Kentucky Wildcats Football: Friday Update

The period of the Summer without football news is coming to a close soon, it won’t be long

until fans have practice reports and depth charts to dissect in anticipation of the 2014 season. But for now, we are all still scrambling to find little nuggets of information to get through. So just like the dead period of the Summer, here are some nuggets to get you through your Friday:

• The biggest thing to know is that tonight is Kentucky’s Friday Night Lights Camp. A handful of prospects with offers will be on campus , including five-star RB Damien Harris. Commits CJ Conrad, Luke Hiers and Alex Stump are expected to be on hand doing a little recruiting. Don’t be surprised if others show up. Conrad built a good relationship with Harris at The Opening. Some names to watch include George Brown, Von Davis, Ryan Davis, Kei Beckham, Sheldrick Redwine and Amonte Caban. All are potential commits and all are absolutely takes. Also don’t forget that former commit Marcus Walker will be on campus with Hiers and is down to Kentucky and Arkansas. He is expected to commit shortly after visiting. South Florida commit Karan Higdon is also expected to be in attendance. He is an all purpose back and his recruitment shouldn’t affect Harris.
• It was announced Monday that senior linebacker Miles Simpson would be giving up his final season of eligibility due to lingering issues from a hip injury. The former starter finishes his career with 84 tackles, most of which were amassed during his sophomore season, when Mile started 11 games under Rick Minter.
• Kentucky released a pre-season depth chart this week, which would normally be news but this one appears to be the same one that ended the Spring and has a host of “or”s on it. The depth chart also doesn’t include any of the new players who have enrolled over the Summer. The 2014 class is expected to be litter the two-deep, so their exclusion is notable.
• Senior wide out Javess Blue missed the Spring with injury and some fans were concerned with his availability for the season. Well fear not, Blue is taking part in Summer workouts and is tearing it up. The senior has developed a sense of urgency and is pushing his teammates to match him.
• Speaking of injured receivers, it’s still early but both Jeff Badet and Alex Montgomery are expected to be back in time to play this season. Badet (broken leg) earlier than Montgomery (ACL).
• Former Wildcat tight end Jordan Aumiller has joined the staff as a graduate assistant, a role he should thrive in.
• It was announced during SEC media days that the conference will now assign teams to lower-rung bowl games, rather than the bowls having their pick of eligible schools. It could be a boost for Kentucky, the SEC is very familiar with the Big Blue Nation and their tendency to sell out venues.
• Following media days, it seems like some members of the media outside of Kentucky have more faith in the Wildcats that the locals do. UK was mentioned as a surprise team or bowl contender on several occasions. In reality, the schedule sets up favorably and Kentucky almost has to be improved on offense, so the Cats could put together a nice season if the defense doesn’t take a huge step back after losing Avery Williamson.