Kentucky Wildcats Football Spring Primer: Linebackers
By Kyle
Spring practices are already halfway over and were getting closer and closer to the spring game.with the offense completed and the defensive line already knocked out, we move over to the linebackers today.
The Roster:
#8 – Josh Forrest – SO – 6’3 / 240 – Paducah, KY
#10 – Tyler Brause – JR – 6’4 / 240 – Sycamore, OH
#22 – Khalid Henderson – SO – 6’1 / 225 – Mableton, GA
#32 – Miles Simpson – JR – 6’2 / 230 – Independence, KY
#34- Kory Brown – JR – 6’0 / 205 – Moncks Corner, SC
#40 – Avery Williamson – SR – 6’1 / 240 – Milan, TN
#45 – Pancho Thomas – SO – 6’0 / 225 – Tallahassee, FL
#49 – Demarius Rancifer – SO – 6’1 / 220 – Pensacola, FL
#54 – Malcolm McDuffen – JR – 6’3 / 220 – Hopkinsville, KY
Walk ons:
#26 – Tre Dunn – JR – 6’2 / 220 – Harrodsburg, KY
Newcomers:
None
The Breakdown:
The linebackers have to start with senior Avery Williamson. He’s been the next player up in an outstanding string of linebackers at Kentucky and is the only truly proven player left on the depth chart there. Williamson can move exceptionally well for a player his size and is a powerful run stopper. As the incumbent middle linebacker, he should be nearly impossible to unseat barring injury. And that’s pretty much where the experience stops.
Juniors Tyler Brause, Miles Simpson, and Malcolm McDuffen all had the luxury of Redshirting early on their careers and will each be settling into their fourth year with the team. Brause started his career at UK as a quarterback before moving to the defense and Simpson started out as a running back before moving to safety and eventually down to linebacker. Of the three, only McDuffen has been playing on defense for his entire college career. More concerning than inexperience, might be the ineptness of this group as well. In limited time last year, each failed to impress the staff enough and eventually Bud Dupree was moved in to play weak side linebacker. Simpson was attempting to replace the graduated Winston Guy, but never quite got the results Guy came up with. Now all three will be vying for positions on the depth chart as their careers at Kentucky are continually nearing their collective end.
The underclassmen are made up of a quartet of sophomores is Josh Forrest, Demarius Rancifer, Khalid Henderson, and Pancho Thomas. Forrest is similar to Simpson and Brause because he also started his career on the offensive side of the ball and was transitioned over to defense not long after. Rancifer is a little undersized at this point but possesses good athleticism for a linebacker and can legitimately play all three positions. Both Forrest and Rancifer redshirted as true freshmen and will be in their third year of campus next season.
Khalid Henderson was thrown into the fire as a true freshman last season. A lack of production from some of the older players forced the coaches to try the undersized Henderson to play out of his natural position and they stuck him at one of the middle linebacker spots in Minter’s 3-4 defense. With elite athleticism, Henderson is expected to make a strong push for the weak-side linebacker position. Thomas played as a true freshman last year do to a combination of ineffectiveness by the older linebackers and his own ability to make plays. He didn’t see a ton of time on the field in 2012 but should make some serious noise on the battle for depth chart positioning.
Tre Dunn is not expected to make a ton of noises his year
The Skinny:
There is an extremely interesting cast of characters. The previous staff struggled mightily at recruiting linebackers and the roster is significantly less “stacked” here than at other positions. Senior Avery Williamson has the middle linebacker position on lock down at this point but both of the other spots are wide open. On the positive side, the cast of linebackers is as versatile as they come. Most of the players can play all three linebacker positions to some extent. On the negative side, this is partially because there has been so much movement on the depth chart in the past and partially because none of the linebackers other than Williamson have even remotely earned a starting job. The trio of fourth year juniors made up of Brause, Simpson, and McDuffen have failed to solidify themselves as playmakers despite extensive opportunities to do so. Junior college transfer Kory Brown played sparingly last season and along with Simpson and Sophomore Josh Forest, will change positions to a more traditional linebacker from the hybrid spot all three manned last season. Brown has impressed early on, but is far from locking a starting position up. Forrest, Williamson, Rancifer and Thomas have limited experience and are all still relative unknowns.
The fact that Kentucky did not sign a single linebacker in the 2013 class shouldn’t be too worrisome. The change from four to three linebackers has lessened the need for bodies. The challenge now becomes finding players talented enough to play in the SEC.
The bottom line here is that there are more question marks at this position group than would be preferred. Avery Williamson alone had 135 tackles last season and the remaining players on this list only accounted for 145 tackles COMBINED. 70 of those came from Miles Simpson. The two outside linebacker spots might be two of the most wide open starting jobs available this spring.
My prediction:
You would need to be on some pretty hardcore drugs to think anyone is unseating a healthy Avery Williamson at the middle linebacker position. He might be the safest bet to start on the roster. The two outside linebacker positions are a completely different story though.
The weak-side linebacker will need to be the most athletic of the three starters and is expected to play in open space, chase down the play from behind, and cover backs and tight ends in coverage. While several of the players on the roster could win this job, I would lean pretty heavily towards Khalid Henderson being the eventual starter. He has the type of elite athleticism that few linebackers posses and was basically thrown to the fire as a true freshman last season. Malcolm McDuffen and Miles Simpson might be dark-horses here, but Henderson is my pick on the weak side.
The strong-side linebacker is a little tougher to predict. Kory Brown has been running with the first team, but I worry that too many are forgetting about Josh Forrest. With prototypical size and phenomenal natural athleticism, he’s my pick to win the starting job by the conclusion of spring, but I’m not as confident here. Pretty much every linebacker is capable of playing this spot and there’s really no telling which one will step out to the forefront this season.