Maxwell Hairston had two tackles his first two years at UK but now he is a first-round NFL draft pick. (UK Athletics Photo)
Will Maxwell Hairston’s journey to becoming a NFL first-round draft pick be something that will become more and more unusual?
He was a three-star prospect coming out of Michigan when he picked Kentucky over Arkansas, Minnesota, Purdue, Rutgers and Virginia Tech. He was a three-sport athlete (basketball and track), honor roll student and member of his high school’s choir.
At Kentucky, he redshirted in 2021 and did not play in a game. The next season he played in 12 games but had only two tackles — both against Youngstown State. However, he had a breakout season in 2023 when he led the Southeastern Conference with five interceptions, including two he returned for scores against Vanderbilt. He also had an interception against No. 1 Georgina. He had 10 tackles, including eight solo stops, in a win over Florida.
Despite missing five games with an injury in 2024, he still earned all-SEC honors and then went to the NFL Combine and ran the fastest 40-yard dash time to send his draft stock soaring.
Will there be players in the future willing to basically wait two years for a chance to play rather than transfer in search of playing time and more money?
“I think there’s two sides of this,” Kentucky associate coach Vince Marrow said on WLAP Sunday Morning Sports Talk. “Yes, and then I’m gonna say no. The yes part is if you look at the blueprint of what we have done with DB’s here and the planning with (defensive coordinator) Brad (White) and (cornerback) coach (Chris) Collins.
“A lot of credit to these guys who develop guys and if they stay around and you get your shot, you play in a good system.”
Kentucky has had a defensive back drafted in three straight drafts — Carrington Valentine by the Packers in the seventh round in 2023, Andru Phillips by the New York Giants in the third round in 2024 and now Hairston. Stoops also had defensive backs Lonnie Johnson (second Round, Houston Texans, 2019), Mike Edwards (third round,Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2019), Kelvin Joseph (second round, Dallas Cowboys, 2021) and Brandin Echols (sixth round, New York Jets, 2021).
Marrow said that despite a drop defensively in 2024, UK is known for having solid defenses that NFL scouts like.
“But here’s the other part that I’ll say. Mom and dad are some of the sharpest people you are ever gonna meet. Even the Bills people, even the people in the green room. (at the draft), said the family is just very sharp and very educated,” Marrow said.
Marrow understands the transfer portal and NIL money will make it harder to keep and develop players who are not getting extensive playing time.
“Somebody somewhere would have known something about him. It would be like, ‘Okay, he played a little bit. This kid showed some skills, He’s very fast.’ Somebody would have probably thrown some money at him. The only reason why I think he probably wouldn’t have done that is because the plan with DB’s here is as good as any top five defense plan in the secondary,” Marrow said.
“Just look at the track record of our DB’s being drafted. I think you are going to see some other guys like that. We’ve got another one — I’m not gonna say his name — that has the same traits as Maxwell and I would not be surprised if he does everything right that he will be sitting in that situation two years from now.”
2 Responses
I think we get 2 drafted this year as well. JQ Hardaway is a long 6-3 and can fly for his height and long and uber athletic. I also think there is no way that Jordan Lovett also doesn’t get drafted. He’s probably been the most consistent defensive back on the team over the last 3 playing seasons. I think this will be his 4th year starting or 4th year getting a ton of playing time. I think Hardaway goes 3rd or 4th round and I think Lovett goes 5th or 6th round. Lovett is a excellent tackler and has great field vision and awareness. Both will get drafted and both can raise there stock with big seasons. They actually stayed the course as well. Tho Hardaway transferred from Cincinnati this will be his 3rd year in the system. If you can trust the process and see what happens for at least 3 years you might get drafted at Kentucky. Our secondary is starting to have more and more pro scouts eyes on the games because of the zone that Brad White loves to run. We get killed in pass coverage so it makes you wonder how? We had Hairston and Phillips on the same team and still got shredded by other offenses it makes you wonder what the problem is?
Why does Louisville keep stealing our players away but when a Louisville transfer visits us we can never get them to commit??