Terrion Arnold and Kool-Aid McKinstry Not Buying Competition For First Cornerback in Upcoming Draft
The Alabama Crimson Tide football program took a pause on spring practice on Wednesday as NFL scouts descended on Tuscaloosa to check out the draft eligible talent from last year's roster at Alabama Pro Day.
Alabama has produced 79 NFL first round draft picks with 44 coming during legendary coach Nick Saban's tenure. The 2024 draft class looks to extend a 15-year run of a Crimson Tide player in selected in the first round and put a cherry on top of Saban's already impressive draft numbers.
The 2024 Alabama draft class boasts blue-chip prospects at tackle in JC Latham and edge-rusher in Dallas Turner, but it may be the pair of corners that go to show the success of the Saban system.
Kool-Aid McKinstry and Terrion Arnold have been joined at the hip since the very beginning of their Crimson Tide careers. Both were elite high school athletes excelling at both football and basketball. In fact, for brief moments in their recruitment there were whispers that each would try their hands at college basketball as an elective, but nothing materialized.
The pair started the last 21 games opposite one another in the Alabama defensive backfield and have each seen their name ahead of the other at various points in the last 12 months leading up to the draft.
McKinstry entered last season as more likely to be selected first, but Arnolds meteoric rise in value has propelled him into discussions to be the first cornerback selected in April's draft.
"That's my brother man, I wouldn't even say it's competing," said McKinstry on Arnold after performing at Alabama Pro Day on Wednesday. "We do this everyday. We've been doing this since we got here. We look at it like we're making each other better."
The pair's athleticism was on display on Wednesday as they ran the 40-yard dash, participated in defensive coverage drop drills and more in front of a handful of NFL general managers and various scouts.
Arnold and McKinstry can join the likes of Kareem Jackson, Dre Kirkpatrick, Dee Milner, Marlon Humphrey and Pat Surtain as first round corners from Alabama if the board falls correctly.
"When we came in here we took a pact here to each other and said we were going to motivate each other to become better and push each other to become better and we did that. He really held me to a high standard, held the team to a high standard. I can't tell ya'll what he said in the game, but that guy right there is a true competitor," said Arnold of McKinstry.
There can only be one selected as the first cornerback in April's NFL Draft but the pair were unified at Alabama's Pro Day that they were not in competition with one another, but instead unified in helping the other improve and reach their goals.
McKinstry complimented Arnold's mental approach to the game and the strides his taken in his personal maturity off the field. Arnold pointed out the toughness that McKinstry added to the team, highlighting the foot surgery the Pinson Valley High School star is scheduled for on Friday to repair a Jone Fracture.
The pair went as far as to poke fun at any detractors looking for holes in their friendship as they've each helped the other develop their careers to this point.
"Like I just told them, you're [Arnold] my brother. I love you to death, like my mom had you," said McKinstry. "That's a different type of love. I don't know why people try to do that to us because we're brothers."
