By Matt Thacker
With the Big East’s top quarterback and tailback, Brian Brohm and Michael Bush, so often in the spotlight, fans and reporters sometimes overlook the Louisville football team’s top receiver, Joshua Tinch. But his teammates and coach do not.
The Cardinals consider Tinch, a fifth-year senior, their emotional leader, and over the past few games he’s shown he can be a leader on the statistics sheet as well.
“[Tinch] is definitely the leader of our football team,” said Coach Bobby Petrino. “He has a tremendous amount of courage. He doesn’t give in to peer pressure, and he always says the right things.”
When sophomore quarterback Brian Brohm left last Saturday’s game against Syracuse with a sprained right knee, Tinch stepped in to keep his team going.
“Tinch was on the sidelines motivating us and making sure that everybody kept their heads up,” said junior running back Kolby Smith. “Everybody came together and that’s why we play.”
Tinch leads the team with 58 receptions for 717 yards and three touchdowns. He has a knack for the big games, too. In the loss to South Florida, he had nine catches, and in the loss to West Virginia he had a career-high 13 catches for 130 yards and a touchdown. In the last three games he’s had 21 catches for 294 yards and a touchdown.
Tinch credits the people he’s met and the experiences he’s had for his success.
“Each year I’ve improved, being around a different group of guys from all around the world,” Tinch said. “I’ve learned a lot since coming to the University of Louisville. – It made me a better person.”
Tinch was recruited to play both football and basketball, but because he didn’t play football his senior year of high school, he was recruited more highly to play basketball. The Hoop Scoop and The Sporting News rated him among the top 50 basketball prospects for 2001.
His career started slowly since he was a partial qualifier for the 2001-2002 season when his academic record fell short of eligibility requirements and he had to sit out the year.
But in his first year of play in 2002, Tinch saw a lot of action on the gridiron and helped the team make it to the GMAC Bowl. After the bowl on Dec. 18, Tinch joined the basketball team and played 11 games, making him one of only a handful of people to play in a football bowl game and the NCAA basketball tournament in the same year.
But joining the basketball team late into the season made it hard to get involved, and it would only get harder with the football team playing bowl games in December. Tinch decided to shift his focus completely to football.
“Basketball’s great,” he said. “I love basketball as a game, but I just wanted to focus my time on football and becoming a better player.”
The switch wasn’t completely unexpected. During his junior year of high school, he had 50 receptions on offense and 48 tackles on defense for the football team. Tinch said he can line up in the backfield, at tight end or as a wide receiver. But of all the positions he’s played, he said he can’t pick a favorite.
“I just want to make plays,” he said.
Once football season is over, Tinch’s next challenge will be convincing National Football League scouts that he can make plays in the pros.
“I’ll stay healthy, hopefully, and keep working on my game and hope to get drafted to the NFL,” he said. If not, the business major might consider a career in coaching.
“Tinch is real hard to cover because he’s big, strong and fast,” said freshman cornerback Rod Council. “When he beats me in practice, he’ll let me know what I need to do better.”
In Tinch’s time on both the gridiron and the court, he learned to deal with setbacks and use them as motivation. Despite his disappointment after the football team lost two games earlier this season, Tinch encouraged the team to keep fighting.
“It’s my senior year, and everybody dreams of playing in the big game their senior year,” Tinch said. “But we still have the chance to make the Gator Bowl on Jan. 2, and any time you play right before the BCS that’s a big game in my opinion.”
The team has listened to his message.
“He’s a great vocal leader for the team,” Brohm said. “He’s just a great asset to our offense, to our whole team.”
In his five years at U of L, the 23-year-old Tinch has seen enough change in the program and himself to back up his statements. In his first year, the football team was 7-6 and playing in Conference-USA. Now the team is 8-2 and playing in the Big East.
Tinch has gone from a highly recruited basketball player to a full-time football player looking to lead his team to a second straight bowl win.
Even his name has changed since high school. He used to go by the name Greg, but he switched his name to Joshua for spiritual reasons, he said. In the Bible, Joshua led the Israelites to the Promised Land.
