2024.
Kiner was undrafted and went to the 49ers as a free agent. The Patriots are his fourth team, as he also spent time with the Vikings and Cardinals before his recent trade.
"I prepare for every game the same way," Kiner told SI.com. "I gotta do my job, and that's all I worry about. Anything outside of doing my job to help the team is something that's out of my control. So I just don't think about that."
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ex-UC Bearcats RB Corey Kiner could see time for Patriots in opener
