The Cincinnati Bengals aren’t leaving any stone unturned ahead of the NFL Draft, and will be hosting a Local Pro Day on Tuesday to try and find any overlooked prospects. There, UAB Blazers quarterback Jalen Kitna is set to participate, per Ben Baby.
Jalen Kitna is the son of the longtime NFL quarterback Jon Kitna. From 2001 to 2005, Kitna roamed the sidelines with the Bengals. It’s that connection that has likely led to his son getting the opportunity at this Local Pro Day.
The goal of a Local Pro Day is to bring in players who either went to school or grew up in the area into the team facility for a workout ahead of the NFL Draft. In most cases, these are players expected to go in the late rounds or be undrafted, who may have slipped through the cracks. However, Kitna will likely bring extra attention to the event, given the controversy that has followed him throughout his college career.
Why Jalen Kitna is Seen as a Controversial Quarterback Prospect
GettyUAB Blazers quarterback Jalen Kitna
Jalen Kitna began his college career with the Florida Gators before being arrested and dismissed by the team. That arrest would lead to five felony charges for child pornography. That came after investigators received a tip that he had distributed illegal images through Discord.
Several months later, the charges against Kitna would be dropped. He had reached a plea deal to plead no contest to two counts of breach of the peace. Those were both misdemeanors, and he would serve six months’ probation.
That controversy would follow Kitna as he transferred to UAB. Then Blazers coach Trent Dilfer put out a statement at the time, explaining the team had done “extensive due diligence” in reviewing the decision to take him on.
For his part, Kitna also put out a statement at the time. In it, he shared that he was grateful for the opportunity and remorseful.
“I acknowledge that I made naive decisions that I deeply regret and have since learned from,” Kitna said. “As a result, I took responsibility by pleading no-contest to second-degree misdemeanor disorderly conduct charges related to those decisions.”
Despite that, due to the nature of what Kitna was arrested for but not convicted of, controversy has followed him. In replies to Baby’s post about the Pro Day invite, one Bengals fan wrote, “Yeah um. Absolutely not. Like please don’t even consider inviting him for a mini camp. Not for a single second. Hard pass.” Another, meanwhile, wrote, “The Bengals are addicted to bad character guys! STOP please!”
Jalen Kitna’s College Career on the Field
GettyUAB Blazers quarterback Jalen Kitna
Coming from an NFL lineage, Jalen Kitna has been playing quarterback from a young age. That experience showed up at times throughout his college career on the field.
In 2022, Kitna played four games, coming in as a backup for Florida. In that limited playing time, he would throw for 181 yards and a touchdown.
Kitna would then land at UAB in 2024, spending two seasons with the Blazers. There, he would play in 18 total games. During that time, he completed 64.3% of his passes for 4,671 yards and 30 touchdowns to 21 interceptions. That was on 7.2 yards per attempt.
Those were two difficult seasons for UAB as a team, going 3-9 and 4-8, respectively. Trent Dilfer would be fired six games into the 2025 season.
Now, Kitna is looking to bring his talents to the NFL level. This appearance at the Cincinnati Bengals’ Local Pro Day will go a long way to seeing if he’s going to get that opportunity to do so.
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