Is there another Jamin Davis lurking for Kentucky in the 2022 NFL Draft?
All mock drafts are inherently flawed, but mock drafts for the 2022 NFL Draft are particularly so.
There’s a whole college football season to be played between now and then. Perhaps even more importantly — as Kentucky’s Jamin Davis showed this offseason — there’s also an entire period of pre-draft workouts and interviews that might prove just as pivotal in a prospect’s rise.
Davis wasn’t going in the first round of 2021 mock drafts in January, let alone those conjured in May of last year. The only UK players whose names sniffed higher-round draft mentions, period, before last season were Kelvin Joseph, who went 44th overall to the Dallas Cowboys on Friday, and Darian Kinnard, who opted against submitting his name into this year’s draft as an early entrant.
Davis was the first of six Wildcats drafted this past weekend, going No. 19 in the first round to Washington.
Kinnard is likeliest to be the first Kentucky player off the board next April, and will merit first-round consideration if he plays as well at left tackle — typically a team’s best pass blocker — as he did on the right side.
“Kinnard is one that many were actually excited about this year,” Jordan Reid, a senior analyst with The Draft Network who was among the first to tab Davis as a potential first-rounder, told the Herald-Leader.
Austin Gayle of Pro Football Focus said Kinnard is “easily” a top-100 player in the 2022 draft class. Being able to demonstrate proficiency in a more pro-friendly offense could turn him into another “out-of-nowhere” riser for the Wildcats.
Kentucky might also have consecutive “one-and-dones” on the football field. Although he enrolled at UK ahead of the 2019 season, Joseph was only able to play one season with the Wildcats. Wan’Dale Robinson, another marquee transfer, could easily follow friend Rondale Moore (selected 49th overall by the Arizona Cardinals) into the league after his junior season if he’s able to help Coen and the Cats pick apart Southeastern Conference defenses this fall.
“Although not at QB, he could provide a similar spark and versatility that Lynn Bowden did while in Lexington,” Reid said of Robinson.
The Herald-Leader couldn’t identify a widely recognized “way-too-early” first-round 2022 mock draft with a Kentucky player selected, but that could change in a flash; both Kinnard and Robinson have the talent to at least threaten consideration a year from now, and will certainly be drafted if they enter.
Who else could come off the board for Kentucky next year?
Other possibilities
Despite never having started for Kentucky, running back Chris Rodriguez probably would have been picked in the later rounds of the draft by a team looking to get a possible NFL starter at a deep discount. He checks all the right boxes, but the PFF First-Teamer wanted to become the first in his family to graduate from college.
Keaton Upshaw stands to gain considerable interest from NFL clubs next April if he can thrive in an offensive system that should be friendlier to tight ends as far as the passing game is concerned. The 6-foot-6, 245-pound junior-to-be led UK with three touchdown receptions last season. He caught three passes for 44 yards at Alabama, both career highs; the yardage total accounted for 25 percent of UK’s offense in a lopsided defeat.
“The size of Upshaw will immediately catch the eyes of evaluators,” Reid said. “He had some promising moments down the back stretch of the year last season, but it was the Alabama game that I thought was one of his better performances. Scouts will be keying in on him to see if he can build on that success during the 2021 season.”
From there, clear-cut potential draftees end. Receiver Josh Ali, guard Luke Fortner and tight end Justin Rigg — all returning seniors who opted into the extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA in response to the COVID-19 pandemic — might have a shot at getting picked depending on pro-team needs and their performances in 2021. Same goes for the defensive quartet of true seniors that’ll look to guide Kentucky through this season: linebacker DeAndre Square, defensive end Josh Paschal, safety Yusuf Corker and nose guard Marquan McCall.
Next Jamin Davis?
Allow me to present Jordan Wright as the possible “Who?” that could light up draft boards coming out of Kentucky next year.
Wright, an outside linebacker, boasts a 6-foot-5 frame and has disruptive length. Consistency and availability have been issues at UK but the versatility to play across the middle of UK’s defense and the play-making ability needed to excel as a 21st century linebacker is there; he recorded 5.5 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, broke up four passes, forced three fumbles and had an interception last season in 11 games (starting five).
The Wildcats have produced three first-round linebackers — Davis, Josh Allen (2019) and Bud Dupree (2015) — during Mark Stoops’ tenure as head coach. It’d be foolish at this point to think Wright doesn’t at least have a chance to add his name to that list if he can build some on his frame (he was listed at 233 pounds in the spring) and be a game-changer week-to-week.
“When he’s healthy and his body feels good, he can be as dominant a player that’s on our team,” defensive coordinator Brad White said. “He has difference-making ability. He changed the momentum of the South Carolina game when he just took the ball out of the running back’s hands. He ended the Mississippi State game; it was like throwing in a closer at the end of a (baseball) game when he had the pick-six. He’s got that ability.”
