Willie Cauley – Stein showing the value of coming back to Kentucky Wildcats Basketball

Mandatory Credit: Steve Dykes-USA TODAY Sports

Matt Elam picked up some hardware as he was named the winner of the Paul Hornung Award, which goes to the state’s top player. UK commit Drew Barker was also thought to be a contender for that award. However, Barker and Elam are the top contenders for Kentucky’s Mr Football award.

Barker has become the de facto leader of the 2014 recruiting class and despite Matt Elam’s overtures to Alabama on Twitter, Barker still thinks that Elam is going to be a Wildcat.

"Barker is perhaps UK’s biggest recruiter — even more than offensive coordinator Neal Brown who is the coach assigned to Elam’s recruiting — and the two in-state stars have become close friends. They’ll both make official visits to UK Dec. 13 along with most of the other commits in UK’s 2014 recruiting class. Elam is also scheduled to make an official visit to Alabama in December. Barker, who picked UK over South Carolina, has been confident for months that Elam, who dislocated the patella in his left knee late in the season but does not need surgery, will pick Kentucky when he makes his announcement on Jan. 4 at the Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio. “A lot of people are getting nervous. That’s just what Matt wants,” Barker said. “He wants everybody on their toes. That’s why he does the stuff he does on social media. He loves having fun. He has everybody in the position he wants. But I am not one wavering. He’s coming to Kentucky. “I talk to him three or four times a week. He’s a great guy and good person. I know everybody in the recruiting world is saying his recruiting is turing to Alabama. That is exactly what Matt wants to do, get everybody up in the air on where he’s going. I am still going with UK. I have a good feeling about him. He will be with all us commits Dec. 13-15 and that’s going to be a big weekend. But I still say he winds up at Kentucky.”"

Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports

If there was one thing that came out of the end of UK’s 2-10 season, it was the emergence of RB Dyshawn Mobley. With the addition of the RB’s from the 2014 class, the RB position was going to be a strength. Now Mobley is hurling his hat in the ring for 2014 playing time. Mark Stoops is definitely paying attention.

"Mobley scored on a 69-yard run at Georgia and then had a 53-yard run and a career-high 143 yards in the season-ending loss to Tennessee. He finished the year with 300 yards on 43 carries, an average of a team-high 7.0 yards per attempt. “I told my team at halftime I was going to lay it all on the line. I told them I was going to go out there and have fun,” said Mobley after the Tennessee game. Sophomore quarterback Maxwell Smith says there has never been any doubt that the 5-11, 210-pound Mobley, a record-setting back during his prep career in Tennessee, could run the football. He ran for 3,068 yards and 48 scores as a senior and had 5,849 rushing yards and 76 touchdowns in his prep career. “We all know he can run the ball really hard. He’s got talent, but he has other stuff that he needs to work on and things that he needs to show the coaching staff,” Smith said. “He played great. He ran his butt off (against Tennessee). He ran really tough, and that’s who he is. He goes out every day on special teams and just balls. He is a baller and tonight he showed that he can play.” Stoops admitted he was “impressed” with the way Mobley finished the season. “I love the way he’s playing. He’s going all out and it’s good to see. He’s got great passion for the game,” Stoops said after the Tennessee game. “You could see that when he’s going down there and busting his hump on special teams and doing all those good things, so I’ve been pleased with Dyshawn.”"