Kentucky RB Heard to pass up final season, enter NFL draft

Published Jan. 14, 2015 6:30 p.m. ET

foxsports

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) Kentucky junior running back Braylon Heard is passing up his final season of eligibility to enter the NFL draft.

The school announced the decision Wednesday.

Heard rushed for 366 yards and four touchdowns in his only season with the Wildcats after transferring from Nebraska, where he ran for 452 yards and a TD on 77 attempts in the 2011 and 2012 seasons. His first two carries for Kentucky went for touchdowns of 73 and 43 yards in a season-opening win over Tennessee-Martin.

Scheduled to graduate this spring, the 5-foot-11, 189-pounder also caught 21 passes for 108 yards.

Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said in a release that he appreciated the Youngstown, Ohio, native's hard work for the program, adding, ''he has been a model student-athlete and we wish him nothing but the best.''