Maxwell Hairston, Deone Walker accept invites to Senior Bowl

by:Adam Luckett•about 22 hours•

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Sep 10, 2022; Gainesville, Florida, USA; Kentucky Wildcats defensive tackle Deone Walker (0) reacts after making a tackle against the Florida Gators during the second half at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-Imagn Images — Kentucky DL Deone Walker makes a tackle against the Florida Gators at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, via Kim Klement-Imagn Images

There are a lot of moving parts over on the football side of campus at the University of Kentucky. The Wildcats are working to close strong in the transfer portal. Once the spring semester begins, winter workouts at the Joe Craft Football Training Facility will be underway and relationship-building with 2026 high school prospects will ramp up.

We will also shift into draft mode.

On the last weekend of April in Green Bay, the 2025 NFL Draft will take place. We could see a handful of Kentucky prospects drafted this season. The two top prospects will be present at the showcase event of the pre-draft process.

Deone Walker and Maxwell Hairston officially accepted Senior Bowl invites on Tuesday.

OFFICIAL! DL Deone Walker @deonewalker0 from @UKFootball is heading to the 2025 Reese's Senior Bowl!!! 👏👏👏 #GoCats #BestOfTheBest #TheDraftStartsInMOBILE™️@JimNagy_SB @PaniniAmerica #RatedRookie pic.twitter.com/VLic9lstKa
— Reese's Senior Bowl (@seniorbowl) January 8, 2025

OFFICIAL! DB Maxwell Hairston @MHairston22 from @UKFootball is heading to the 2025 Reese's Senior Bowl!!! 🔵⚪️ #GoCats #BestOfTheBest #TheDraftStartsInMOBILE™️@JimNagy_SB @PaniniAmerica #RatedRookie pic.twitter.com/40O8iLIM1v
— Reese's Senior Bowl (@seniorbowl) January 8, 2025

A new rule allows juniors to participate in this event. Andru Phillips took advantage of this rule change last year as a redshirt junior and improved his draft stock. Deone Walker and Maxwell Hairston will be looking to do the same.

Deone Walker went three-and-done at Kentucky out of Detroit (Mich.) Cass Tech. The massive defensive tackle (6-6, 345) started in 36 of 37 games (1,803 career snaps) played in Lexington and finished his collegiate career with 132 tackles, 22 tackles for loss, 10 sacks, and 97 pressures. Walker’s best season occurred as a sophomore when he earned first-team All-SEC honors.

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Maxwell Hairston spent four seasons at Kentucky and is another Greater Detroit native. The cornerback played in 32 career games (1,068 career snaps) and earned 20 starting assignments. Hairston, a former three-star recruit, finished his collegiate career with 89 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, 10 pass breakups, six interceptions, and three forced fumbles. Hairston missed five games as a redshirt junior in 2024, but earned second-team All-SEC honors in 2023.

The Senior Bowl is “widely regarded as the preeminent college football all-star game” in the NFL Draft process. This all-star game will take place on Saturday, Feb. 1. The week before the game will feature practices between both teams with NFL coaching staffs, front office personnel, and scouting staff all on-hand.

KSR will be here throughout the draft process to provide coverage of where Kentucky prospects will end up. Stay locked in with us as we cover the all-star game circuit, combine, pro day, and much more. Can the Kentucky program record of six picks in modern draft history be broken in April? It’s possible.