Todd Perry
Update: Walter of Walter’s Wildcat World passes along that Todd Perry is being inducted into the North Hardin Hall of Fame.
My Sunday column on Kentucky’s recruiting over the past few years mentioned that the Cats had but only 18 players picked in the NFL Draft the past decade. In the SEC, only Vanderbilt had fewer selected. Only Mississippi State had fewer first-round picks over that time frame.
But what’s truly astonishing is the number of UK offensive linemen picked over the last 10 years. That would be zero. Zilch. Nada. In fact, Kentucky has not had an O-lineman chosen since guard Todd Perry was taken by the Chicago Bears in the fourth round 1993, and the then Houston Oilers took tackle Chuck Bradley in the sixth round.
Now here’s something that is truly troubling. Though Perry and Bradley played most of their college careers for Bill Curry (1), they were actually signed by Jerry Claiborne. That means that if you don’t count current head coach Joker Phillips, the previous four UK football coaches – those would be Rich Brooks (2003-09), Guy Morris (2001-02), Hal Mumme (1997-2000) and Curry (1990-96) – failed to sign an offensive lineman who was drafted by the NFL.
That could change in the near future. Most consider the offensive line the strength of this year’s team. And Joker Phillips went on record at media day as saying that guard Larry Warford, a pre-season first-team All-SEC choice by both coaches and media, could end up being one of the best to ever play at the school.
Meanwhile, here’s a chart telling how many offensive linemen each SEC school has had drafted over the past 10 years.
(1) Perry was on Curry’s coaching staff at Georgia State last year. He is not listed among this year’s coaches, however.
