TCU safety Kindred wants to boost draft stock at NFL Combine

Derrick Kindred couldn’t have asked for a better college career at TCU.

The safety from San Antonio Wagner became a staple in the Frogs’ secondary, and played a key part in the team’s success over his four years. TCU went 34-17 over Kindred’s four seasons, including wins at the Peach Bowl and Alamo Bowl his final two seasons.

“Overall, I can say my career at TCU was great,” said Kindred, who ranked second on the team with 87 tackles last season. “I met a lot of people, great coaching staff, great football team each and every year. School was great, I met a lot of great teachers. I met my girlfriend there. So, you know, overall my experience there was great.”

Kindred is now hoping to become the next TCU defensive back in the NFL. He is training at Michael Johnson Performance, an athletic center in McKinney, and will try to boost his stock more this week at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, which begins Tuesday.

The defensive backs arrive in Indianapolis on Friday. They’ll have measurements, medical examinations and interviews on Saturday and Sunday. On-field workouts are Feb. 29.

Kindred is one of six TCU players invited to the combine. The others are quarterback Trevone Boykin, wide receiver Josh Doctson, wide receiver Kolby Listenbee, kicker Jaden Oberkrom and offensive tackle Halapoulivaati Vaitai.

The Star-Telegram caught up with Kindred recently at MJP.

How’s your training going? It’s going great. I’ve got a lot done in my weeks being here — got stronger, faster. I’ve met a lot of new guys, too, met a good training staff and felt I got better.

What’s the goal going into the combine? The goal is to go in there and perform well. Actually, perform great and get a little bit of attention that I didn’t have. I just plan on going there and giving my all.

How important is it to boost your stock next week? Of course, that’s real important. But I’m also looking forward to just meeting new guys who I might potentially play with. So you’re there for business, but you have to have fun too.

Does it help that former Frogs such as Jason Verrett and Colin Jones have had success in the NFL? Oh yeah, it helps a lot. And the coaching staff at TCU, we have a great coaching staff with coach Gary Patterson. He has a lot of connections and that helps just as much as the history of our DBs getting drafted and things like that.

Did going against Boykin and Doctson in practice help? No question. We have a lot of great guys on our team, so playing against them helped me mentally prepare myself. It’s always fun competition. Obviously, that’s the same competition I’m going to be seeing at the next level.

This story was originally published February 21, 2016 at 3:47 PM with the headline "TCU safety Kindred wants to boost draft stock at NFL Combine."