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Published Mar 4, 2019
NFL Combine: DB Recap
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Justin Rowland  •  CatsIllustrated
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Kentucky fans know who Darius West is but not many football fans around the country did before Monday. That started to change on Monday when the UK safety product turned in a dazzling performance during testing at the NFL Draft Combine.

West ran a 4.51-second 40-yard dash on his second run at the NFL Combine but his first time, an official 4.39, which was fifth-best among a stacked safety group testing on Monday, is what everyone was talking about. Couple that with West's impressive 19 bench reps over the weekend and along with Jordan Jones he may have emerged from the combine as the Wildcat who helped his stock the most.

West also produced a 33.5-inch vertical leap and a 113.0 inch broad jump.

During West's second run the broadcast crew on the NFL Network heaped praise on Kentucky's turnaround under Mark Stoops. That made sense considering the strong UK presence at the combine and especially on Monday when West, Derrick Baity and Lonnie Johnson all competed.

Mike Edwards did not test.

Baity didn't turn in a 40-yard dash but posted an impressive 38.5-inch vertical leap (all the more impressive at 6'2, 197 pounds), a 127.0 inch broad jump, a 7.06 second 3-cone drill and a 4.31-second 20-yard shuttle.

Johnson has seen his stock rise if we're basing the assessment on the chatter since the end of the season coming out of Lexington and from NFL talking heads. He's considered one of the top cornerback prospects in the draft and at 6'2, 213 pounds his 4.52-second official 40-yard dash time is probably going to help his stock even more. His 38.0-inch vert, 129.0 inch broad jump, 7.01-second cone drill and 4.1-second shuttle reinforced his status as a legit high round pick possibility.

Johnson's 20-yard shuttle time was one of the best out of all defensive backs who worked out on Monday and his cone drill time was also one of the better times in the group.

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