Kentucky Wildcat Football – Filling the Holes: Defensive Line

We’ve finally gotten to the side of the ball that made the collective stomachs of Kentucky fans everywhere turn. The throwback to the Mike Archer days of “bend, then break” had me shaking my head in confusion, wondering what the hell happened. The disappearance of Dequin Evans and the fact that our line got opened up more than Lindsay Lohan’s legs made for a painful season, despite the fact that we have a robotic killing machine at linebacker.

I finally have to admit that Mark Crawford was not as much of a factor as I had predicted, but he will be returning for a senior campaign so maybe my prediction was a year too early (I’ll say anything to avoid admitting I was wrong). Unfortunately the three other starters on the line are graduated and gone, leaving an already thin on experience defensive line even thinner. Fortunately another returning starter is Luke McDermott, ho burst onto the scene last year and with one more year of Rock Oliver’s program under his belt, should be productive enough that people will actually remember that we have two D-tackles on the field (as opposed to last year). Mister “Stop calling me Mister Mister” Cobble came back for the bowl game and looks to plant his 6’2″ 300+ lb frame into the starting rotation. To survive in the SEC means you must have a solid 4-man (minimum) rotation at DT of players that can stop the run, or at least take up blockers and allow TackleBot 5000 (otherwise known as a Trevathan) to use his laser guidance system and get to the ball.

But what about the QB rush? Also a stomach turning venture when you look at the numbers. 21 sacks this season was good enough for 80th in the country and let me make one thing crystal clear: that is unacceptable. We are in the SEC people, the premier conference in collegiate athletics and to be tied with Central Michigan is embarrassing. In defense of the Cats, Florida was also tied with us down there but when you look at allowed rushing yards per game the Gators ranked 27th in the nation whereas the Cats were down at… you guessed it, 80th. The ends need to create more pressure, which can take the stress off the secondary and Winston “Hey, it’s that Armless” Guy. Taylor Wyndham, otherwise known as my favorite defensive end since I graduated college, looks to come in as the incumbent starter on one side but the other side will be contended for by sophomores to be Tristian Johnson and Nermin “Shedding off the Eastern Bloc-ers” Delic.

Fortunately for Rick Minter there are many young players on the defensive line ready to train and strengthen for the rumored eventual transition (aw crap) to a 3-4 defense. Even better is the recruiting classes coming in, with three star recruits Christian Coleman, Shaq Love, and David Washington coming in and with each weighing in at over 250+ as freshman they have the size to potentially play the 3-4. Sorry Steve, but this is Rick’s show now and you can either choose to stick around and learn a thing or two or you can pout and leave with absolutely no sort of stock strength or momentum. The 3-4 switch is just another sign that the times are ‘a’ changin’, to quote my friend Bob Dylan, and you can either embrace it or run. But the defensive line play must improve to compete and the athletes we have are capable of doing it. Now let’s see if we can teach them to succeed.

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