Kentucky Wildcats Football: Where has the team improved?
By Kyle
We’re deep into the offseason now and I thought I’d take today to look at Kentucky’s roster and try to gauge where the Cats will be better or worse in the coming season. Of course, this is all my opinion, but I’m basing it on starters returning, new players added to the roster, and spring performances.
Quarterback – BETTER
UK returns last year’s initial starter in Morgan Newton and, while he’s recovering from injury, there is some hope that he’ll be ready to go by the season’s start. More importantly, Kentucky returns Maxwell Smith. Smith took over for Newton and had a promising stint as the team’s starter despite being a true freshman. An offseason of taking snaps with the first team can only help his development. In addition, heralded recruit Patrick Towles should arrive in less than a month and could give both a run for their money.
Running back – BETTER
Kentucky returns everyone except Brandon Gainer to their stable of backs. Josh Clemons, Ray Sanders, and CoShik Williams saw the majority of the snaps this past season, and should see most of the snaps this season as well. Jonathan George had a breakout performance in the spring and freshmen Justin Taylor and DyShawn Mobley will arrive this summer as well. While I was a fan of Gainers, he was the fifth string back when he left.
Receivers – BETTER
Kentucky returns every receiver but Matt Roark, who had his ups and downs. LaRod King, EJ Fields, Gene McCaskill, and Aaron Boyd will all be seniors, so they should have all improved in the offseason. Possibly more importantly, Demarco Robinson and Daryl Collins will be in their second year with the program and both are expected to make huge leaps forward this fall.
Tight Ends – BETTER
Kentucky will have three juniors at the position between Tyler Robinson, Jordan Aumiller, and Anthony Kendrick and all have seen the field in the past two seasons. Ronnie Shields had a breakout spring and it appears that the staff is planning to use the position more in the passing game.
Offensive Line – WORSE
I really like Darrian Miller, Zach West, Matt Smith, and Larry Warford, but there is some concern here. Smith and Warford are seasoned veterans, but Miller and West are very young and projected starter Kevin Mitchell has little in the way of experience. I still like the starting group for 2012 better than last year’s group. The problem here will be depth and there was an obvious lack of said depth in the spring game. The offensive line will likely have two or three true freshmen added alongside of the other young players and Kentucky will probably had its greenest line in recent memory. I think that the future of this group is VERY promising, but the line will have to take its lumps this year.
Defensive Line – BETTER
Kentucky returns every player that saw meaningful snaps at defensive end and only lost backup defensive tackles. Losing Luke McDermott and Mark Crawford does hurt some, but a bigger, stronger, more experienced Donte Rumph and Mister Cobble make up for their departures. Add to that that UK is adding several talented defensive linemen when the freshmen arrive and the defensive line should be the team’s biggest strength.
Linebackers – WORSE
There’s no two ways about it, linebackers’ coach Chuck Smith will have his work cut out for him. The graduation of Danny Trevathan, Ronnie Sneed, and Winston Guy hurt enough, but Ridge Wilson’s dismissal put this group over the top. The wildcats will now be forced to replace all four starting linebackers and only junior Avery Williamson has seen extended time on the field. Miles Simpson, Malcolm McDuffen, and Alvin Dupree are all promising, but all are only going to be sophomores this season. Once again, the future looks bright, but there will likely be some struggles as the young players acclimate into their new roles as starters.
Defensive backs – SAME
You would think this one would be a WORSE, but I don’t see it that way. Sure Kentucky lost both starting cornerbacks and several backup corners and safeties to graduation or attrition, but the new talent washes that out in my opinion. Marcus Caffey has been so promising since being moved from running back that he’s already won a starting job and both starting safeties and their top backups return. Adding the incoming recruits might actually push this one to BETTER, but it’s hard to expect a lot from freshmen.
Special Teams – WORSE
I like Craig McIntosh and Joe Mansour, but you just don’t lose a guy like Ryan Tydlacka and get better. Incoming freshman Landon Foster brings big expectations with him and Kentucky has several capable returners, but the Wildcats have a big hole to fill at punter.
Once again, these are just my opinion, and subject to change as the offseason progresses. Make sure to check out WBN on Sunday afternoon, where I’ll have a in depth look at Kentucky’s history recruiting different regions.