FAU football added a defensive back through the portal late last week. On Wednesday afternoon, former Texas Southern and Blinn College defensive back MJ Hinson Jr. announced he would be spending his 4th season of college football in Boca Raton.
The 6 ‘0 185 pound College Station, Texas native spent last season with Texas Southern, playing in 8 games and recording 33 tackles, 3 interceptions, 9 PBUs and a forced fumble. Prior to TSU, Hinson Jr. spent the first 2 seasons of his collegiate career at Blinn college where he played in 17 games across 2 seasons, recording 20 tackles, 2 interceptions and 9 PBUs.
Hinson Jr. was a sought after recruit during his first go-round in the transfer portal, garnering interest from multiple programs, including receiving an offer from Mississippi State in 2023 when current FAU DC Brett Dewhurst was on staff. The interest remained this time around in the portal, as Hinson Jr. received offers from Liberty, Colorado State and Tulsa before ultimately committing to FAU on April 30th.
An outside cornerback for most of his career at the collegiate level outside of some nickel reps at Blinn CC, Hinson Jr. brings a diverse skill set to FAU, with an immense amount of physicality in press coverage, a solid knack for locating the ball in the air, as he lead the SWAC in interceptions last season and he is also able to step up and tackle in the run game.
Hinson Jr. joins a CB room which will have multiple jobs up for grabs during summer and fall camp, following the departures of Buggs Brown and Daedae Hill to the NFL draft. He becomes the 7th defensive back addition out of the transfer portal, joining Derrick “Dooda” Rogers, Antonio Robinson, LJ Hall, Terez Reid, Dillion Williams and Trey Sweeney and 10th overall including freshman Damon Allen, Zion Paret and Josiah Farmer.