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Kentucky Wildcats: Looking Forward to Football Season

By Ethan Conger

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Last Saturday in the Final Four, the Kentucky Wildcats were denied the opportunity of an unblemished season when the Wisconsin Badgers toppled the Cats, 71-64. The Wildcats were a sheer two games away from reserving a spot in history, a spot that hasn’t been claimed in almost 40 years, when the Hoosiers of Indiana ran the table 32-games deep for a national title.

With devastation widespread throughout the big blue nation, the wildcat faithful are longing for any form of consolation.

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The thing is, unfortunately, that solace may not even exist. At Least not until fall rolls around when the football ‘Cats take the field.

Mark Stoops and the Kentucky football team, after an abysmal 6-game skid to end the 2014 season, are looking to turn the tables this fall with perhaps the program’s first bowl game appearance since 2010, when now NFL pro bowler Randall Cobb was still a Wildcat.

This fall, the expectations for Stoops and his coaching staff are higher than ever. Last season’s 5-1 start for Kentucky just left big blue fans hungry for more football success. Not to mention the Wildcats lost an opportunity to beat heated rival Louisville on their field to clinch a postseason appearance.

This year, the idea isn’t far stretched. Last season, the ‘Cats boasted 3 wins over Stoops’ first season as a head coach at Kentucky. The offseason progress was easy to see in terms of on-field production at least last year. If the Wildcats progress on the same level, they should find themselves not only playing in a bowl game, but perhaps creating mayhem in the SEC east.

Kentucky’s offense last season, although it wasn’t necessarily bad, was an offense plagued with inconsistency. The first half of the season was wondrous for the Wildcats, as they produced 2,773 yards of total offense. Unfortunately, the second half (which coincidentally held 2 SEC west matchups) wasn’t friendly for the ‘Cats, as they only churned out a lackluster 1,841 yards in total offense.

Propitiously, a new mind is at the helm of Kentucky’s offense this coming season. Shannon Dawson, former offensive coordinator for the West Virginia Mountaineers, was potentially the best hire for Kentucky when he accepted the job back in December. While he was with the Mountaineers, Dawson led the nation’s 11th ranked offense, a high-powered corps pushing 502.1 yards a game. Under Dawson, the Mountaineers were also top-tier in passing yards, throwing the ball for 315 yards per matchup (Just imagine what this guy could do with a Quarterback like Towles or Barker!)

Oct 11, 2014; Lexington, KY, USA; Kentucky Wildcats quarterback Patrick Towles (14) warms up before the game against the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks at Commonwealth Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports

After Braylon Heard unexpectedly put his name in this year’s NFL draft, replacing his production has become another task on coach’s old’ offseason to-do list. Fortunately for Stoops, this shouldn’t even be an issue as the Wildcats have one of the deeper running back corps in the SEC. Stanley ‘BOOM’ Williams, upcoming sophomore tailback and young star is looking to make a splash in the SEC. Last year, Boom put up 486 yards in just 74 attempts (6.6 yards per carry) and made more than his fair share of big plays. Last year, Boom was forced to share snaps with 4 other running backs. But after proving himself on each down he touched the ball last season, perhaps he will see the field a lot more, thus produce more.

In the Kentucky – South Carolina matchup last October, Jojo Kemp, another back expected to share the backfield with Boom, boasted 131 rushing yards en route to a 21-point 4th quarter run and ultimately an upset victory over the favored Gamecocks. Kemp showed a spout of what he could do. Sadly, the rest of the season for Kemp was nothing short of a disaster. He didn’t see the field nearly as much as he did in the earlier half of the season, but when he did, it wasn’t anything to remember. In fact, in the seven contests after his South Carolina show out, Jojo only accumulated 33 yards, averaging less than 5 yards per game.

The good news? Throughout spring practice, Jojo Kemp has seemed to get his mojo back. “I have just been focusing on the little things. You know, pass protection, getting better, working on film.” Jojo said about his offseason, “I want to really focus on being consistent throughout the whole year.”

“I WANT TO REALLY FOCUS ON BEING CONSISTENT THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE YEAR”

A backfield of Jojo Kemp and Stanley Williams, along with support from Mikel Horton, has potential to dominate.

The two major departures of Bud Dupree and Za’Darius Smith will be a tough thing to handle on the defensive side of the ball. But that isn’t to say that the two vacancies haven’t been prepared for. Denzil Ware, Alvonte Bell, and Kengera Daniel all have shots at filling the wholes left in the defense by Bud and Z. Ware, coming off of a redshirt, is expected to see the field a lot this upcoming season. The soon-to-be redshirt freshman, was a four-star weak-side defensive end coming out of high school and was ranked among the best in his position at 13th.

Alvonte Bell and Kengera Daniel are two players strongly challenging the end positions on defense as well. Alvonte, a JUCO transfer from Pearl River C.C. is Mississippi, was a highly recruited defensive end. Florida State, Arizona, and Washington are just a few of the schools hopeful of landing Alvonte. Bell was rated as a three-star weak-side and the 11th best among other JUCO transfers in his position. Kengera Daniel, though he will be a true freshman come fall, has been on campus for quite some time. He has participated in practice throughout the spring which gives him a huge advantage in terms of experience over other guys in his class.

Bell, Daniel, and Ware have the potential to blossom as stars in the coming years as Bud Dupree and Za’Darius Smith did.

Big time returnees in A.J. Stamps, Blake McClain, and Marcus McWilson for the secondary will also play a huge role in the upcoming success for the ‘Cats. Not to mention the ‘Cats will have their leading tackler back in Josh Forrest in the upcoming season.

For the Kentucky faithful suffering the grief of the basketball team’s loss last weekend, just know that something good is on the horizon. It won’t be long before its football time in the bluegrass once again.

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