Kentucky Wildcat Football: So What's Going On This Offseason?

Wrong Pigskin Trophy…

After the weekend that was, it is hard to come back to a regular work week and be excited, especially with the new deluge of rain that has visited Lexington for the last two days. But looking at the vents that occurred, I would take 5 straight days of precipitation for the day we had on one of the most beautiful days I ever had in my lifetime. There were 3 posts on the subject on this site alone in the matter of 12 hours after that game, so I will save you from any more of that (even though my good grace didn’t save me from a massive headache of the self inflicted variety on Sunday). But today I find myself looking at the calendar and wondering when something of interest will slide across my proverbial desk in the football world. Since there won’t be any news of bowl placement or buildup towards that, I will instead focus on the individuals who made this season what it was and who’s looking at them.

Ryan Tydlacka- Was named the SEC Special Teams Player of the Week for the first time in his career, which is a shame because he has been the only thing keeping the Cats’ head above water some weeks, and even then wasn’t enough sometimes. But it’s nice to see the senior get some recognition for his efforts and even though there won’t be any post season awards for him, you can bet he’ll at least get looked at for a kicking gig on Sundays. Is it time to embrace the Punter U nickname?

Danny Trevathan- One of the sadder casualties of the lackluster season produced this year, cheated off the Butkus award list by voters who just look at the box scores on Sunday rather than the stat lines, but after yet another 17 tackle week (his third in a row), the senior was recognized with only minor B.S. awards and has even been graded out at a 41 (out of 100) by the supposed draft guru Mel Kiper. I urge you to check out his prospect page and look at the absolute lack of attention paid to this young man. “Needs to do a better job of avoiding traffic in pursuit”? Really? Poor show, Kiper. Shameful stuff. I’m sure this will be changing soon but the folks at ESPN have only had Kiper unfrozen for a few days now and he’ll realize how dumb of an evaluation that is.

The Offensive line- Much maligned and often injured this year, this group really came through for the last few games and protected a quarterback who had enough on his mind and helped a wide receiver run for 124 yards while only knowing 5 plays at the position. Stuart Hines, Larry Warford, and Matt Smit all have the best chances of getting to the NFL based on their size, but don’t count out Billy Joe Murphy; I would love to hear that name being called just for the sheer humor in such a country name.

Winston Guy- As much as I talked trash about him this season, I have to say: he went out like a man. He was a tackling machine (but not an actual machine) and his last year saw great changes and production as a football player. His draft prospects will be shaky at best, he’s too small to play linebacker and his coverage skills were the reason we slide him up to the front anyway. Hopefully some team likes his skill set and think they can teach him how to cover, nobody else could.