*Benny Snell Jr. – Noteworthy
As of Thursday afternoon, the most unusual question asked of Benny Snell during team interviews at the NFL Combine wasn’t all that unusual: What is a time you’ve overcome major adversity? He was shy with media about one of the answers he’s given teams – “I don’t think I want to say that,” he said with a grin – but quickly pivoted to another instance familiar with anyone who’s closely followed the University of Kentucky’s career rushing leader: The Wildcats’ 27-16 win over Florida last September. “I told ’em about the Florida game, when kind of how it was an even game going into halftime,” Snell said. “At halftime I was like, ‘Yo we gotta do this,’ cause we were making stupid penalties, we were jumping offside, doing this, that and the third. We were beating ourselves. “We go on, come out in the second half and executed. I seen the cameras flashing, the lights, I was like, ‘Ah, yeah, we about to do this.’ So I had fun doing it, and we completed it. I told ’em about that.”
Snell finished with 3,873 rushing yards on 737 carries in three seasons at UK. That’s ample more yardage than running backs ranked ahead of Snell in most mock drafts – Josh Jacobs (Alabama), Damien Harris (Alabama/Madison Southern), Devin Singletary (Florida Atlantic) and David Montgomery (Iowa State) – but also the heaviest work load. Only Montgomery, who rushed for 2,925 yards on 624 carries, came close to approaching Snell’s amount of college carries; Jacobs (251) and Harris (477) combined fall nine short. – Herald Leader