Kentucky Wildcats Football: It’s Football Time in the Bluegrass!
Sept 8, 2012; Lexington, KY, USA; Kent State Golden Flashes running back Dri Archer (1) runs for a touchdown against Kentucky Wildcats cornerback JD Harmon (15) at Commonwealth Stadium. Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports
Today was the day for Kentucky football players to report to campus with practices starting tomorrow.
We should find out pretty soon about who made it to campus and find out more about some of the new walk-ons (coaches can’t discuss freshman walk-ons prior to the season due to them not having actually signed with the school). Depth charts will start popping out. Practices will mostly be closed, but fans typically find out some good tidbits as Fall camp unfolds.
The 2013 recruiting class will be mostly intact. As of right now, the only players expected to be academic casualties are OL Justin Day and DL Alvonte Bell. Day has already expressed his intent to re-sign with UK after two years of junior college. Bell has been quiet. Neither player would likely have contributed much, if at all, this season therefore the losses don’t sting too much. Should Bell not rejoin the Wildcats down the road it will be disappointing. He was a 4* prospect with a ton of upside, drawing comparisons to Jason Pierre-Paul. If you want to look for a silver lining from this, it does free up two more scholarships for the 2014 class.
Once the depth charts start to leak out, people always get upset because their favorite player isn’t starting (Morgan Newton) or their favorite whipping boy (Newton/Matt Roark) is. Just remember that the depth chart after week one or two likely won’ be the same as game-day versus WKU. And on offense you can expect to see a lot of substitutions among the skill position players. Nearly every receiver, running back and tight end will play this season. Depending on who wins the job, you may even see a little rotation at quarterback, with Whitlow having his own package of plays.
Most fans don’t give much thought to walk-on players and understandably so. What are the odds that a player who had no FBS scholarship offers will become a contributor on an SEC team, even a poor one. But every year there are dozens of heart-warming stories about a kid overcoming the odds to impact a season. Kentucky’s defense was porous last season but they would have been even more so if not for JD Harmon. It shouldn’t surprise you if Austin Sheehan becomes a contributor in this offense. Newcomer Cameron Fogle nearly earned a scholarship and former UK baseball player Lucas Witt certainly has the athleticism to contribute to a thin receiver core.
Finally, this is when we traditionally find out about players who could not stay eligible and therefore won’t play this season. Usually ones that plan to stick around, as transfers are typically announced whenever they happen. Unfortunately it sounds like there will be an academic loss when the roster is released and at a position of need sadly. There have been subtle signs over the last few weeks, such as the player’s jersey number being taken by a newcomer, but today was the first time anyone has actually said anything about them not currently being on the team.