How a toothless giant turned into UK’s meanest lineman and an NFL Draft prospect
Logan Stenberg’s aggressive reputation preceded him while he mauled opposing defensive linemen in the Southeastern Conference.
He tallied up an impressive amount of blocks, along with his fair share of penalties, while making 39 consecutive starts for the University of Kentucky over the last three seasons. Mean and nasty were synonymous with the left guard almost from the onset, and it’s hard to imagine a time when they weren’t.
But there was such a time, when he was a barely recruited high school lineman in the talent-laden state of Alabama. Wade Waldrop, who coached Stenberg in his last two prep seasons, recalls it well. He inherited a varsity program at James Clemens High School that had gone 0-10 in its inaugural season, and showed few signs of improving on that campaign in year two when he sat down to meet the group for the first time.
“They didn’t know what a varsity football player looks like, let alone acted like,” Waldrop said in a phone interview last week with the Herald-Leader. “Putting physicality into that group, it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
The returns were minimal — James Clemens went 2-8 in 2013, Waldrop’s first season at the helm — and it was particularly frustrating that his 6-foot-6 offensive tackle didn’t seem keen on considering a future at the next level. The most physically-gifted player on the roster wasn’t taking football seriously; why would any of the Jets’ other players follow suit?
During a winter workout before his senior year, Stenberg was casually jogging instead of going full sprint. Waldrop pulled him aside for a conversation that changed the course of his future.
“I said, ‘Man, what do you want to do?’” Waldrop said. “’I told you when I got here a year ago that you could go play college football. God blessed you with what you gotta have, number one. Just what you have, physically, will get you in the door. But you’ve gotta understand what that is and what it takes to be successful.’”
A few months later, during the spring evaluation period, Stenberg received his first offer from UAB. He broke down in tears.
Late recruiting pitch
Offensive line and strength coach Cyrus Swearingen — a late addition to the coaching staff in Waldrop’s first season — also helped spur Stenberg’s turnaround that offseason. The two stay in close contact to this day, Waldrop said; Stenberg even planned to sit in on a virtual conference call with Swearingen and some current James Clemens linemen days before waiting to hear his name called in the NFL Draft.
Other offers came, from Southern Miss and Troy, but the only Power Five school to extend a scholarship to Stenberg was Kentucky, which at that time was coming off a 2-10 campaign in Mark Stoops’ first season. He took an unofficial visit on April 6, 2014, and committed on the same day.
Another party approached Stenberg prior to his February signing date, though. Mississippi — a school from whom he coveted an offer much earlier in the process — sent then-offensive line coach Matt Luke (now at Georgia) to have a face-to-face meeting with the UK commit because the Rebels had another offensive line commit flip to Tennessee.
Any doubts about Stenberg’s confidence could be safely put to bed after that engagement.
“Ole Miss is a place he wanted to go when it all started,” Waldrop said. “Logan sat in that chair right there and said, ‘If you don’t offer me, I’m not coming to Ole Miss, even on a visit. I’m not coming down there to be a backup plan.’ That blew me away. I didn’t have to say a word. I’ve had other players where I had to speak up for them on their behalf. Logan looked right at Coach Luke and said, ‘Unless you’re offering me a scholarship, I’m not coming to Oxford, Mississippi, this weekend.”
A scholarship was not extended, so Stenberg’s commitment to Kentucky was not put on trial. He signed with the Wildcats on Feb. 4, enrolled on June 11 and redshirted the 2015 season. He was named to the SEC’s All-Freshman team in 2016 and then started every single game of his sophomore, junior and senior seasons, finishing his last year as a Wildcat as an All-SEC First Team selection and a Second-Team All-America pick by the Football Writers Association of America.
This weekend he’ll become either the 10th or 11th player drafted during Stoops’ tenure, depending on whether he’s picked before Lynn Bowden. Stenberg will be the second offensive lineman drafted under Stoops after George Asafo-Adjei was picked last season, and only the fifth Kentucky offensive lineman drafted in the last 30 years (Larry Warford in 2013 and both Todd Perry and Chuck Bradley in 1993 are the others).
Stoops and offensive line coach John Schlarman were crucial for him to make the leap, Waldrop said, and he believes Stenberg will have an effect on UK’s mentality going forward similar to the one he had at James Clemens, where a picture of him hangs in the weight room, and from which multiple other major college prospects have since been forged.
The Jets finished 8-4 during Stenberg’s senior season. Penalties plagued him then, too, but they were worth it to Swearingen and Waldrop, who a year before saw a fraction of the toughness on display from the same giant wearing No. 71.
“The best ones are always wired like him,” Waldrop said. “You’ll pick up a couple of 15-yard penalties in a bad spot, but you’re also gonna know the other side is getting dented every play, and by the end is going to submit to what’s going on right there. Every team I’ve ever been a part of, that’s what I’ve wanted. …
“For the offensive line, 71 is the standard. That’s what we try to be about.”
NFL Draft
When: Thursday-Saturday
TV: ABC, NFL Network, ESPN
This story was originally published April 21, 2020 at 5:52 PM.
