Roger Bacon running back, LSU commit Corey Kiner named Ohio Mr. Football

ST. BERNARD — After 26 consecutive seasons without an Ohio Mr. Football winner from Greater Cincinnati, the area has now made it back-to-back years with the state's top prep player. 

Roger Bacon senior running back and Ohio Division V Offensive Player of the Year Corey Kiner brings home the crown one year after Wyoming quarterback Evan Prater became the first Ohio Mr. Football from Cincinnati since Norwood's Marc Edwards in 1992. 

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"My father always told me that I would have a chance to do this one day, but I wasn’t really thinking about it. I was more just thinking about playing football," Kiner said. 

Roger Bacon head coach Mike Blaut added: "It’s just incredible. The history of Mr. Ohio (Football) and to have an old school like Roger Bacon to finally have one we can call Mr. Ohio and call him our own, it’s just an awesome experience.”

Kiner educated himself on Edwards, noting that the first image result on Google shows the former Norwood standout on the cover of Sporting News holding the Lombardi Trophy after the New England Patriots defeated the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI.

Edwards hopes the Cincinnati recognition continues after Wyoming's Evan Prater last year and Kiner this year. The number of talented players from the area is no accident.

"Guys are going out and winning national titles (recently Jackson Carman of Fairfield at Clemson) and guys are going all over the country playing D-I ball," Edwards said. "With guys in the pros and draft picks, holy cow, it's crazy given the amount of state titles that the Greater Cincinnati area has won."

Kiner is longtime friends with Prater, who is just down the road at the University of Cincinnati. Roger Bacon and Wyoming nearly met in the Division IV regional championship game in 2019. 

"Anyone in Cincinnati knows we’ve had a lot of really good football players," Blaut said. "There’s a lot of guys in Cincinnati that could’ve had this award prior to this, but we’ll take it.”

Kiner finished his prep career with 1,866 rushing yards and 35 touchdowns this season to lead Roger Bacon to its first-ever regional championship.

Kiner ran for 103 yards and a touchdown in his final game — a 22-19 loss to Ironton in the Division V state semifinals.

Leading Ironton in that contest was Reid Carrico, who Kiner beat out for Mr. Football. Carrico, an Ohio State University commit, ran for 1,544 yards and 25 touchdowns this season and was named Division V Defensive Player of the Year from his linebacker spot. 

Kiner and Carrico were each named to Sports Illustrated's All-American football team watch list prior to the 2020 season. 

“He (Carrico) is a really great football player, but he’s an even better person," Kiner said. "I talked to him after the game and introduced myself. We talked about the game, how hard it was to tackle me and how hard it was to break tackles from him. I just congratulated him on the win and wished him luck in the state championship and at Ohio State."

Kiner will leave St. Bernard for the Bayou with his name etched throughout the Ohio High School Athletic Association record books. He finished 10th all-time in rushing yards (7,130) and is third all-time in total points (772), rushing touchdowns (116) and total touchdowns (125). 

Over the last two seasons, Roger Bacon won 19 of its 20 games by over two touchdowns, leading to Kiner spending the majority of second halves on the sideline. Kiner missed a total of 34 quarters (over eight games), but still racked up over 4,000 yards in that span. 

“He’s exceptionally gifted, there’s no doubt. He does put in the work," Blaut said. "He’s outworked everyone for the last four years. His work ethic has worn off on everybody else around him with the O-line guys, the receivers, the quarterbacks and everybody that’s been around him."

With over 100 career touchdowns, it was difficult for Kiner to pinpoint some of his more notable trips to the end zone. In his first career game, he ran for a pair of second-quarter touchdowns to lead Roger Bacon to a 21-13 win over Reading. Against CHCA in 2019, he nearly stepped out of bounds, then reversed course and sprinted for a score. Later that night, he became the first player from Greater Cincinnati to score eight touchdowns in a game. 

In this year's playoff opener, a video of Kiner carrying a herd of would-be Carlisle tacklers for a 37-yard touchdown made the rounds on social media. 

“He carried some good football players into the end zone. It was pretty incredible," Blaut said. 

Kiner is expected to sign his National Letter of Intent next week to join Ed Orgeron's Tigers. 

Led by fellow Ohio Mr. Football and now Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, LSU went undefeated and won a national championship in 2019. The Tigers entered the 2020 campaign ranked No. 6 in the country, but are just 3-5 so far and recently issued a self-imposed bowl ban for this season. 

Kiner reaffirmed his commitment to LSU on Wednesday, likening the situation to 2017, when he chose to attend Roger Bacon despite the program suffering six consecutive losing seasons. 

"Me and the other recruits talk about it every day," Kiner explained. "Sometimes you win some and you lose some. It’s kind of the same situation that I had in picking a high school in Roger Bacon. We weren’t winning at the time but we changed the culture.”