“I didn’t have any opportunities to play,” Dennard said. “Not JUCO, Division I-AA or any level.”
But in his final high school game, Dennard shut down Michigan State recruit Keith Mumphrey, who had a few Spartans coaches in the stands watching him.
“They called me on the way home and said they were interested,” Dennard said. “I flew out the next day. I went up on a visit and committed.”
With Mumphrey as his roommate, Dennard started as a true freshman and won the Thorpe Award, given annually to the nation’s top defensive back, as a senior.
And Thursday night he was drafted 24th overall by the Bengals.
Instead of hopping on a plane for an easy flight to Cincinnati for his press conference, Dennard waited until 10 p.m. Friday before climbing into a rented Dodge Charger with his girlfriend Krystle McKay and MSU teammates Jeremy Langford and Kurtis Drummond. The group drove through the night from Dennard’s home in Macon, Ga., and arrived in Cincinnati at 6 a.m. for an 11:30 a.m. press conference.
“Driving up here and realizing my dreams have come true, it’s a blessing,” Dennard said. “Coming out of high school I wasn’t highly recruited, but I ended up at a great school with great coaches and great people around there to mature as a man.
“I’m ready for the next journey I’ve got coming,” Dennard added. “I’m just thankful to join this great organization and come in to help the team do whatever it takes to get to the Super Bowl.”
Dennard’s whirlwind day also featured a chance to join second-round pick Jeremy Hill and third-round selection Will Clarke as honorary captains at the Reds-Rockies game and an autograph-signing session in the Bengals Pro Shop.
Like Dennard, Clarke, a 6-foot-6, 270-pound defensive end from West Virginia, elected to drive to town from his home near Pittsburgh.
“Going from the season to all of the draft prep with the (scouting) combine and all of that and then the waiting and wondering during the draft, it was the first time I had to relax in a long time,” Clarke said of his five-hour drive.
Hill, a 6-1, 233-pound running back from LSU, flew to Cincinnati from Louisiana with his mom Lisa and her friend Ron.
“Flying up here, it felt like the weight of the world was off my shoulders,” Hill said. “From the combine to my pro day to then going on the visits and doing private workouts, it was just constant pressure day in and day off.
“I feel a lot more loose and free and I’m ready to get to what the whole purpose of this is, which is to play football.”
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