Posts Tagged ‘Kentucky’
Dunn named All-Century tight end for EKU
Former Harrodsburg Pioneer and NFL veteran Jason Dunn was named to Eastern Kentucky University’s All-Century team, a collection of the best of the best in Colonel football history in honor of the team’s 100th season in 2009.
Dunn had 45 receptions for 657 yards and three touchdowns at Eastern, but made his reputation and his living in the NFL thanks to the 6’7” 275 lbs. tight end’s outstanding blocking ability.
Dunn was a second-round pick of the Philadelphia Eagles and played 11 seasons with the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs as the blocking complement to future Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez.
Brooks: Kentucky high school football underrated
There are three things everyone thinks when they hear Kentucky: Bluegrass, horses and basketball.
But University of Kentucky football head coach Rich Brooks says the nation should be keeping an eye on the state’s football talent too, since the Wildcats have been able to find some true gems in the commonwealth. Brooks, former Oregon Ducks coach from 1977-1994, says recruiting in Kentucky has been a pleasant surprise.
“When I came here, people told me that, ‘It’s just like Oregon, population-wise, and there’s just not a lot of good players in the state. You’ll be lucky to get four or five (recruits) a year.’ That’s been proven totally wrong,” Brooks said in the team’s media day press conference.
“We’ve gotten a lot more players in the state of Kentucky than I was able to in Oregon. High school football is very good here, but there’s also a lot of talent here.
“I think there’s some great football being played here,” Brooks told The Herald. “We’re always trying to keep the best players here. If you look at some of the key people who have helped us turn it around, they’re Kentucky high school products over the last few years.”
Though the state doesn’t have a high school recruit on the Rivals.com top-100 prospect rankings, UK has had a reputation in recent years for finding Kentucky high school talent that propelled the team to bowl wins. Kentucky products Keenan Burton, Jacob Tamme, Andre Woodson, Micah Johnson, Marcus McClinton, Corey Peterson and others kept the team on the rise and relevant as Brooks built the program from ground up.
