Kentucky Wildcats Football: Is there another Sam Maxwell on this year’s team?

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Most UK fans remember former Cat Sam Maxwell. He was a senior in 2009 and had a monster season that year that saw him tally 80 total tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, and a whopping 6 interceptions. What fans may not remember is that Maxwell only had 58 total tackles and 1 interception in the three years prior to his breakout senior season. He came to Kentucky as a lowly two-star recruit out of Hartwell Georgia and didn’t attract much attention at first. He was primarily a special teams player for his first two seasons and saw some spot duty as Johnny Williams’ backup at strong-side linebacker on defense. Going into his senior season, Maxwell was basically thought of as a stopgap between Williams and whoever the next great linebacker would be. It’s hard to blame fans for not thinking much of him though. His presence was overshadowed by Wesley Woodyard, Braxton Kelley, Micah Johnson, and Williams and a promising young linebacker named Danny Trevathan. While most of us thought the strong-side linebacker would be a weak link in the defense that year, Maxwell ended the season as one of the best players on the entire team. So after he spent four seasons (including his redshirt year) in Lexington as an afterthought, he managed to use his last year to really shine.

The 2012 season should feature 16 seniors (by my count). Of those 16, eight are incumbent starters from the 2011 season, three saw extensive action on the field last year, and one is a walk-on special teamer. That leaves five players that have played sparingly enough to this point in their career to warrant consideration as a Sam Maxwell type player. Here are the top candidates: