Kentucky Wildcats Football: Grading the 2011 team
By Kyle
The 2011 Season has wrapped up and Kentucky finished with a less than stellar 5-7 record. The sub-500 record prevented the Wildcats from making a bowl this year and broke a five year bowl streak dating back to the 2006 campaign. Here’s the 2011 report card for the Wildcats:
Quarterbacks: D+
Junior Morgan Newton was supposed to be the answer for the Cats and had been groomed for the starting job for two years heading into the season. A combination of injuries to the offensive line and drops by the wide receivers led to some struggles early that he never seemed to shake. A late season injury forced him out of the starting lineup and he will have offseason shoulder surgery, leaving his future uncertain. Freshman Maxwell Smith was able to excel at times when filling in for Newton and looks like the future for Kentucky at the position. Still, inconsistent play from both quarterbacks leaves one wanting and missing the production of Mike Hartline, Andre Woodson and Jared Lorenzon.
Bright spots for the future: Freshman Maxwell Smith
Running Backs: C
It seemed like another Kentucky running back was injured each week, but there was always someone to step in and pick up the slack. Starter Raymond Sanders went down early in the year and freshman Josh Clemons was able to come in without missing a beat. When Clemons was lost for the year, walk-on CoShik Williams gave the Wildcat offense a capable option at the position. When Williams was nicked up or needed a break, Jonathan George stepped in and carried the load. While the running game was by no means dominant, the ability of Kentucky’s stable of backs to keep a consistent rushing attack going despite injuries was impressive. Nevertheless, there was never a time that the running backs took over a game and willed the team to victory. The competition for the starting job should be interesting this spring.
Bright spots for the future: Freshman Josh Clemons
Wide Receivers: D
The beginning of the season saw the receiving corps really struggle. Junior La’Rod King was expected to be the go-to-guy for the offense and he as well as many other teammates had to fight through drops and poor throws from the first game until the last. Senior Matt Roark will go down as a legend in Kentucky for quarterbacking the team to a victory over Tennessee, but outside of games against Ole Miss and Mississippi State, he struggled too. It also hurt that some of the hopes the staff and fans had for younger players to shine never came to fruition as well. On the positive side of things, every receiver on the roster is expected to return other than Roark and possibly the seldom used Sophomore Brian Adams (who may focus on baseball).
Bright Spots for the future: Freshman Demarco Robinson
Tight Ends: F
For a group of players so supposedly talented, Kentucky’s tight ends have shown very little in the way of results. The blocking effort wasn’t bad from most of them, but only Tyler Robinson seems to have the strength necessary to be an effective blocker in the SEC. The bottom line is, senior walk-on and converted receiver Nick Melillo was the only player at the position that was even close to consistent, and the offense needs more from that. Another position that should have a heated battle in camp, don’t be surprised if sophomore-to-be Ronnie Shields gets an extended look.
Bright spots for the future: None
Offensive Line: C
The Kentucky offensive line was supposed to be a team strength this year, but injuries hampered the unit from fall camp through the midway point of the season. Staurt Hines and Larry Warford are as good of a guard tandem as there is in the country, but they didn’t always play like it and they got little help from Kentucky’s senior tackles. As the year went on and the starting five all got healthy, play improved all the way up to the Tennessee game, where the O-Line shined. The Volunteers knew UK was going to run the ball, but the offensive line was able to open up the holes anyway, despite 8-9 men in the box. Unfortunately, it will take a lot to keep momentum from that game going as the unit will lose senior tackles Chandler Burden and Billy Joe Murphy, senior guard Stuart Hines, senior utility backup Jake Lanefski, and possibly junior Larry Warford.
Bright spots for the future: Darrian Miller
Defensive Line: B
This may seem high for a unit that only tallied 8 of Kentucky’s 20 sacks this year, but the new scheme changes the responsibilities of the big guys up front. The rotation of defensive linemen was able to pile up 21.5 tackles for loss and did a good job of occupying blockers to let the linebackers make most of the plays. That being said, they also let the Kentucky defense give up an average of 183 rushing yards per game to opponents, which is far too much. The unit will have to continue to improve, but as they play in the new hybrid scheme longer, they should become more comfortable. Only Antwane Glenn, Mark Crawford, and Luke McDermott will not return on the defensive line, which brings back five of its six most productive players.
