Kentucky Wildcats Football: Reasons to fall in love with the Wildcats
By Kyle
It’s Valentine’s day has arrived and most of us have been scrambling to get cards, candy, or even jewelry for that special someone in our lives. At the same time, the Kentucky coaching staff is scrambling to get commitments from players they love for the 2014 signing class. For today’s post, I’m highlighting some of the new reasons fans should fall in love with the Kentucky football program.
Mark Stoops
When Kentucky hired Stoops late last year, it seemed like a home run hire right off the bat. The Wildcats needed some energy injected into the program and Stoops wasted no time doing just that. He broke the mold by going after top assistant coaches and challenged the culture by pushing for big changes in the culture surrounding UK Football and targeting recruits generally off-limits to the Cats. Stoops was able to generate enough public excitement to encourage legislature members to fund improvements, jump from the #61 rated recruiting class to #28, and create so much buzz around the program that the Cats are being talked about on a national level. Hiring a coordinator to make the jump to head coach is always risky, but early returns on the University’s hiring of Mark Stoops look extremely promising.
Facilities
It’s not like Kentucky’s facilities are horrible, but they need to be top-notch to compete in the SEC. After decades of ignoring their cash-cow, the Athletic Department and the University are finally doing everything humanly possible to take the Wildcat Football program to the upper echelon in the conference in regards to facilities. Upgrades to Commonwealth Stadium are a start, but improvements to practice facilities, the recruiting process, and revenue generating luxury boxes are all things that can take Kentucky football to the next level.
DJ Eliot
The defensive ends coach followed Stoops from FSU to become the team’s defensive coordinator and wasted no time in putting his stamp on the program. He ventured out to recruit Ryan Timmons (an offensive player) before the team had even hired its offensive coordinator. Eliot was instrumental in the addition of Jason Hatcher and might have single handedly changed the way UK is viewed at talent-rich Trinity High School in Louisville. He is young and intense and brings a completely different feel to the defense. Maybe most importantly, Eliot has abandoned Rick Minter’s jumbled mess of a defense and is transitioning the Wildcats back to a simpler 4-3 scheme. DJ Eliot is a name few were familiar with 6 months ago, but it looks like he might be a household name in the near future.
Neal Brown
How does an Athletics Director top hiring the nation’s #2 defensive Coordinator as the team’s he’s coach? He convinces the nation’s #2 offensive coordinator to pass up head coaching opportunities to come to Kentucky in a lateral move. Brown’s high flying offense helped Texas Tech become one of the most feared offenses in the country and could be absolutely deadly when paired with the Stoops/Eliot defense. Kentucky fans can get excited for the return to exciting football and rooting for one of their own as Neal Brown (from Danville) returns home to his native state. On top of it all, Brown is a young and exciting recruiter that has infused the formerly stagnant UK offense with excitement.
Marketing
After sitting in the shadows of the basketball program for the last century, Kentucky football is finally getting some attention. YouTube videos, billboards, and even a Super Bowl commercial have shown the University’s renewed commitment to promoting the football program. No longer do fans have to scour message boards to find the date for the spring game. No longer will the headlines and commercials only talk about the successes of the basketball Cats. The football program has generated millions of dollars for the University and is finally getting its due.
Recruiting
This sort of branches off of Stoops, Brown, Eliot, and the rest of the staff, but I can honestly say I have never seen excitement surrounding recruiting like I’ve seen in the last two months. The Wildcats cut their national ranking by over half with less than 45 days to piece together a class and managed to sign players away from Ohio State, Nebraska, Florida, Texas, USC, Kansas State, Oregon, and even Alabama. Four-Star players Jason Hatcher, Marcus McWilson, Jojo Kemp, Ryan Timmons, Jaleel Hytchye and Za’Darius Smith highlighted the class, but Kentucky’s three star signees were also better than they have ever been. One top of it all, the staff has shown that they are scared of no one and received a commitment from one of the nations top 2014 recruits (DE Denzel Ware) on Tuesday. It is starting to look like the Wildcats have finally broken through the recruiting barrier and will be throwing their weight around with the big-boys for the first time in a long time.
Have a happy Valentine’s day!