John Calipari already knows who the leaders for his 2013-14 Kentucky Wildcats Basketball team will be

Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

With the football season now just three weeks and a day away, it’s time to play the anonymous coach comments game.  Athlon Sports talked to SEC coaches and got their comments on the Wildcats and most were surprisingly positive:

"“Towles is a talented kid. He was pretty highly recruited. He did a great job in his first game against Mississippi State, driving them down the field, but then got hurt. He’s a hometown kid and a fan favorite. I think he can be a pretty good player. My gut is that he is the guy who gets the job, but don’t forget about Max Smith. He was playing well before getting hurt last year.” … “I’m sure (Mark) Stoops will come in and attract some talent. The fact of where Lexington is and his ties to Ohio, you will see an outside-the-box thinking as far as recruiting. They will get some players from Ohio. He already has done a good job in that state.” … “Stoops is well regarded as a defensive coordinator. He did a great job at Florida State. People forget, that defense had been struggling before he got there.”"

It’s interesting as I have been saying that I think Towles has a legitimate shot in camp to win the job as well, but we shall see.  Even though it was an anonymous comment piece, this comment has to be Spurrier, right?

"“Kentucky, for the past few years, hasn’t had anybody that’s scared you on offense, on the perimeter or at running back. When your best player is your right guard (Larry Warford), that’s probably a little bit of a problem.”"

Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports

WR will obviously be an area of concern and I just saw an interesting stat that not a single returning receiver caught a TD pass last year. Let’s just say that all positions are up for grabs. And there is a ton of work to be done.

"“I’ve never been in something like this, where there is no returning anything, really,” wide receivers coach Tommy Mainord said. “There’s a lot of unknowns. We’ve got a whole bunch of guys in this group that we don’t know a whole lot about. So I think it’s more exciting than any group I’ve ever had, because there’s so much that can happen in the next three weeks.” Much of what happens during those three weeks of camp, however, will be determined by the two months that came before. On campus for summer classes during that time, players did their best to simulate the tempo with which Brown wants them to play in 7-on-7 drills. Three practices in, the difference that’s made compared to spring ball is plain to see. “Everybody’s a lot more in shape,” Robinson said. “We don’t have to focus so much on fundamentals. Everybody seems to be bringing what we learned in April to now.” Better isn’t good enough for Brown though. “It’s been OK,” Brown said. “We’ve gotta get a lot better. It’s the hardest thing. When you’ve trying to get new guys – and we’ve got a bunch, as you all know – it’s the hardest thing to get them accustomed to is the tempo we’re playing at. And really probably, if you came out here and watched, it’s not bad, but it’s nowhere near what we want to do, it’s not near the pressure we need to put on the defense.”"