If No.8 looked a little familiar roaming around the Texas Southern secondary this spring, it’s because he is.
Standout senior cornerback MJ Hinson, Jr. is back in a Texas Southern uniform and back as a standout in the secondary after jumping into the transfer portal last spring and spending his junior season at Florida Atlantic University.
This is a transfer portal adventure you don’t normally see.
Usually, when players transfer to what they perceive as greener pastures, they either stay or keep moving. Hinson, however, has returned to what is familiar and where he feels like he belongs.
“It feels great. This is home. These guys are my family,” Hinson said the Defender. “Coming here every single day to work out with these guys, that’s like the best thing in the world. I ain’t going to lie. These are my brothers, every single one of my teammates. It’s just home.”
But last winter, Hinson admittedly felt like there was more out there for him after one standout season at TSU in which he led the SWAC in interceptions and made the all-conference first team.
Offers came from all sorts of mid-major Division I programs when he put his name in the portal: SFA, UTEP, Tulsa, Missouri State, and Liberty. He chose FAU and Boca Raton, Florida.
“Just coming from the SWAC, getting first team All SWAC, I was like, let’s go work for something bigger and better,” said Hinson, a College Station product who spent his first two seasons of college ball playing at Blinn Community College. “Nothing against the SWAC or anything at all, I just felt like there was more out there for me, to be honest.”
But an injury-plagued season at FAU and missing his family, teammates, and coaching staff back in Texas led Hinson to seek out the familiarity of the program where he thrived during the 2024 season. While most coaches are not usually accepting of players who’ve abandoned their program, TSU coach Cris Dishman welcomed Hinson back with open arms.
“I’m okay with guys leaving. I’m not going to hold a grudge and say, `You are never going to come back. I’m not going to accept you back’ or nothing like that,” said Dishman, who often talks about players chasing that bag in terms of transferring to NIL and revenue-sharing money. “In today’s football, that’s how it’s going to be. We are going to have guys leave, and guys realize that Texas Southern is a good place and come back.”
Hinson returned this winter and picked up as if he hadn’t left during spring practices. He has been inserted as a leader in the secondary, with his teammates readily accepting him back and respecting his journey.
“Just the atmosphere. Before I came back, I just told the guys that I was coming to play for them and not even the coaches,” Hinson, who had a career year in 2024 with the Tigers with 33 tackles, one tackle for loss, three interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown, and one forced fumble. “Just the bond that I had with my teammates beforehand. It was like I want to finish out with my guys.”
“Just getting stronger, getting smarter. I was over there developing so that I can bring it back here and take it to the next level.”
MJ Hinson on his season at FAU
Before getting to that point, however, Hinson picked up the phone last football season, expecting a difficult conversation with the coach he considers a mentor. He found Dishman to be encouraging and understanding.
“When I told him, he was actually really excited,” Hinson recalls. “He accepted me with open arms. He told me to finish where I was strong, and at the end of the season, we can get things cracking.”
And indeed, Hinson has gotten it cracking.
You can see the enthusiasm and skill that Hinson brings to the secondary, which will be key this upcoming season.
“It’s good to get MJ back, a veteran guy like himself,” said Dishman, once a star defensive back for the Oilers back in the day. “He went away, thought he wanted something, come to find out what he wanted is right here. It’s good to get those back.
“I treat this as a player-run team, as a community-based team, a family-based team, and he didn’t get that where he was at. That’s why he came back.”
Hinson wouldn’t describe his time at FAU as bad. It was not getting on the field because of the injury and not feeling at home that made him want to return to where he had been successful.
“After getting hurt and being far away from my family, still communicating with the teammates that I had previously, I was missing home to be honest and also missing Coach Dish and the coaching staff,” said Hinson, whose father, Mikado Hinson, is the director of player development at Texas A&M. “So I wanted to come home for my last year.”
And just like that, Hinson is back and now the senior member of the secondary with First-Team All-SWAC recognition to his credit. Now the younger players refer to him as Unc.
“It’s crazy because I used to call the other guys Unc when I was younger,” he said. “So being in that position, I’m like, `Dang; I’m getting up there in age.’ They really look up to me, but it’s all fun at the end of the day.”
Hinson has embraced his role as a Tigers’ leader and takes it seriously.
“But it’s been nothing but a blessing. It’s been a rocky road, but my story is a story to tell. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
MJ Hinson on his college journey
“It’s a big responsibility, I’m not going to lie,” Hinson said. “Coach Dish looks into me a lot; my position coach looks into me a lot. I know a lot of the coaches look into me as being a leader on this team, so I’ve just got to keep leading and have guys heading in the right direction.”
As for Hinson, he is excited about the upcoming season to pick up where he left off in 2024. He is also pumped because, as luck would have it, the Tigers face his old team on Oct. 3 in Boca Raton.
It will be a chance to show the Owls and their fanbase what he couldn’t do last season.
“It will be good to see my guys from over there also and just go out and get to compete against them,” Hinson said. “They are going to be talking a lot of trash. It’s going to be fun, to be honest, though. So I’m ready to go out in Boca and see what we are going to do.”
