University of Kentucky football coach Fran Curci looked on with his star, Warren Bryant, as the Wildcats opened their spring practice on March 6, 1976. Bryant, an offensive tackle, became a cornerstone of Kentucky’s 1976 SEC co-championship team. But the Cats were not crowned co-champions until 1978, when Mississippi State was forced to forfeit all its games from 1976 because of an ineligible player. It is the most recent SEC football championship for UK. Bryant went on to be the sixth overall pick in the 1977 NFL Draft by Atlanta. The 6-foot-6, 273-pound Florida native went on to play 164 games in the NFL, starting 93 of them. During Bryant’s time in Atlanta (he also played five games with the Raiders), the Falcons made the playoffs for the first time in franchise history (1978). Photo by E. Martin Jessee | Staff