Thomas, a 6-foot-8, 303 pound Wisconsin Giant has chosen to spend his draft day on the lake with his father fishing. Darby, meanwhile, relaxed as ever, plans to take it all in from the comfort of home.
“I’m not even worrying about it,” Darby says of this weekend’s NFL Draft. “I’m not all uptight worrying about what round I may go in.”
Tom Marino, Scout.com’s Draft expert pegged Darby as a first-day selection going to Tennessee with the #188th overall pick in the sixth round by the Tennessee Titans.
Apparently, that interest has been reciprocated by Tennessee, who’s in dire need of a durable RB, regardless of what current free-agent RB Chris Brown decides.
The St. Louis Rams, as well as, perennial AFC contender New England have also shown interest in the Huntsville, Alabama product.
“I’ve talked to a few teams, like the Rams and the Patriots,” says Darby. “Basically, nobody’s really saying anything much different. There all saying pretty much the same thing. Everybody sounds the same and everybody sounds interested.”
And as far as having a preference for his new home, KD hardly hesitates.
“Believe it or not, man, I like the Rams and the Titans. [I like] their style of play, especially the Rams. I like the way they run the ball,” he says. “They pound it,” Darby continues. “They can flip it up on you and throw it around. They’ve already got one back who brings a lot to the table [Stephen Jackson]. “I’m thinking it would be better if they had two good backs,” he says with a slight chuckle, “him and me.”
According to Darby, his ability to catch passes out of the backfield, as well as, his pass blocking prowess has perked the interest of NFL scouts.
“That’s what most scouts like about me. I can catch the ball out of the backfield and pass block pretty good.”
An All-SEC performer his sophomore and junior seasons, Darby entered his final season on the Capstone/at Alabama as one of the conference’s premiere backs. After a sharp decline in his numbers in 2006 210/835/0, Darby has also seen a dip in his draft status.
As a sophomore, Darby broke into the starting lineup when the Crimson Tide’s no.1 RB, senior speedster Ray Hudson was lost for the season after suffering a knee injury against Kentucky less than midway through the season.
The offense hardly missed a beat. In his first start, Darby burst onto the scene rushing for 197 yards and a TD against Southern Mississippi. Despite being sidelined by a painful sports hernia following the LSU game in late November, Darby had established himself as one of the SEC’s marquee RB’s, rolling up 1,021 yards on 219 carries (4.8 ypc).
His junior season, a career best for Darby or K.D. as he was known by his teammates at Alabama, a 5-foot-10, 211 pound slasher, carved up opposing defenses for 1,242 yards on 239 carries and three TD’s. Demonstrating his versatility, Darby added another 132 yards receiving on 29 receptions.
Darby’s entered his third and final tour of duty with the opportunity to become the first back in Alabama ’s storied history to rush for 1,000 yards in three consecutive seasons.
Instead, he hardly got going.
Hampered by nagging injuries and the illness of his father, Winston Woods Jr., who was diagnosed with lung cancer last summer, Darby, managed only 835 yards, averaging only 3.9 yards per carry. On November 20th, his father passed away. Just two days after the Crimson Tide lost its fifth-straight “Iron Bowl,” to bitter intrastate rival Auburn.
Despite incessant questions from fans and media types throughout Alabama , Darby pressed on, never offering a shred of an excuse for some of the demons plaguing him in 2006.
“It’s kind of hard to even explain that man,” Darby said earlier this week when discussing his senior year. “Your going out there every Saturday thinking we’ve got to win,” he said, “but in the back of your mind you know your not 100% but you’ve still got to play. Then, you’ve got other stuff going on back home with your family that you’ve been dealing with for some time, yet you’ve got to shut it all out and just play. Sometimes I could do it and sometimes I couldn’t do it. It was just hard trying to balance all of that out. It was exhausting to me and my body. It just took a toll on me.”
Undaunted, Kenneth Darby pressed on.
“Seriously, the only thing I’ve been doing is working out, running and staying in shape. Another thing I’ve also been doing is praying a lot. I’m more of a spiritual man myself. I just stay clam. I’ve got a lot of peace man I’ve got peace, not that I might go, but peace that I will go [on the] first day, so I’m not even worrying about it.”
Sounds like Kenneth Darby has all the help he needs.