Vampires are real.

At least according to Kentucky RB Chris Rodriguez Jr. No, not the Dracula-type of vampire. Rather, to Rodriguez, vampires exist on a football field, sucking the life and energy out of teams.

While discussing how Kentucky’s culture has changed over the course of his career during an appearance on Pro Football Focus’s “2-for-1 Drafts” podcast, Rodriguez explained that the Wildcats used to have a few “vampires” on the team, but they’re all gone now (via Kentucky Sports Radio):

“It has changed a lot,” Rodriguez said of the culture around the program. “When I first got here, you could tell everybody was clued in. Over the past few years, everybody has started to come together. At first, we had a lot of people that were doing it, but we had a lot of people we called vampires, where they just sucked the blood out of the team. Like they don’t really want to practice, they don’t care to be there. Even if they’re not playing, like scout team guys, they’re like, ‘I don’t like coming to practice. We don’t do nothing.’

“Now, it’s like everybody wants to be there, everybody wants to help make the team get better because everybody’s trying to get to Atlanta. That’s one of the main things I can really say about the culture around the Kentucky facility.”

Will Kentucky’s improved culture lead to more wins on the field this fall? The Wildcats will face their first major test when Mizzou comes to Lexington in Week 2.