Early draft entrants official. Here’s who UK won’t have to deal with next season.
It’s official: Lynn Bowden will not play for the University of Kentucky this fall.
Kentucky’s wide receiver turned quarterback in December announced he would forego his final season of eligibility at UK, but he officially filed his pre-draft paperwork with the NFL this week. The league on Tuesday revealed the full list of early entrants to the 2020 draft.
In total, 115 players with college eligibility remaining declared for this year’s draft, 20 fewer than the record 135 early entrants in the 2019 draft. Of those early entrants, 99 are underclassmen who were granted “special eligibility” despite not yet having completed their degrees; Bowden is in that group.
Thirty-five Southeastern Conference players with college eligibility remaining will look to have their name called in April. LSU led the way with nine early entrants while Alabama had six. Georgia (five), Texas A&M (four), Auburn (three), Missouri (three) and Mississippi State (2) all had multiple players leave early. Arkansas and Florida lost one each in addition to Kentucky.
Four SEC schools did not lose an undergraduate player as an early entrant to the NFL Draft: Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Vanderbilt.
Click here for a complete list of early entrants to the 2020 NFL Draft.
SEC early entrants
▪ Georgia’s offense will look quite different in 2020. In addition to losing five players early to the draft — quarterback Jake Fromm, running back D’Andre Swift and a trio of offensive linemen — it also lost lineman Cade Mays as a transfer (to Tennessee) and hired a new offensive coordinator (former Cleveland Browns OC Todd Monken). The losses up front are significant, but Kentucky fans should be most excited by Swift’s departure: He rushed for 156 yards and 179 yards, respectively his third- and second-best single-game rushing totals in college, in his two starts against the Wildcats.
“I just gave him congratulations after the game, and I wished him goodbye,” UK head coach Mark Stoops said of Swift following the Wildcats’ 21-0 loss in Athens last season. “He needs to go to the NFL. He’s an elite player.”
▪ Mississippi State running back Kylin Hill surprised many by announcing that he would return for his senior season with the Bulldogs, who recently named former UK offensive coordinator Mike Leach as head coach. Kentucky’s permanent rival from the West Division lost defensive back Cameron Dantzler and linebacker Willie Gay to the draft, though. Dantzler broke up three passes in Mississippi State’s 28-13 win in September; Gay was the player who returned an interception 52 yards for a touchdown to put the Bulldogs in front in the opening two minutes of that contest.
▪ Missouri’s three early entrants — tight end Albert Okwuegbunam, defensive tackle Jordan Elliott and center Trystan Colon-Castillo — never won against the Wildcats in their careers. Each player redshirted during the 2016 season, the second year of what has grown to a five-year win streak in favor of UK against the Tigers. Elliott’s highest total of tackles — six — came in Mizzou’s 29-7 loss at UK in October.
▪ Auburn — to whom the Cats will travel in October — loses Nick Coe, a two-year starter at defensive end who recorded 20 career tackles for loss and nine sacks. The Tigers also will be without the services of Noah Igbinoghene, a defensive back who also runs track at the school, and punter Arryn Siposs.
▪ Running back Lamical Perine and defensive end Jabari Zuniga are among the notable seniors departing from Florida, but the Gators lost only one player as an early entrant. He was a biggie, though: cornerback C.J. Henderson is likely a lock for the first round.
▪ Alabama offensive tackle Jedrick Wills, a Lafayette High School graduate, was among the Crimson Tide sextet. He could be the highest player selected from Bama this year; most of their early entrants are projected to be taken in the first round.
Louisville’s loss
Another guy UK won’t have to see in 2020? Mekhi Becton, an offensive tackle from Louisville who’s expected to be a top-10 selection. He’s listed at 6-foot-7 and 369 pounds (though his size alone wasn’t enough to keep UK from racking up six sacks and 13 tackles for loss in a record-setting victory to close the regular season).
“Turn on the tape and you’ll find moments of pure domination at the point of attack, not just with brute strength and power but also with grace, explosiveness and rare physical qualities for an athlete of this stature,” Kyle Crabbs of The Draft Network wrote in December.
Kentucky returnees
UK had a number of juniors who potentially could have foregone their final year of eligibility to pursue a pro career, but only Bowden elected to enter the NFL Draft. Offensive linemen Drake Jackson and Landon Young, both Kentuckians, made announcements regarding a return for their final year of eligibility, as did nose guard Quinton Bohanna, running back A.J. Rose and punter Max Duffy.
