Kentucky Wildcat Football: Where Will We Upgrade?

We have had a long cherished tradition at Kentucky of playing any decent freshman and burning through their eligibility quicker than Jerome Simpson’s stashbag. This can lead to some successes (see also: Randall Cobb) and some not so successful, but playing freshmen is a sign of a coach that doesn’t like what he sees when he looks down the bench, but it could also mean that recruiting has simply not kept up with attrition. Which where we find ourselves currently; hopefully Joker isn’t unpleased with what he has on the roster, after all, he recruited them. In a repeat of 2008, a largely tepid offense returns it’s playmakers but finds itself looking ahead to the task of potentially having to win games while the defense does everything they can to do anything. Losing 5 seniors in the defensive backfield will hurt, but Mikie Benton and Martavius Neloms will come back and Glenn Faulkner will be coming off his redshirt, so there’s not much to get worked up about there. But when you look at what is happening in the linebacking corp, things get very saddening.

Yes, we all knew we would talk about this day, but the time as come when we no longer have The Cyborg on our team. But you had no idea how bad it was after that. Gone is Ronnie Sneed, and you find Ridge Wilson and Avery Williamson as the only upperclassmen. If you don’t know who Avery Williamson is, it’s okay, most people don’t. Highly touted recruits Tim Patterson and Josh Forrest come off their redshirts but the last freshman that I can remember that had success as a linebacker in the SEC just left the roster. The defensive line seems to be in good hands as well, with Mister Cobble and Fonte Rumph bulking up another year and hopefully (We pray to Randall Cobb, amen) bolstering the run defense. Rick Minter will have his job cut out for him but not as much as Randy Sanders, whose job is the one I would not want for 2012.

Not only is their a huge QB controversy brewing for the beginning of summer workouts, but he also has the small task of ensuring that the line will come out looking much sharper than last year. Fortunately that is one area where we will have some depth, but as we all saw last year, not having a consistent rotation can lead to protection and flow issues that we all groaned through. The line will still have plenty of experience, but playmakers will still be in a bit of a shortage entering camp next year until we see who steps up in the summer. The venerable Josh Clemons will be returning from his injury, and our backfield will not be changing much from last year, which could be considered an upgrade but until I see some stronger running from Raymond Sanders, now entering his upperclassmen stage, I’m not calling him dangerous yet.

Wide receivers….aren’t they the ones that catch the balls? Last I saw they were taking snaps, but whatever works. The Savior of the Streak has graduated, but La’Rod King is more than capable of taking that torch. But Daryl Collins can hopefully come back and prove that he was the huge steal that everyone claimed him to be and take some double coverages off King. I’m not even going to talk about the tight ends until I see one catch more than 10 balls.

Looking at the depth chart, next year seems to hold hope that all of the next-gen stars that we had supposedly recruited in the last few years will blossom into serious producers. I fight, even now, to get excited about next season until I see anything (because I got excited about this season and was let down more than Rick Perry in Iowa) but it looks like 2012 will be a good year.