13 Wildcats tabbed to Reese's Senior Bowl Watch List

The Reese’s Senior Bowl’s 13-member scouting crew has over 200 years of collective NFL experience. Working since last February to come up with a Watch List for this season’s edition of the all-star style postseason game, they have deemed 13 Kentucky Wildcats as worthy prospects for the 2025 NFL Draft.

On Wednesday morning, the Reese’s Senior Bowl unveiled its preseason choices for the best draft-eligible players going into the 2024 season. Last season, 110 draft picks (43 percent of the entire draft class) were selected for the Reese’s Senior Bowl. This event, which started in 1950, is regarded as the first stage of the NFL Draft process.

Below are Kentucky’s Watch List representatives for the preseason:

• RB Chip Trayanum
• DB Maxwell Hairston
• WR Barion Brown
• WR Ja’Mori Maclin
• DL Deone Walker
• DL JJ Weaver
• LB Jamon Dumas-Johnson
• LB D’Eryk Jackson
• OL Jager Burton
• OL Eli Cox
• OL Marques Cox
• OL Gerald Mincey
• P Aidan Laros

Looking at the Wildcats who made the Watch List, one of the first things that sticks out is Kentucky has four offensive linemen on there. Burton is the only junior among the four. Other juniors to make the list include Brown, Walker, Hairston, Maclin, and Laros. Notably, WR Dane Key and QB Brock Vandagriff did not make the cut. Also, despite being listed as an outside linebacker by UK’s official website, the Reese’s Senior Bowl tabs Weaver as a defensive lineman.

13 members on the Watch List for Kentucky is a good number, but it still doesn’t compare to the SEC’s powerhouse schools. Top-ranked Georgia has 20 representatives, No. 4 Texas has 16, No. 5 Alabama has 19, No. 6 Ole Miss has 21, and No. 12 LSU has 18. The in-state rival Louisville Cardinals have 11 on the Watch List while Southern Miss — Kentucky’s first opponent of the season — checks in with four.

The 2025 Reese’s Senior Bowl is set for Saturday, February 1 at Hancock Whitney Stadium in Mobile. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. EST.