Cats headed to the NFL have perfect message for potential recruits

Wan'Dale Robinson says playing at UK can help make NFL dreams come true. (Photo by UK Athletics)

Kentucky has several players that figure to have their name called in the upcoming NFL Draft, one reason all 32 National Football League teams sent representatives to UK’s Pro Day last week.

Kentucky associate coach/recruiting coordinator Vince Marrow could not help pointing that out on Twitter, especially on 20 NFL teams sent representatives to Louisville’s Pro Day.

“When you have multiple draft picks, you get all 32 teams here to watch our guys. Recruit and Develop,” Marrow tweeted.

So what would those players likely to be drafted tell potential recruits about why they should come to Kentucky?

“I would say have a lot of faith in your coaches and your teammates. Everything we’ve been through, that I’ve been through while I was here, we leaned on each other heavily. Any type of walls we hit, we always had to come together as a team,” All-American offensive tackle Darian Kinnard, a Senior Bowl participant and potential second-round pick, said at UK’s Pro Day.

“Anybody coming here definitely understands that this is going to be a brotherhood and everybody you’re going to be playing with is definitely going to be close with you and damn near family.”

Like Kinnard, defensive lineman Josh Paschal was invited to the NFL Combine and also played in the Senior Bowl. He says he would tell recruits they can get ready to “play at the next level” by coming to Kentucky.

“We have a lot of NFL coaches on the staff right now and of course, when we had coach (defensive coordinator Brad) White come in and he was my outside linebackers coach, so I had the opportunity to play outside linebacker and play defensive end my last two years here. I had a lot of versatility coming into the NFL,” Paschal said.

“The more you can do, the more valuable you are. If anybody’s thinking about coming to Kentucky, then do so because they’re going to prepare you for the next level.”

LSU transfer Dare Rosenthal played one season at Kentucky at left offensive tackle but he was also invited to the NFL Combine. He knows playing for UK helped his draft status.

“Having (Liam) Coen as my OC (offensive coordinator), it kind of helped me understand things and slow the game down,” Rosenthal said.

Former Kentucky high school star Wan’Dale Robinson transferred from Nebraska to return home to play his junior season for the Cats and had a record-setting season with catches and yards. He opted to give up his senior season to enter the NFL draft and was also invited to the NFL Combine.

“If you’re one of those people who dream of going to the combine, you’re going to go (if you come to UK). Whenever you sit in those interviews and things, you’re going to be able to understand what coaches are talking about and obviously, this past year helped me in a big way,” Robinson said.

“Just about every meeting room I was in, I was able to understand what was going on because I’ve been in that pro-style scheme before. This place just allows you to grow as a person. There’s really good people here. It doesn’t get much better than that.”

* * *

The NFL draft will be April 28-30 in Las Vegas and can be seen on the NFL Network, ABC, ESPN and ESPN Deportes.