Kentucky Football Preview
The Wildcat football team began with a promising start last year going 5-1 in their first five games. With a backloaded schedule, they fell in their last six games and finished 5-7. Kentucky looks to rebound and get to a prized bowl appearance. How will they get there? Here is how the University of Kentucky football team will look for the upcoming season.
The Wildcats will be lead offensively by junior quarterback Patrick Towles and sophomore running back Stanley “Boom” Williams. Towles is poised for a breakout after throwing for 2718 yards and running for 305 last year. Williams was the best out of a solid running back position last year averaging 6.6 yards per carry, according to ESPN. He will split the carries with junior, Jojo Kemp, and sophomore, Mikel Horton.
Fans can expect much improved receivers even after losing two of the top three from last year due to graduation. Junior Ryan Timmons (a Franklin County graduate) and sophomores Blake Bone, Garrett Johnson, and Dorian Baker will lead the wide receivers for the Wildcats.. An old saying goes “the game is won in the trenches” and the offensive line will have much more experience excluding star freshman George Asafo-Adjei. Overall, it should be a much enhanced offensive year for the Wildcats.
Defensively, there will be areas of improvement and some weaknesses. The most glaring weaknesses are the linebackers (mostly outside linebackers) and the cornerbacks. Talented junior linebacker/defensive end, Jason Hatcher, is suspended for the first two games to damage an already depleted linebacker corp that needed help, so they will look for someone to hold them over until Hatcher gets back. Special teams wise the Wildcats will have to be better for Kentucky to have a good season. They let returns go too far and need to have better coverage on kick returns and punt returns. Overall, I think the football Cats will have a better year full of twists and turns. They will have chances to beat teams they haven't beaten in a long time (i.e. Florida, haven't beat the since 1986), while shocking people in the process. I predict Kentucky to go 7-5 with wins over Louisiana-Lafayette, Florida, Missouri, Eastern Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Charlotte, and Louisville with losses to South Carolina, Auburn, Mississippi State, Tennessee, and Georgia.
Photo by Patrick Towles/Kentucky.com
