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Kentucky football players certainly have a lot of special fans in Somerset now after what they did to help “save the day” for a youth football camp.

Former UK standout Lynn Bowden was scheduled to be the guest at the Somerset Youth Football League camp last Saturday for the third straight year when his flight got cancelled. League officials reached out to UK defensive back Andru Phillips and UK quarterback Kaiya Sheron, who played at Somerset, to see if they would come to the camp.

“The football camp for SYFL is for grades 1-6, so the ages range between 5-11 years old. It is a great opportunity for the kids to learn and have fun. When Lynn Bowden couldn’t show up this year my son was very disappointed. He was looking forward to seeing him again this year,” said Lela Barnett, who had two sons at the camp.

Sheron and Phillips recruited 11 teammates — DeAndre Square, Jacquez Jones, Juhtan McClain, Chris Lewis, Jamarius Dinkins, Khalil Saunders, Martez Thrower, Jordan Dingle, Jase Bruner, Justice Dingle and Connor Long — to also make the trip to work with the 165 camp participants.

“We were really impressed that the UK players stepped up and took his place when he couldn’t be there. They danced with kids, they sprinted along side the kids, they were just being big kids themselves with the little ones and they loved it,” Barnett said. “Seeing the smiles on my kids faces said it all.”

Barnett said all the players impressed her but Phillips, a sophomore defensive back, “made their day” with what he did. She said he danced with her son Noah and carried him upside down across the field. He also talked a lot to Noah and his brother Rylee at various times during the camp.

“All the guys took time out of their busy schedules to come to our town to help with football camp when they really didn’t have to,” Barnett said. “They were very friendly and we appreciated it very very much.”