Big Blue Nation to Big Blue, selected by NY Giants in third round of….

Andru Phillips heard his name called on Friday at the 2024 NFL Draft, becoming the first Kentucky player off the board.

Kentucky is on the board at the NFL Draft as defensive back Andru Phillips was the first Wildcat to hear his name called when the New York Giants took him with the 70th overall pick in the 3rd round.

Phillips played in 12 games last season, totaling 47 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and five pass deflections. He had 31 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and five pass breakups as a sophomore.

He played in 38 games for Kentucky finishing with 82 career tackles, 10 pass breakups and three tackles for loss, making him a consistent and solid performer in a much-improved defense.

What really shot him up draft boards was his performance at the NFL Combine. He ranked in the 99th percentile with his vertical and broad jump. That comes from his high school career, ranking No. 1 in the nation in 2020 in track and field as a triple jumper.

On NFL.com, Phillips has a grade of 6.22 which equates to an ‘eventual average starter’.

“Phillips’ tape features a high number of both completions and drops that should have been completions, but that could change in a different scheme and with additional experience. He’s still green, with just two years of real game experience, and often played too loose in Kentucky’s zone cover schemes,” NFL.com analyst Lance Zierlein wrote. “Phillips lacks the anticipation to contest catches at a high enough rate from zone but does have the athleticism to play more man coverage, with the tools to stay sticky on routes. He’s an ardent run supporter with excellent toughness but needs to finish tackles at a higher rate. Scheme fit might be critical, along with proving he can play from the slot, but his best football could be ahead of him.”

Phillips was the No. 8 player in South Carolina when he committed to Kentucky.

On April 12, a 93-page lawsuit was filed against former head swim coach Lars Jorgensen, current UK Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart, and former swim coach Gary Conelly, alleging the University of Kentucky’s complicity in enabling Jorgensen’s violent acts of rape, sexual harassment, assault, and exploitation of female coaches and swimmers. Mark Pope was appointed the new head coach of Kentucky Men’s Basketball on the same day, overshadowing the shocking allegations. Despite reporting by Herald Leader journalist John Cheves, there has been a notable absence of public outcry. Jorgensen has denied all allegations and blamed the “woke” NCAA for targeting him due to his support of former UK swimmer, Riley Gaines. As reported by Cheves, in 2012, UK Athletic Director, Mitch Barnhart, and then current Head Swim Coach, Gary Conelly, received an email from a former colleague and swim coach at University of Toledo, Mark Howard. The email warned them of Jorgensen having previously engaged in a sexual relationship with a student while working at Toledo. Howard stressed that female athletes weren’t safe around Jorgensen. Barnhart never responded to the email and Conelly contacted the former Toledo student and went to her directly. He claimed she stated it was a consensual relationship and that sometimes coaches date their athletes. The matter was dropped. By 2013, Conelly was retiring and Jorgensen was about to be promoted to head coach of the UK swim, again Howard contacted UK with his concerns, again it fell on deaf ears. In 2019, University of Kentucky was, again, contacted about Jorgensen’s behavior. This time by a San Jose State official that was notified Jorgensen had sexually assaulted a woman on the Kentucky swim staff. A week after the complaint was submitted, the Title IX complaint was closed due to the victim declining to speak to a school official. No further investigation was done. If swimming carried the cultural capital of UK football or basketball, we would not stop talking about these allegations. Proof being that popular radio show KSR had Mitch Barnhart on their show April 12 and the allegations were not mentioned, this story has been overshadowed by concerns of who will Mark Pope bring on as his assistant coaches, what transfers he brings in, who is going out and what this means to former UK coach, John Calipari.