Kentucky Wildcat Football: Brighter Days Lie Ahead

Sept 8, 2012; Lexington, KY, USA; Kentucky Wildcats wide receiver DeMarcus Sweat (83) runs the ball against the Kent State Golden Flashes at Commonwealth Stadium. Credit: Mark Zerof-US PRESSWIRE

No one thought the 2012 Kentucky football team would be sitting at 1-3 heading into their annual showdown with Steve Spurrier and the South Carolina Gamecocks, a game that has traditionally been very competitive when held in the confines of the Commonwealth, where the  last 7 contests have been decided by an average of 5 points and, no game decided by more than 7 points, meaning every game essentially came down to the final possession.

No one is talking about that though. Everyone is too focused on when Patrick Towles will play, if UK can secure funding for future renovations, and who would be the head coach at Kentucky other than the man who currently holds that title. At not even the one-third mark of the season, most have already written this year off and are looking to what the future may hold for a program that from 2006-2010 made 5 straight bowl games, but will now have gone consecutive seasons with no postseason play if the Cats can’t rally to 6 wins this year.

There’s still plenty of reasons to keep watching, keep supporting, and keep cheering on these young group of Cats. This is arguably the deepest group of talented freshman and sophomores seen at UK since the days of Andre Woodson, Jacob Tamme, Keenan Burton, Wesley Woodyard, Rafael Little, Ventrell Jenkins, Marcus McClinton, Braxton Kelley, and Dicky Lyons were all freshman or sophomores on a 2005 squad that went through very similar struggles, going 3-8 and people questioned if there was any hope for the futre of UK football in the ever-growing SEC.

Now we see the likes of Max Smith, DeMarcus Sweat, DeMarco Robinson, J.D. Harmon, Cody Quinn, Daryl Collins, Jalen Whitlow, Dyshawn Mobley, Alvin “Bud” Dupree, Ashley Lowry, and Darrian Miller all making up the core of this UK team while only being freshman or sophomores. Even if these young group of Cats are faced with a new set of leadership in the near future, they’ll still have ample time to blossom into the gifted players they appear destined to become. Yes Cat fans, the future is still very bright, so whatever the rest of 2012 holds, let us not ever stop supporting these young group of Cats, and continue to build toward a bright future.