Photo Courtesy: Dallas Cowboys
FRISCO, Texas — Dreams began to materialize on Friday as the 2021 draft class began rookie minicamp at the Star in Frisco. Rookies donned their silver and blue jerseys for the first time as they hit the turf. Since getting a call from Jerry Jones, their lives have become a whirlwind. The next chapter begins in Dallas. For second-round draft pick Kelvin Joseph, building camaraderie and refining technique have commenced.
“Being on that practice field for the first time, it was great,” Kelvin Joseph described to local Dallas media. “Just meeting all my teammates, bonding, building a brotherhood, learning who they are and what they like to do. And then with my coaches, just learning their coaching style, learning how they want me to move… It’s just a blessing because I’m just going to take everything, they give me, put it with what I already have, and it’s just going to make me a whole better player.”
He is beginning to soak up every detail. Joseph fills a critical position of need for the Cowboys and will join the competition in Dallas’ secondary. In Lexington, Joseph was the outside cornerback in Mark Stoops’ scheme in 2020. At Kentucky, he posted four interceptions (team-high, second in SEC) in nine games and led the team in passes defensed with five. Joseph showcased his athleticism to shadow any type of receiver on routes with tremendous balance. He has solid ball awareness and will be an upgrade in the Cowboys’ last line of defense. The former Wildcat may be looking to build a brotherhood in Dallas, but it is on the foundation of one already set.
Joseph was freed up by a big man in the interior in 2020: Quinton Bohanna. He was a bully inside Kentucky’s defensive line plugging multiple gaps and taking on double teams. Now the two are teammates once again with the Cowboys. Joseph got to see a familiar face on the practice field and greet the man that became his motivator at the college ranks.
“Once I transferred from LSU to Kentucky, me and Quinton we clicked,” Joseph emphatically said to D210Spotrts. “I told him my goals and my dream- I wanted to play in the NFL. I wanted to do one year and basically, he knew what we had to do. He already had the Kentucky blueprint and he just accepted me in and showed me the ropes like around school, just becoming a better leader. As a teammate, he always motivated me and we motivated each other like somebody gets down, he going to make sure, he come up to me, ‘Come on. Let’s get it done. Keep playing full speed. Go catch an interception.’ I tell him, ‘Go get a sack.’ We just feed off each other.”
Now the goals of both have come to fruition and the two can elevate one another on football’s grandest stage. Iron sharpens iron and Joseph is ready to make his mark with the Dallas Cowboys.
