NFL teams like Logan Stenberg’s ‘meanness,’ but UK star knows he must rein it in
University of Kentucky offensive lineman Logan Stenberg lives in a house within the immediate vicinity of Drake’s and Malone’s on Tates Creek Road.
“I hit that up weekly, so that’ll probably be what I miss the most,” Stenberg told reporters at the NFL’s annual scouting combine on Wednesday.
He’s spent his offseason training in Lexington, so he hasn’t bid adieu to his favorite eateries just yet. Stenberg is a near-lock to be drafted by an NFL franchise two months from now, though, so the clock’s ticking.
Several draft projections suggest Stenberg will be selected somewhere around the third round. He played left guard for UK but could be shifted around the interior offensive line depending on the needs and desires of whichever team drafts him; he never lined up at center with the Wildcats but practiced snapping the ball his last two years on campus.
“Honestly, I feel comfortable at left guard,” Stenberg said. “Right guard isn’t a big adjustment for me. Center would be the biggest adjustment right now.”
Stenberg currently projects as a backup in the NFL, according to his draft profile on the league’s website. NFL.com draft analyst Lance Zierlein believes he’d be a capable starter if necessary, however.
Teams seem to appreciate his blue-collar mentality and the attitude with which he plays, despite the destructive penalties it sometimes led to at Kentucky.
“They like the meanness in me but I can’t be hurting the team,” Stenberg said. “That’s something I’m going to have to work on at the next level and I know that. It’s gonna be taken care of.”
That aggressive approach was instilled, in part, by UK head coach Mark Stoops and offensive line coach John Schlarman, to whom Stenberg committed before the Wildcats had put together a winning season under their regime. A below-.500 year in 2015 — Stenberg’s redshirt freshman season — was the last in his time with the program.
The expectation, internally and from guys like Stenberg who’ve moved on, is for it to be the last for a while — especially for the big men up front.
“I took that to heart,” Stenberg said. “I wanted to change the culture. I wanted us to be the meanest people in the SEC, wanted the offensive line to be dominant, and I think we achieved that goal.”
No lift
Stenberg won’t be doing bench-press work at the combine this week due to an injury to an AC joint suffered during the Senior Bowl last month in Mobile, Ala.
“I messed it up at the Senior Bowl, went back and rehabbed it,” Stenberg said. “(It’s) feeling good now but I just haven’t been able to train my chest the way I wanted to, so we’re gonna do the bench at Pro Day and give me another couple weeks to train on it.”
UK’s Pro Day is scheduled for March 27. In addition to Stenberg and Lynn Bowden, who’s also at the combine this week, others expected to participate include T.J. Carter, Kash Daniel, Jordan Griffin, Calvin Taylor Jr., Ahmad Wagner and Mason Wolfe.
Bowden expressed surprise that Wagner, a 6-5, 234-pound receiver, didn’t get more recognition after the season. Stenberg was in lockstep.
“You look at Ahmad and he’s got the body to do anything he wants to do,” Stenberg said. “I think he’s gonna be a guy who really jumps up the charts on Pro Day. I’m looking forward to see what he does.”
