the former TE for the Wildcats and runner up for Mr.. Football & Mr. Basketball in KY and teammate at both UK & Highlands of Jared Lorenzen is getting married today.....Congratulations Derek!!!
Derek Smith
- Thread starter wldctky
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I think he was drafted by the Colts, later for the Bengals, and end up signing with the Rams but he didn't report. Because he had a couple of years of college basketball eligibility he played for NKU, and later played a game against Kentucky. Just read this article, I actually didn't know this.
he got screwed over by Mumme twice, first he promised him he could walk onto the basketball team and then didn't let him...second, he red shirted an entire season, the starter got hurt badly in a bowl game Mumme put him in and he lost a whole year of eligibility...he got mad and entered the draft and shouldn't have ...he obviously wasn't ready
Oh so that’s why you became a Bama fan in football while keeping “True Blue Faithful” in basketball.
EAD
Smith played his final year for Guy Morris not Mumme. He was splitting time with Chase Harp at TE. Morris told him that he badly needed to work on his blocking if he wanted to make it in the pros. Smith didn't take the advice and went pro with a year of eligibility left. I got the idea that there was some friction between the two.
https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/kentucky/2001.html
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Mumme was still coach when Whalen got hurt in that bowl game...best guess he would have tried to go pro then but there was some stupid 3 and done rule..that prevented that
The bowl game vs. Syracuse that you are talking about was the 1999 team (Mumme's 2nd to last year). James Whalen was a senior and Derek Smith was a true freshman. Smith caught nine passes for 112 yards that year (5 catches were in the bowl game). After the season, he was no where near ready for the pros but also locked out due to his being a freshman.
The next year (Mumme's last) Smith caught 50 passes for 716 yards and was the second leading receiver on the team. Smith's third year he ended up splitting time with Chase Harp due to "blocking issues" in Morris' system. Smith's production fell to 30 catches for 396 yards. After that third season, he left for the pros. It didn't seem the he and Guy Morris were a great fit for each other. I have no doubt that you are correct about him not being allowed to play basketball.
https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/kentucky/1999.html
https://cuse.com/sports/2006/2/7/musiccitybowl1999.aspx
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