{"id":428177,"date":"2020-04-25T06:02:29","date_gmt":"2020-04-25T13:02:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=428177"},"modified":"2020-04-26T08:01:43","modified_gmt":"2020-04-26T15:01:43","slug":"the-soak-lifeguard-swimmer-turned-lineman-solomon-kindley-picked-in-nfl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/the-soak-lifeguard-swimmer-turned-lineman-solomon-kindley-picked-in-nfl-draft\/","title":{"rendered":"The Soak: Lifeguard, Swimmer Turned Lineman Solomon Kindley Goes to Dolphins in NFL Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Soak – Swim News In Brief <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
Collated weekly<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Swimming World<\/i> soaks up snippets from the realm of water sports around the world in a one-stop digest updated each day of every passing week.<\/strong><\/p>\n
If you have a snippet of news for us, let us know: editorial@swimmingworld.com<\/em><\/p>\n
The Week of April 20-26, 2020<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Saturday, April 25<\/h4>\n
Lifeguard, Swimmer Turned Offensive Lineman Solomon Kindley Drafted by Dolphins<\/h3>\n
Solomon Kindley\u2019s<\/strong> path to the Miami Dolphins isn\u2019t just fitting since he\u2019s a Florida native, hailing from Jacksonville. Instead, the kid known as \u201cBig Fish,\u201d a relative latecomer to football who swam and worked as a lifeguard, gets an appropriately aquatic-themed new team.<\/p>\n
The 6-3, 337-pound offensive guard<\/a> out of the University of Georgia<\/a> was picked by the Dolphins in the fourth round (No. 111 overall) of the NFL Draft Saturday. He\u2019ll be protecting a quarterback in Tua Tagovailoa<\/strong> of Alabama, the fifth overall pick Thursday night, who made news for his invocation of swimming in a less flattering context<\/a>.<\/p>\n
But Kindley\u2019s connection to the sport is very real. The Raines High School graduate didn\u2019t play football until ninth grade. Before that, swimming was one of his sports, specializing in butterfly and freestyle.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a swimmer, and I played basketball,\u201d Kindley told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution<\/em> this month<\/a>. \u201cMy first thing I did was swim, and then after that I started playing basketball. After I keep going, when I got to 16 and in the ninth grade, I started playing football.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kindley\u2019s work as a lifeguard, even when he tipped the scales at 370 pounds, included an instance where he saved a child from downing<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A large child from birth (nine pounds, five ounces), Kindley continued to grow as he turned his attention to swimming, since he was often larger than Pop Warner youth football weight limits. But the redshirt junior found success at the college level in part because of his athleticism, part of the Bulldogs\u2019 \u201cGreat Wall\u201d offensive line that included<\/a> a pair of first-round picks (No. 4 Andrew Thomas<\/strong> and 29th selection Isaiah Wilson<\/strong>).<\/p>\n
Kindley\u2019s journey, at least, tracks to the pool.<\/p>\n
\u201cI put in a lot of work,\u201d Kindley said. \u201cI love swimming. Swimming gives you a lot of conditioning. You keep going back and forth, back and forth, you get tired eventually.\u201d<\/p>\n
And remarkably, it\u2019s not the only offensive-lineman-in-the-pool content of the week, courtesy of Tampa Bay Buccaneers tackle and 13th overall pick<\/a> Tristan Wirfs:<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n
.@TristanWirfs74<\/a>\u2019s ridiculous athleticism was on full display at the #NFLCombine<\/a> ?? @HawkeyeFootball<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/eYaKaonjTF<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 NFL (@NFL) February 29, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n