Carrington Valentine (UK Athletics Photo)
Kentucky junior Carrington Valentine surprised many by declaring for the NFL draft, especially when he opted out of the Music City Bowl against Iowa.
The 6-0, 190-pound Valentine had 48 tackles, 10 pass deflections, 1.5 tackles for loss, and one quarterback sack last season. However, he was not viewed as a certain draft pick but that certainly has changed.
Most NFL mock drafts have him as a third-day selection but now he might be trending more toward a fifth-round pick than a seventh-round selection thanks to work he has done with trainer Chris Vaughn of Louisville.
“I knew Carrington was fast. He trained with Chris Vaughn and really did a good job. He said it was like going to prison because they worked so hard,” Kentucky associate coach Vince Marrow said on WLAP Sunday Morning Sports.
At the NFL Combine, Valentine had a 39-inch vertical jump — he was actually hoping to go 41 inches — and a 10-foot, 8-inch broad jump. He has added 13 pounds of muscle since the season ended and dropped his body fat from 13 percent to six percent.
“He has long arms, is a physical guy, and proved he could really run at our pro day,” Marrow said. “I really think he could go in the third to fifth round (of the draft).
“He has impressed a lot of scouts and they all like physical cornerbacks with length.”
Marrow thinks offensive lineman Tashawn Manning will be drafted in the sixth or seventh rounds. One NFL draft projection has him ranked as the 19th-best guard in the draft.
“He helped himself at the Senior Bowl. It is hard to find big, physical guards,” Marrow said. “I don’t know where he will be drafted but I predict he will make a team. He’s a big, smart, physical kid. A lot of teams always wanted to talk about him or talk to him when they came here. That tells me they like him.”
