Five Wildcats Named to Reese’s Senior Bowl Top 250 List

Five Kentucky football players have been named to the 2021 Reese’s Senior Bowl Top 250 list.

This afternoon, the event announced that defensive tackle Quinton Bohanna, cornerback Brandin Echols, center Drake Jackson, tight end Justin Rigg and offensive tackle Landon Young all made the cut.

The Reese’s Senior Bowl – the nation’s most prestigious college all-star game – is scheduled for January 30, 2021 in Mobile, Alabama. Offensive guard Logan Stenberg played in the game last season, while defensive backs Mike Edwards, Lonnie Johnson Jr. and Darius West participated in the 2019 event.

Bohanna is a proud native of Memphis, Tennessee and enters his senior season with 19 consecutive starts at nose guard. The 6-foot-4, 361-pounder totaled 18 tackles, 3.0 tackles for loss, a sack and a pass breakup for the Wildcats’ defense in 2019. He was also recently named to the preseason All-SEC Fourth Team by Athlon.

Echols, a 5-foot-11, 178-pound cornerback from Southaven, Mississippi, arrived at UK before the 2019 season and became an immediate impact player in starting 11 games. A lockdown corner, he tallied 54 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, a sack, two forced fumbles and a team-high nine pass breakups. His performance has been lauded by Pro Football Focus’ analytical analysis.

Jackson, a native of Versailles, Kentucky, was named to the second-team offense by Athlon after starting at center in all 13 games last season. He now has a team-high 33 consecutive starts as the anchor of Kentucky’s offensive line, the “Big Blue Wall.” He was also named to the 2020 preseason first-team All-SEC teams by Athlon Sports and Phil Steele.

Rigg, from Springboro, Ohio, has been a mainstay in the Cats’ offense for three seasons, playing in 41 career games with 14 starts. He stepped into the void left by C.J. Conrad before the 2019 season and became an integral blocker for the team’s explosive running game. He had at least one catch in six games, totaling 11 for 128 yards on the season.

After missing the entire 2018 season to injury, Young, of Lexington, Kentucky, returned for an excellent 2019, starting in all 13 games at left tackle. He totaled 64 knockdown plays and missed only one assignment in 754 plays. He was also a 2020 preseason All-SEC Second Team choice by Athlon Sports.

The Reese’s Senior Bowl annually serves as the first step of the NFL draft process.  The Reese’s Senior Bowl has had 93 total players and 40 selected in the first three rounds each of the past two years, including 10 first-round picks in the 2019 NFL Draft.  The 93 figure represents nearly 40 percent of the total draft these past two years.  One thing that differentiates the Reese’s Senior Bowl from other all-star games is the participation of two full NFL coaching staffs.  Last year, the two teams were coached by the Detroit Lions and Cincinnati Bengals and there were over 900 credentialed NFL personnel for game week.