Bright spots for the future: Sophomore Donte Rumph, Sophomore Mister Cobble, Freshman Mike Douglas, and Freshman Christian Coleman
Linebackers: A
The Kentucky defense was not always on top of its game, but senior starters Winston Guy and Danny Trevathan never took a game off and finished with an astonishing 263 tackles, 25.5 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, 6 interceptions, and 2 recovered fumbles combined. While Guy and Trevathan garnered most of the attention, senior Ronnie Sneed and junior ridge Wilson also had productive years as well. There really wasn’t much more you could have asked for from the linebackers in the 2011 season. The biggest problem moving forward for the Cats will be replacing the production of the seniors. Freshmen Miles Simpson and Malcom McDuffen have shown potential in extremely limited action so far this year, but will head into the offseason as mostly unproven commodities. Only sophomore backup Avery Williamson has shown he has what it takes to take over for one of the three seniors just yet. Freshman Alvin Dupree was one of the team’s most promising young players as well, but will have to beat out senior Ridge Wilson for a starting job this coming year.
Bright spots for the future: Freshman Alvin Dupree, Junior Avery Williamson
Defensive Backs: F
The Kentucky defense had a serious weak-link this season, and it was squarely placed in the defensive backfield. The new scheme required a different role from the safeties and juniors Martavius Neloms and Mikie Benton were moved from cornerback to supplant 2010 starters Winston Guy’s move to linebacker and Mychal Bailey’s extended stay in the coach’s doghouse. Both played well at times and showed lapses at times. The cornerbacks really struggled despite both Randall Burden and Anthony Mosley being fifth year seniors. Opponents averaged 13.3 yards per reception against the Cats, which is entirely too high. Hopefully some of the younger players will be able to step in and have a better outing in 2012.
Bright spots for the future: Freshmen Ashely Lowery, Glenn Faulkner, and Eric Dixon.
Head Coach: C
Joker Phillips has been able to end two losing streaks in two years, but the fan base needs more than a 5-7 season to be satisfied. Last year’s team struggled at times and Phillips’ inexperience was exposed at times in both 2010 and 2011. The 2011 team had to overcome key injuries at different points in time this season and was not able to compensate against more talented teams in the conference. An early season loss to Louisville also hurts a lot. For Joker’s grade to be better next year he will need to either get back to a bowl AND beat Louisville, or make a push to a New Year’s Day bowl. In the ever changing world of college football, you’re either getting better or getting worse, and the Cats got worse this year.
Offensive Coordinator: C-
This grade would be much worse if not for the excellent game plan against Tennessee where the Wildcats were able to beat the Volunteers without an available quarterback. The Kentucky offense struggled as badly this season as any year I can remember and the blame for that has to fall back on the offensive coordinator.
Defensive Coordinator: B
Let’s drop the whole “co-coordinator” thing, Rick Minter was running the show here. Usually, a team will need a year or two to get comfortable after switching defensive schemes. Not the case this season. The Linebackers and defensive linemen played well for the most part and had very few of the lapses that Kentucky fans have come to know well. The task now will be to improve next year and replace the production of several key seniors.
Offensive position coaches: C
I thought the bright spots on offense were both coach Steve Pardue’s and offensive line coach Mike Summers’ abilities to overcome injuries at their position and plug in inexperienced players without sacrificing much in the way of production. Quarterbacks coach/OC Randy Sanders job preparing Maxwell Smith and Matt Roark should be commended, but Morgan Newton’s struggles hurt quite a bit. Tee Martin’s receivers were a serious weak link in the team, but should improve in time.
Defensive position Coaches: C-
David Turner’s defensive line did a decent job this season despite a change in scheme and philosophy. Linebackers coach Chuck Smith had yet another outstanding year and continues to churn out excellent players despite fielding a staring four of players rated as 2-star recruits (Danny Trevathan and Ronnie Sneed), a 3-star prospect (Ridge Wilson), and a converted defensive back (Winston Guy). Steve Brown’s defensive backs really struggled this year and he is no longer on the staff.
As with any report card, there are way too many Cs, Ds, and Fs this year for anyone to be totally satisfied. Hopefully we can see more As and Bs next year, which will likely mean there were more Ws as well.