State of the Hogs: Kenoy Kennedy made helmets fly

Arkansas safety Kenoy Kennedy runs for a touchdown after recovering a fumble against Alabama on Saturday, Oct. 2, 1999 at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

— High school football highlights are easy to find these days. There's Hudl and YouTube. If you have been in a game in the last 15 years, chances are there's some video of your best play floating on the Internet.

There are hours of great video of Kenoy Kennedy's eight years in the NFL with Denver and Detroit. You can see the former Arkansas strong safety blasting all-star wide receivers. There are even some plays of his days at Arkansas.

But the biggest hit of Kennedy's career isn't anywhere to be found. I've seen it, although not lately. There's really nothing to compare with anything else. That's saying something because Kennedy produced big hits at Arkansas and then later in an 8-year NFL career.

If there is one thing that would help the 2017 Razorbacks, it's for the safeties to step up to something close to Kennedy-like form. He's one of the all-time greats at his position, or any defensive spot at Arkansas.

The most vicious hit I can recall in an Arkansas game was in 1973. Iowa State linebacker Matt Blair, later all-pro with the Minnesota Vikings, hit UA tailback Dicky Morton about the same time as a pitchout arrived. Morton was knocked cold.

That isn't the same as the Kennedy hit. I still remember in February of 1996 when Jim Washburn pulled me into his office to watch a tape of Kennedy just after he'd signed with Arkansas. Kennedy came 15 yards from his safety spot to hit a running back on a sweep.

The ball carrier lost his helmet. Some worried that he might have died when that helmet flew 15 yards backwards.

“Watch this,” said Washburn, the Arkansas assistant who signed Kennedy out of Terrell, Texas. “I've never seen anything like it and I doubt you have. Ever.”

Washburn nailed that, but not like Kennedy nailed that poor running back from Wylie in that 1995 video.

More than 20 years later, it's still worth talking about. Washburn and I did last month when we caught up for a feature to highlight his retirement as an NFL assistant coach after 18 years. He brought up that hit by Kennedy. I thought it was worth an interview with one of the most fearsome hitters in Arkansas history.

“I still hear about it,” Kennedy said this week. “It still comes up. I was at a family reunion two weeks ago and it came up with two of my cousins.”

Kennedy said his cousins were in Wylie not long ago and the fact they are from Terrell prompted an interesting conversation.

“They were talking to this guy and he asked if they knew Kenoy Kennedy,” he said. “When they said we were cousins, he said, 'Well, I'm the guy he knocked out in 1995.' It was incredible that he brought it up.”

It was almost like he was proud, or maybe just proud that to have survived the hit.

“I really didn't know what happened to him,” Kennedy said. “He told them a little bit. He ended up with a broken jaw, his jaw wired shut and two black eyes. I never knew if he played football again after that hit or not.

“I do know that I did that old boy wrong. I remember it pretty well. I know that it was in our stadium and when I hit him, his helmet flew off, the ear pads of the helmet came out and his hip pads came out of his pants.

“He went into the air and landed on his back, bounced into the air and landed again with his legs crossed Indian style. He was sitting there knocked out.

“The stadium went crazy. Then, when everyone realized he was knocked out, it got completely quiet. I've never heard a stadium that quiet.”

Some of this story was repeated last December at radio remote before the Belk Bowl. I ran into Kennedy and another former UA defensive back, Food Network star Eddie Jackson. I reminded Jackson of that hit. He said he knew of it, but had never seen it.

“I wish I could just Google it and find it,” Jackson said. “You find everything else that way, but not that hit.”

Kennedy said as that hit has come up of late, he thought about trying to find it.

“I've looked for it (at Terrell) high school,” he said. “The coaches say there is nothing left of that season in their tape library. I do know that everyone knows of that Wylie game and the hit. So I figure someone stole every copy.

“If there is anyone out there, I'd like to have a copy. I'm still trying to find it.”

I've talked to one person who saw the hit live, Kenoy's wife Charressa. She was with him at the Belk Bowl and I brought it up.

“Well, I kind of saw it,” she said. “I was a cheerleader on the sideline. We were dating. Usually, I closed my eyes when Kenoy hit someone. It was usually so bad. That time, I watched – until the hit. I closed my eyes at the last instant.

“I did not see the helmet fly off. I did hear the crowd go crazy. When I opened my eyes Kenoy was standing and the other guy was in the sitting position, out.”

Kennedy is one of the true all-time great safeties from the Arkansas lettermen list. He was a star from 1996-99. I put him on the list of super stars at the position with Steve Atwater, Ken Hamlin, Tony Bua and Greg Lasker. He's on the all-decade team for the '90s.

Washburn pulled Kennedy out of Texas despite big recruiting pushes from Texas and Texas A&M. Texas didn't offer early, but did in the final two weeks. That was after Kennedy pulled one of the all-time great commitment moves, calling Washburn on a Texas A&M visit.

“I sure did,” Kenoy said. “It was sometime in early January. I'd already visited Arkansas. I pretty much knew that's where I was going. There were about five of us up from Texas to visit Fayetteville. We all had a Texas A&M visit the next weekend. We were on the plane to College Station when we all got together and decided it was Arkansas.

