Reaching dreams
Linebacker Bud Dupree soon will realize two life goals: becoming an NFL draft pick and a college graduate,
Bud Dupree spent four years at the University of Kentucky dreaming about accomplishing two major goals.
Now, in a span of 10 days this month and into early May, both will come true. First, Dupree will hear his name called during the NFL draft — likely as a firstround pick — at Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre. He will be back in Lexington, Ky., on May 9, hearing his name read aloud again as he receives his bachelor’s degree in community leadership. The outside linebacker is expected to be Kentucky’s first first-round pick since 2003, and he’ll be the first person in his extended family on his mother’s side to receive a college degree.
“I feel like both are amazing accomplishments. I’ve been looking forward to the draft since I was a little kid,” Dupree told USA TODAY Sports. “But at the same time, graduating from college is a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”
A conventional decision for a draft prospect of Dupree’s stature — a physical specimen at 6-4 and 269 pounds who was clocked at 4.56 seconds for the 40-yard dash — would have been to put school on hold. He could have left Lexington after wrapping up his senior year and fall semester, moved somewhere warm to train and focused exclusively on draft preparations. He could have eventually finished up his degree.
But Dupree figured he could train and study — and that four hectic months would result in the best week and a half of his life.
“It’s not just making myself proud, it’s making my family proud,” Dupree said.
Getting ready for the draft and graduation hasn’t been an easy process. It required time management as Dupree juggled four classes and an internship along with an intensive physical train- ing plan to prepare him for the NFL scouting combine and his pro day. Kentucky’s strength coaches and trainers developed a predraft plan for him, and Dupree squeezed in his workout sessions around his heavy class load.
“I would go to class first, and as soon as I got out of class I’d go work out. I may be working out real late sometimes; sometimes I had to work out real early in the morning. I just had to make sure I got it done,” Dupree said.
It also required understanding and patience from his professors as Dupree had to miss classes while traveling across the country for visits with NFL teams.
“When I’m traveling, I keep up with my teachers and they work with me the best they can,” Dupree said. “I try to do as much work as possible in the short time I have.”
Dupree has been in demand, with visits to at least nine teams, including the Baltimore Ravens, St. Louis Rams, Dallas Cowboys and Atlanta Falcons, as he has tried to convince teams he’s worthy of being in the discussion of the best edge rushers in the draft. It’s a crowded group, with talented pass rushers such as Florida’s Dante Fowler Jr., Missouri’s Shane Ray and Clemson’s Vic Beasley expected to be high-firstround picks.
“What makes me different from those guys is I’m bigger and faster than all those guys. I’m more explosive than all those guys, and I can play the run and the pass, and I show a lot of cover skills,” Dupree said. “My numbers probably don’t show it as much as those other guys, because I played in a scheme where I put myself after my team and didn’t worry about myself personally. I made sure I did what the scheme told me to do.”
Indeed, Dupree might be the rawest player among the top edge rushers. He had 231⁄ career sacks
2 in four years at Kentucky, including 71⁄ as a senior. So as teams
2 are comparing Dupree’s game tapes to the others’, it could be more difficult to predict his NFL potential.
“His workout numbers are ridiculous,” ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay said. “God only makes a handful of these type of guys, so you have the tools there to develop, there’s no question about it.”
McShay said his concerns about Dupree involved his instincts and that he thought Dupree’s reaction time was slower while he was “diagnosing ” plays.
“I think he has improved. Clearly, he’s a hard worker. Everyone I talk to says he works hard in the film room and transfers it — or he’s learning to transfer it to the field,” McShay said.