Vince Kehres can remember the first impression he had seeing Emmanuel McNeil-Warren.
“Well, he was reserved,” Kehres, the former University of Toledo defensive coordinator, told the Beacon Journal in a phone interview. “Shy would be kind of a way that I’d describe him when I first met him. He’s the type of kid that you got to build a relationship with him before he starts to open up, at least at that age.
“Just the physical attributes kind of stood out to you. Man, this guy’s really long. He can run. What type of player can he become?”
Fast forward to McNeil-Warren’s second season with the Rockets in 2023. Although the safety had played in 13 games the previous season, and even started a game, he hadn’t produced one of those “wow” moments quite yet.
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Toledo’s Mid-American Conference opener against Western Michigan in Week 4 that season provided that opportunity. And it didn’t take McNeil-Warren long at all to make his presence felt.
“He got to start in that game,” Kehres, who’s now Syracuse’s defensive coordinator. “On the first play of the game, they ran the ball. He’s 10 yards deep reading run-pass, and it’s in his fit. So he’s got to come downhill and trigger, and he tackled the guy in the hole for no gain. And it was like, ‘Oh my gosh, did I just see that?’ And that was the first play of the game.”
It wouldn’t be the last play that game that McNeil-Warren would make. He finished with 13 tackles, two pass breakups, a forced fumble and an interception while being named MAC West Division Player of the Week.
That was the moment Kehres realized just what a special talent McNeil-Warren could become for Toledo. It’s the kind of talent that ultimately led him to become the apple of the Cleveland Browns’ eye during the draft, as they traded back into the second round to select the former Rocket at pick No. 58.
“He had a really productive game in his first opportunity to start,” Kehres said. “And at that point in time, he was still kind of learning that a safety’s got to really take charge in the back end and communicate. The other guys that were in there with him helped him with that. And he got better at that as he played more and got more confidence. But that was kind of a sign of what was to come.”
McNeil-Warren, who had made one start before that as a true freshman in 2022, finished with five starts in 14 games in 2023. He had a career-high four forced fumbles to go with two picks, three pass breakups, four tackles for loss and 69 total tackles.
Two years after that, McNeil-Warren wrapped up his career at Toledo with a senior season that included three forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, three quarterback hits, five pass breakups, two interceptions, 0.5 sack, 5.5 tackles for loss and 77 total tackles.
That McNeil-Warren did it with the Rockets and not a name-brand Big Ten or SEC program goes back to the “shy” kid Kehres remembered from his first time meeting him. The one with whom you “got to build a relationship.”
“Toledo, they stayed true to me,” McNeil-Warren said on a draft-night conference call. “They developed me as a player ever since, ever since other schools, they fell off me during high school, but Toledo, they stayed right there for me. So I feel like why switch up from them, they never switched up with me?
“So I built a brotherhood and a bond there. And the coaches, they’re like family to me. So I just wanted to build a legacy. When one of my ex-players come out of Toledo, I feel like I could do the same thing.”
Then-Toledo coach Jason Candle, who left for the same position at Connecticut after last season, discovered McNeil-Warren during a recruiting trip to his hometown of Lakewood, Fla., where he saw him shooting baskets in the gym. After watching him during football practice later that day, he quickly offered him a scholarship.
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Years later, when those bigger schools were circling McNeil-Warren, trying to pull him away from Toledo, that memory remained. That was something of a habit for a number of prominent Rockets players, including 2024 first-round pick-turned-2025 All-Pro Quinyon Mitchell and 2025 third-round pick Darius Alexander.
Kehres credits Candle for having established the culture that allowed Toledo to retain multiple NFL draft picks despite clear tampering from Big Ten or SEC schools. Legendary coach Nick Saban famously admitted during the 2024 draft broadcast on ABC that Alabama tried to get Mitchell to transfer, but he never got into the transfer portal.
“I think it all starts with, when you have a coaching staff that really trusts each other, I think the players see that and they can sense that you can’t fake that,” Kehres said. “The players can sense when the coaches really trust each other and that leads to, ‘I trust the coaches. I trust the coaches and, ultimately, I trust my teammates.’
“… It’s just a matter of having the right group of players together and the right group of coaches together to create that genuine bond that we’re a part of something bigger than ourselves, and we’re grateful to be a part of it.”
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ. Sign up for Browns Insider newsletter at https://profile.beaconjournal.com/newsletters/browns-insider/
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Emmanuel McNeil-Warren made quick 1st impression at Toledo
Reporting by Chris Easterling, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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