UAB’s Tejhaun Palmer drafted by arizona cardinals
Photo by Ken Shepherd
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - April 27, 2024
Tejhaun Palmer became the 18th player in UAB football history to be chosen in the NFL Draft. Palmer was selected by the Arizona Cardinals on Saturday in the sixth round with the 191st overall pick in the draft.
Palmer, a 6-1¾, 210-pound Milwaukee native, becomes the third wide receiver in UAB history to become a NFL draft choice. Roddy White was a first-round selection by the Atlanta Falcons in 2005 and JJ Nelson was selected by the Arizona Cardinals in the fifth round of the 2015 draft.
Palmer said earlier this week that he expected to be drafted. The Cardinals weren’t one of the teams that he had a visit or zoom call with during the draft process.
“I’m very excited,” Palmer said at the time. “I’ve been dreaming about this since I was a little kid. Now that I have the opportunity, I’m definitely going to maximize whatever I get. I’m looking forward to rookie mini-camp to just be able to show my talent and show the coaches I can actually be a valuable player to their team and I can actually produce.”
Palmer, also a basketball standout in high school, played two seasons at Snow Junior College in Utah and three seasons with the Blazers. His most productive season at UAB was in 2023 when he caught 47 passes for 858 yards with seven touchdowns.
He will join a familiar face on the Cardinals roster. Former UAB cornerback Starling Thomas V just finished his rookie season in Arizona. Thomas played in 12 games with starts in the final eight contests.
Former UAB safety Jaylen Key was also selected on Saturday. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound Key, who played his final college season at Alabama, was chosen with final pick of the seven-round draft by the New York Jets. Key was the 257th player chosen in the draft.
Key played in 43 games over four seasons at UAB. He had 74 career tackles with 60 of those coming in a breakout 2022 season. Key also hd three interceptions in 2022. He participated in spring practice in 2023 before entering the transfer portal. Key had 60 tackles in his lone season at Alabama.