FEELS GOOD TO BE BACK
After dislocating hip, Hindle happy to compete for starting job
“Having something as major as that kind of injury, I knew all I had to do was rehab because I knew our trainers were going to get me back ON THE fiELD.”
— Chris Hindle
SMITHFIELD — On the field, everything seemed to come easy to dual-threat quarterback Chris Hindle.
From his time playing youth football for the West Warwick Steelers to his four seasons at Bishop Hendricken, Hindle was always the driving force behind championship teams. In his senior season at Hendricken, Hindle tossed for 1,354 yards and 24 touchdowns during an All-State campaign that culminated in the 2016 state championship and a scholarship to Bryant.
In his first two seasons with the Bulldogs, Hindle’s love of football and mental toughness have been tested in ways he’d never imagined.
After sitting out his true freshman campaign, the 6-foot-3, 200-pound righty split time with senior Price Wilson last season. Just when it appeared he was settling into life at the FCS level, Hindle suffered the first major injury of his career.
On a play where he took a one-yard loss early in the fourth quarter against Sacred Heart last October 27, Hindle suffered a dislocation of his right hip on a hit by Pioneer lineman Chris Agyemang. The injury ended Hindle’s season and put the 2019 campaign in jeopardy.
“It was just a freak play and I don’t even think about it anymore. I never expect anything like that to happen again,” Hindle said after Monday’s practice at Beirne Stadium. “It was different because I’d never been hurt before. Having something as major as that kind of injury, I knew all I had to do was rehab because I knew our trainers were going to get me back on the field.
“The injury was bad, it was not fun at all – just terrible. Luckily, when they put [the hip] back in, there were no broken bones or torn ligaments. It took me a few weeks to walk again and a few months before I was running again and lifting.”
Hindle, who actually started the opening game of the season against Division II New Haven, was clearly being groomed by then-coach James Perry to run his up-tempo offense for the next three seasons. What made the situation worse was that Hindle was going to get extended playing time over the final three games of the season because of an injury to Wilson.
Instead, Hindle was just trying to walk again while Broghean McGovern earned valuable playing time in November.
“It sucked getting hurt because I knew I wasn’t going to play as much as I wanted to play,” Hindle said. “You just have to keep going because there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Perry left in December to become the coach at Brown and when Chris Merritt got the Bryant job in January, he noticed all of his quarterbacks were dealing with injuries, so for the second time in Hindle’s career, a quarterback was recruited from a Football Bowl Subdivision school.
Just like when Perry brought in Wilson from Louisiana Tech in August of 2017, Merritt picked up Ohio State transfer Kory Curtis in January to compete for the starting job.
“This is Division I football,” Merritt said. “We tell the guys every year: ‘Our job is to recruit guys better than you. Every year you have to fight it off.’ Through that competition comes a pretty good football team. If you have any feeling of entitlement, you’re in the wrong sport and the wrong football program – go play some place else.”
Hindle, who was 4-of-10 for 27 yards to go along with 16 rushing yards last season, isn’t taking the presence of Curtis personally. The Cranston native is embracing the challenge of competing with a quarterback who was the Buckeyes’ scout team signal-caller last season.
“You just have to go out there and win the job,” Hindle said. “I’m not too worried about anything, I’m just doing my thing and helping out the team in any way I can. I feel like I’m having a really good camp. My arm feels the best it has in a while. I feel like I’m throwing the ball well and my decisions are the right ones. The offense is clicking right now. Excited to get going.”
Even though he wants to start, Hindle knows his job – along with Curtis and McGovern – is to make the team better by working together with the rest of the quarterbacks.
“Everyone has to make each other better,” Hindle said. “If someone’s playing better than someone else on a day, then we know we just have to come out and keep competing. We need to make each other better and the best guy’s going to play. That’s what coach always says. We need to keep making each other better.”
Merritt, who hasn’t named a starter for the season opener on Aug. 29 on Long Island against Colonial Athletic Association foe Stony Brook, has been impressed with the redshirt sophomore in fall camp. Hindle played the spring game with a non-contact jersey, but he’s been virtually unencumbered since the start of camp on Aug. 1.
“He’s having a great fall camp so far,” Merritt said. “He’s bought in, he’s coachable. Right now, he has made the best decisions with the ball, he’s really pushing the group in the right direction.”
While Merritt has been impressed with Hindle’s arm talent and decision making, the sophomore still isn’t 100 percent. A big reason Hindle was recruited to Bryant was his athleticism, and he said he’s still not running at game speed. With more offensive plays being installed, Hindle is excited to return to the player who started last season with such promise.
“I haven’t really been able to open it up running-wise, which is something I want to do soon,” Hindle said. “I’m feeling like it’s getting close. We’re starting to put in more plays with the QB running, so that is exciting for me. I’m looking forward to getting that going and seeing where it goes from there.”