“I think five was the number who committed to Coach Washburn in that Aggie office. I know it was for sure Bryan Smith and Randy Garner. But I think there were two more.

“I never regretted it, either. I'd do it again. Texas came with an offer at the end. I grew up wanting to go to Texas. But they fell off in the recruiting. Coach Washburn stayed after me. I got all of these hand written letters from him, all the way from start to finish.

“Most of the other schools sent computer-generated letters. I could tell the difference. I was taking computer classes in high school. I saw how they did it. When I got those letters from Coach Washburn, they meant a lot.

“I knew what happened with Texas. They went after some other guys and didn't get them. I wasn't going to be anyone's second choice.”

The love for Arkansas has never waned.

“I've got eight season tickets,” he said. “I'm a fan. I get to most of the home games. I go to at least four Fayetteville games. I might not go to back-to-back weekends. I tailgate, do it up right. There are guys I see each weekend, like Harold Harris, Michael Snowden and Marvin Caston.

“There are others who are there for a game now and then, but that's the regular crew. I'm trying to get David Barrett to come back. He's still in Arizona.”

It's going to get tougher to get to games. Sons Ky and Tyce are getting into sports. The weekends fill up.

“Ky is going into seventh grade,” Kenoy said. “He played his first year of football last year. His team made it to the Super Bowl of Pop Warner. He plays linebacker and running back. He loves it.

“I wasn't big on making them play sports. I wanted them to be kids. I made them ask to play. I thought if they wanted it, they'd tell me. I just wanted them to do something – be in the band, get their books. He loves to garden and play the piano.

“I just want them to be active. They are not playing video games.”

Tyce, 9, began football last year, too. That's four years ahead of Ky.

“He's the starting running back and he plays safety, too,” Kenoy said. “He's a little more athletic than Ky. But he's not just into sports. He loves tools. He's a handy man. And, he likes to tear up stuff. They are both on the honor roll.”

Most assume the athletic nature comes from Kenoy. It might come from his wife, a star point guard at Terrell. Charressa also played volleyball and ran track in college.

There's one more in the home, 4-year-old Journey. The name is symbolic.

“She's the little boss of the place, our daughter,” Kenoy said. “She was premature, four months early. She weighed 1 pound, 7 ounces. I tell her that I have eaten steaks bigger than her.

“She stayed in the hospital six months. I call her our million dollar baby. The bill was $1.2 million.

“She's still not walking, but she's getting there. We are blessed to have her with what she's been through. She's had several surgeries. She's got tightness in the hips.

“I'm telling you, all of my kids love the Razorbacks. That's where they want to go to school.”

Kennedy stays busy. He's involved in several businesses. He owns 14 rental properties, a home health care company with former Denver teammate Chris Briggs and has a new venture to remodel homes.

“With rentals, you are always fixing things,” he said. “We had crews doing that, so we got into remodels. We finish homes, too, make them ready.”

There's other work. They live on a farm, as Kennedy did growing up. His grandfather raised pigs.

“I could never be in the city,” he said. “I'm a country boy at heart. I need space. So we have five acres. We've got 250 chickens, quail, pheasants and turkeys. We sell eggs and chickens. I love to mow the fields on a tractor.”

What's he think about the coming season?

“I'm excited,” he said. “I'm always excited. I just go and have fun. I don't try to sit in the stands and be a coach. I don't check technique, watch for how they back peddle. I don't do that stuff. I just enjoy being a fan.”

About as close as he came to being a coach was a thumbs up for the change to a 3-4 defensive scheme. He likes the idea of more movement, more blitzes.

“My defensive coordinator part of the time was Keith Burns,” Kennedy said. “Coach Burns had us blitzing as we got off the bus. You watch tape of our bunch, two seconds into each play, all 11 were in the picture. There were people jumping over the pile, under the pile. Good things happen if you get 11 to the ball.

“You are going to force turnovers if you are getting extra guys to the ball. It's that second and third tackler knocking the ball loose.

“Like I said, I just want to be a fan, but I do admit that I don't like it when I see someone shy away from contact. If you are going to play defense, you better like contact.

“I always said don't take a tight end and try to make him a linebacker. Don't take a wide receiver and try to make him a safety. I think to play defense you need to be a little crazy. On offense, you can avoid contact. Defensive players raise their hand and volunteer to hit someone.”

Kennedy played in some of the famous UA victories, especially as a senior when the Hogs knocked off No. 3 Tennessee, 28-24, and then walloped No. 14 Texas, 27-6, in the Cotton Bowl.

“Those are the two I recall the most,” he said. “We had lost to Tennessee the year before. But nothing really compares to the Cotton Bowl game. We had a bunch of guys from Texas.

“For all of those guys from Texas, we took it personal that they didn't go after us. Yeah, maybe they did me at the end, but we made it our biggest game. It was like we had been treated like step children. That was a big one for me.”

Kennedy has enjoyed the Texas struggles of late.

“My wife's uncle is a big UT fan,” he said. “He ran track there. I've convinced him it's time for him to cheer for someone else. He told me last week that he'd picked SMU. I thought that was hilarious.”

There was nothing funny about what Kenoy Kennedy did to that running back from Wylie. They don't talk about “when pigs fly” in Terrell. They still talk about when helmets flew.