Operation:Win is officially 58 days away from kicking off, and like any well-run military operation, you have to get your assets in place prior to deployment. General Joker has established base camps all over his outer territories, and is preparing to unleash his first offensive on the eastern river front. God I can’t keep that crap up anymore.
Seriously though, we are less than 60 days from Sept. 4th and a date with the new look Cardinal football team (still on life support) and speculation is running rampant. Will the maturation of our skill position players giver Joker enough confidence to open up the playbook in the 4th quarter? Will our talented but inexperienced defense be able to keep up with our offense, or will we have to usher in a new era of Mumme-ball, seemingly letting the opposition score just so we can get it back and score again? Will we be able to prevent the ghost of Ortmayer from opening up our inner blocking formation for another blocked punt? In my humble blogging opinion, the answer is yes.
Looking at the most productive year of Jokers tenure at UK (2007), you can see a few similarities to this year’s team. A big, physical former JUCO WR like Chris Matthews, a solid backfield with highlight reel potential in Derrick Locke, and a 5th year QB to get them the ball. Unfortunately, Hartline did not make the Woodson Jump and transform into a world-beater, but his season last year was getting better until the injury sidelined him. His knowledge and strength will only have improved during the off-season (maybe we can throw past 25 yards now? Please?) and will be able to get the ball into the hands of his play makers. One thing the 2007 squad didn’t have was the god-like power of Randall Cobb. Keenan Burton might have been a more accomplished wide receiver, but Cobb has everything else. The “Little Mann” of Tennessee is more than ready to accept the leadership role and live up to the pre-season all-SEC hype, but he knows it’s about perfecting the art of playing the position he will eventually play in the NFL. WR coach Tee Martin (freshly accepted into my heart) has been going over film and technique with him, and Cobb says it has been paying dividends.
We can only hope that the defense, being forced to replace half of the starting lineup, can hit the ground running. The battle will be won on the defensive line, and replacing 3rd round pick Corey Peters will be more difficult than a lot of fans realize. We’re all expecting senior Shane McCord to make an impact, butone name I feel will get mentioned a lot more as the season starts is junior Mark Crawford. An NFL sized body (6’1″, 307 lbs) makes for a good start, but the inception of Rock Oliver’s new strength program is bound to help anybody looking to put on some muscle. Winston Guy has to start showing up this year, as well as the rest of the secondary. Let’s hope we can get a defense ranked better than 9th in the SEC, because if we can I have a very good feeling about this year. But it still might be my excitement over Ortmayer getting canned.
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