For reasons that are unimportant here, I re-watched the UK vs. U of L game from 2008, when UK won 27-2. As I watched, I remember hearing people post that this year's OL was horrible, the worst, etc. As a very long time UK football fan, I didn't believe it because, I thought, Hal Mumme's teams had very little talent in the trenches; surely we have less talented OL's than this year's OL. In 2008, against Louisville, our starting OL was: Gary Williams - a 2 Star recruit who ended up being in the NFL; Zipp Duncan, a 2-star recruit who came to UK as a TE; Jorge Gonzales, a 2-star recruit; Justin Jeffries, a 2-star recruit. The highest ranked starting OL on that team was Jess Beets, a low 3-star guy who was listed at 6' or 6'1" / 273 pounds but looked 5'10" and about 225 lbs. (But he was nasty!) In 2015, Toth was supposedly our best lineman but he's also the lowest ranked (2*). Everyone else who played was 3* and some (like George A-A) were high 3*'s. (Admittedly, I couldn't find Mosier). That 2008 OL did fine against Louisville, even with Mike Hartline making his first start and U of L had some future NFL guys on their defense. I found it interesting. If nothing else, it confirmed my thought that this year's much-maligned OL was at least not the lowest-rated OL ever. I suspect they're among the highest-ever rated, at UK.
Another observation watching that game. Our defense literally dominated a U of L team that had, with the exception of their QB, some really great skill guys, including some future NFL'ers. The reason? We had a dominant front 7, with Jarmon, Jenkins, Myron Pryor (the star of the game) and Corey Peters. Jarmon, Jenkins and Pryor were all 2* to low-2*. Same for Braxton Kelly and Johnny Williams at LB. Defense directly accounted for 2 TD's and indirectly for a 3rd TD. Another reason they dominated was that U of L had a strong-armed, very inaccurate QB named Hunter Cantwell who threw at least 3 interceptions, at least two of which were because of slow decisions leading to late, inaccurate throws.
Another observation watching that game. Our defense literally dominated a U of L team that had, with the exception of their QB, some really great skill guys, including some future NFL'ers. The reason? We had a dominant front 7, with Jarmon, Jenkins, Myron Pryor (the star of the game) and Corey Peters. Jarmon, Jenkins and Pryor were all 2* to low-2*. Same for Braxton Kelly and Johnny Williams at LB. Defense directly accounted for 2 TD's and indirectly for a 3rd TD. Another reason they dominated was that U of L had a strong-armed, very inaccurate QB named Hunter Cantwell who threw at least 3 interceptions, at least two of which were because of slow decisions leading to late, inaccurate throws.
