Green Bay Packers 2017 Draft: Interview with Northern Illinois WR Kenny Golladay
Hear what Northern Illinois wide receiver Kenny Golladay had to say ahead of the 2017 NFL Draft.
One of the fallacies often repeated in the evaluation of draft-eligible prospects is that size on its own is a skill, particularly at positions that require an athlete to run downfield and catch the football. Long-forgotten king-sized wideouts, such as James Hardy, Limas Sweed and Malcolm Kelly, are just a few of the tall—6-foot-3 and over—pass catchers that not only failed to make a Calvin Johnson-like impact in recent years, but also fell short of carving out roles as ancillary contributors at the next level.
Among this year’s crop of big receivers is a late-riser by name of Kenny Golladay that has been earning the attention of numerous NFL teams in recent weeks, as evidenced by private workouts he’s had with the Lions, Saints and Steelers just to name a few.
At 6-foot-4, 218 pounds with 32-inch arms, the Chicago native not only has the prototypical physical dimensions NFL general managers crave, but he possesses the speed and agility to break free from tight coverage.
His 4.5 40 at the NFL Scouting Combine prompted a number of league decision makers to examine his tape more closely. And what they saw was a physical long-strider that eats up lots of yards with each step, but also exhibits the ability to reel in passes thrown outside his frame, as well the facility to go low and dig out throws.
Golladay’s journey began taking flight when the overlooked late bloomer began mapping out his destiny by accepting the sole scholarship offered to him to play football from the University of North Dakota.
It was quite an adjustment for the big-city student athlete to go from the second-biggest market in the country to the faraway hinterlands of Vermillion, ND with a population of roughly 10,000 residents.
Yet Golladay made the most of his experience by instantly emerging as the team’s best player and went on to prepare a highlight tape of his first two years at the FCS level, which landed him back home at the University of Northern Illinois (NIU).
Though NCAA transfer regulations prevented the towering playmaker from seeing any action in 2014, Golladay wasted no time in getting into his new program’s playbook in an effort to show up both physically and mentally prepared to take on his new challenge.
The 2016 First Team All-MAC selection posted consecutive 1,000-yard seasons and scored a total of 18 touchdowns in his redshirt junior and senior years with the Huskies.
Golladay wasn’t only on the receiving end of the typical goal-line fade routes and jump balls that are expected from 6-foot-4 pass catchers; he showcased his open-field running skills on end-arounds and was also utilized as a special-teams return man.
While the ascending pro isn’t quite yet a finished product in terms of his overall route running and field awareness, he offers an intriguing cocktail of natural traits as a height, weight, speed weapon that just about any offensive coordinator would love incorporating into his offense.
Golladay recently joined Lombardi Ave and shared a few of the struggles he encountered to make it where he is now—only two weeks away from joining forces with an NFL franchise and making good on a life-long dream.
Although the young man was rather guarded in answering some of the questions posed by this writer, he came off as a prudent and meticulous professional that has attained success through continued hard work and sacrifice in addition to his physical gifts.
Fans looking forward to seeing Golladay take the field this fall can expect an extremely driven athlete with clearly defined goals to emerge as one of very best at his position.
Here is the future pro in his own words.