Arrowhead Pride
The Kansas City Chiefs are in offseason mode, and the NFL Draft represents one of the most important phases ahead. The Hula Bowl in Daytona Beach, Florida is the first college all-star game of this cycle, featuring draft-eligible players looking to make early impressions.
This week, I traveled to observe practices leading up to Saturday’s game, which kicks off at 11:00 a.m. Arrowhead Time on CBS Sports Network. While players were unavailable for media interviews as anticipated, there was still plenty to take away from watching practices.
Here are five players Chiefs fans should know from the Hula Bowl.
According to Justin Melo of The Draft Network, the Chiefs met with the Syracuse defensive back at the Hula Bowl. He was named a captain of the Aina Team, coached by former Washington Commanders head coach Jay Gruden.
Chestnut finished his redshirt senior season at Syracuse with 48 tackles, three passes defended and one forced fumble. Over five collegiate seasons — including a redshirt year at LSU before transferring back to Syracuse — he totaled 10 tackles for loss, one sack, six interceptions and 17 passes defended.
Early in his career, Chestnut played cornerback almost exclusively on the outside. During the 2024 and 2025 seasons, he transitioned to strong safety and became a more active factor against the run.
Chestnut’s versatility stands out — and is particularly valuable in the defensive scheme of coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.
Among the tight ends at Hula Bowl practices, the UCLA product stood out for several reasons.
Listed at 6-feet-7 in UCLA’s media guide, Habermehl looked every bit of that size compared to others in his position group.
What stood out most, however, was his movement ability. He burst out of his stance efficiently, moved smoothly through his breaks and transitioned naturally into yards after the catch.
As a redshirt senior in 2025, Habermehl finished with 20 receptions for 138 yards after returning from a serious injury that sidelined him in 2024. The previous season, he averaged 16.4 yards per catch on nine receptions and scored three touchdowns.
Habermehl played lacrosse, volleyball and basketball in high school, playing football for only one year. Those multi-sport traits show up in his athleticism at a size where many tight ends struggle to move fluidly.
The name may sound familiar because McCullough’s father is Deland McCullough, who served as the Chiefs’ running backs coach from 2018–20 and is currently the Las Vegas Raiders running backs coach.
While living in the Kansas City area, McCullough emerged as a standout at Blue Valley North High School, earning the 2020 MaxPreps Kansas High School Player of the Year award. After his father accepted the associate head coaching job at Indiana, McCullough transferred schools and later signed with the Hoosiers as the highest-ranked prospect in program history.
In 2022, McCullough was named a freshman All-American at Indiana and earned honorable mention All-Big...
