Kentucky players make surprise appearance at local youth football camp
Ready for a feel-good story on a slow Tuesday? Former Kentucky Football star and current Miami Dolphin Lynn Bowden was supposed to attend the Somerset Youth Football League (SYFL) camp this past weekend, but couldn’t make it because his flight was canceled. When some current Wildcats heard that the camp was in need of a special guest, they sprang into action.
Sophomore quarterback Kaiya Sheron, who led Somerset to a state title in 2019, already planned to be at the camp and, along with sophomore defensive back Dru Phillips, recruited some teammates to make the hour and a half trek south. This morning, a volunteer at the camp called into KSR to brag on the Cats for their good deed.
“From Friday to Saturday night, we had 13 players that showed up to work with our kids and they were awesome. They saved us. Kaiya Sheron, he was a [Somerset High School] Briar Jumper, and Dru Phillips, they helped us call and we ended up getting DeAndre Square, Jacquez Jones, JuTahn McClain, they all showed up and they were awesome. They played with them and it made me really proud to be a Cats fan.”
Larry Vaught spoke with one of the organizers of the camp and has more details. Joining Sheron, Phillips, Square, Jones, and McClain in Somerset were Chris Lewis, Jamarius Dinkins, Kahlil Saunders, Martez Thrower, Jordan Dingle, Jase Bruner, Justice Dingle, and Connor Long. The group spread out on the field to help the record 165 participants through drills.
“Lynn was great at camp but there is only one of him. We had 13 UK players come and truly save the day. They were spread out at every station and doing drills with the kids,” SYFL’s Brandon Brooks told Vaught. “Kids always have a great time with UK players. I think they liked it just as much having more UK players there. It was still the same stations but adding at least one UK player at every station put the camp over the top.”
Two big-time recruits were also in attendance: 2024 four-star twins Jacob and Jerod Smith. The defensive prospects used to be teammates with Sheron at Somerset before moving to Connecticut. Both have offers from the Cats and were on campus last weekend for unofficial visits.
Based on social media, the players had just as much fun as the kids:
Good on ya, boys. Enjoy some photos of the event courtesy of Charlie Crawford. Lots of smiles.
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