Marrow's promise: 'From now on' UK will have draft picks
It was an awkward situation. Kentucky's football coaches and fans are wishing Jon Toth, Boom Williams, Ryan Timmons and J.D. Harmon well, as they sign on to various franchises as undrafted free agents.
Those players helped form the nucleus of a very successful seven-win team that took the program to the TaxSlayer Bowl and a win over Louisville. But Kentucky didn't have any draft picks.
Once again the SEC had more players drafted than any other league. That's happened for 11 consecutive years now.
Kentucky and South Carolina were the only two programs in the league not to have a draft pick.
Future drafts set up well for Kentucky. Players like Mike Edwards, Jordan Jones, C.J. Conrad, Benny Snell and others appear to be draft picks in the making. But the Cats were shut out this year.
The Class of 2018 should once again ultimately rank as one of the top recruiting classes in Kentucky's modern football history. That's a safe assumption because that's the way of the world under Mark Stoops and Vince Marrow.
But make no mistake about it: Opponents will use Kentucky's lack of draft picks against the Cats in the all-important game of recruiting.
So recruiting coordinator Vince Marrow preemptively issued a message to the Kentucky fan base but, more importantly, to recruits.
"Big shout out and thanks to those seniors that signed yesterday," Marrow tweeted (@vincemarrow) on Sunday evening. "But I guarantee from now on we will not have a (year without draft picks). With 18 young returning starters who competed in the best conference in the country and on a team that made it a bowl game, #BBN get ready."
