A couple of interesting things to consider about this season and why UK will have a great year on the field.
1. Our rosters has 61 players on it that are freshmen or sophomores. New blood with winning attitudes from their high school programs. Why is youth so important - over 40 of those players have ratings as high or higher than Bud Dupree (5.6) had. I think most people would say that Bud was coached up and did pretty well last year.
2. 2/3 of the projected starters have ratings equal or higher than Bud's was.
3. Our staff has proven it can coach up players who have the basic skills. We have added a new offensive co-ordinator that believes in down hill passing and has inherited a team full of those type kids. One of our lowest ranked players coming in - is not rated equal or above to Bud is Sheim King (5.5) That should also provide a good clue about our overall talent level.
4. None of our kickers - which we have at least two potential all conference kickers are included in the 40 plus list.
5. We have 14 starters returning. Some of the projected starters have already been replaced by some of these new higher ranked younger guys. Many of the replacements really are in their second or third years because of redshirting - which means we have more experience than people are giving us credit for.
6. No matter what people think - we have a quarterback who was at least acceptable back with a lot of confidence and offensive weapons to rely on returning. He has a new co-ordinator who was a quarterback himself teaching and calming him. We also have the luxury to have a very capable red shirt freshman quarterback. Both of these QB's are homegrown Kentuckians - a BIG PLUS for us because of their feelings about the state of Kentucky!
7. Regardless of the future talent on this team - this year has the easiest schedule, for a UK team, that it will have in the near future. The Coaches know this and they are/have been planning for this year from day one.!
Most successful programs have built their teams around redshirting players and then playing them after they have had a chance to develop their bodies to SEC type players and learn the techniques and playbook required to be successful with multiple repetitions. We will be doing this year for the first time. While we still have two more years before we have the "redshirt" depth that Coach Stoops is striving for - we will/should have enough to carry us into the 4th quarter this year. So, how and what does that mean to this year's team? Look back at last year's schedule and you will see/realize how many of those games could/should have been won if we had had some of that depth? We lost at least 2 and probably 3 games we should probably have won last year if we had had this year's squad.
Finally we play 8 home games - EIGHT! All of those game are winnable. 5 are very winnable. Most teams will be overlooking us early as well. Both Florida and South Carolina really believe they are going to thump us. Both fans bases think that last year's games were flukes on our part. They may have been - But this year we will be playing with better and more talent. This coaching staff is geared for winning. This was the first year this staff has targeted as being ready to compete. The recruiting goal for this year's team was accomplished.
The games have to be won on the field - but the ingredients for winning are in place!
Go Big Blue!
1. Our rosters has 61 players on it that are freshmen or sophomores. New blood with winning attitudes from their high school programs. Why is youth so important - over 40 of those players have ratings as high or higher than Bud Dupree (5.6) had. I think most people would say that Bud was coached up and did pretty well last year.
2. 2/3 of the projected starters have ratings equal or higher than Bud's was.
3. Our staff has proven it can coach up players who have the basic skills. We have added a new offensive co-ordinator that believes in down hill passing and has inherited a team full of those type kids. One of our lowest ranked players coming in - is not rated equal or above to Bud is Sheim King (5.5) That should also provide a good clue about our overall talent level.
4. None of our kickers - which we have at least two potential all conference kickers are included in the 40 plus list.
5. We have 14 starters returning. Some of the projected starters have already been replaced by some of these new higher ranked younger guys. Many of the replacements really are in their second or third years because of redshirting - which means we have more experience than people are giving us credit for.
6. No matter what people think - we have a quarterback who was at least acceptable back with a lot of confidence and offensive weapons to rely on returning. He has a new co-ordinator who was a quarterback himself teaching and calming him. We also have the luxury to have a very capable red shirt freshman quarterback. Both of these QB's are homegrown Kentuckians - a BIG PLUS for us because of their feelings about the state of Kentucky!
7. Regardless of the future talent on this team - this year has the easiest schedule, for a UK team, that it will have in the near future. The Coaches know this and they are/have been planning for this year from day one.!
Most successful programs have built their teams around redshirting players and then playing them after they have had a chance to develop their bodies to SEC type players and learn the techniques and playbook required to be successful with multiple repetitions. We will be doing this year for the first time. While we still have two more years before we have the "redshirt" depth that Coach Stoops is striving for - we will/should have enough to carry us into the 4th quarter this year. So, how and what does that mean to this year's team? Look back at last year's schedule and you will see/realize how many of those games could/should have been won if we had had some of that depth? We lost at least 2 and probably 3 games we should probably have won last year if we had had this year's squad.
Finally we play 8 home games - EIGHT! All of those game are winnable. 5 are very winnable. Most teams will be overlooking us early as well. Both Florida and South Carolina really believe they are going to thump us. Both fans bases think that last year's games were flukes on our part. They may have been - But this year we will be playing with better and more talent. This coaching staff is geared for winning. This was the first year this staff has targeted as being ready to compete. The recruiting goal for this year's team was accomplished.
The games have to be won on the field - but the ingredients for winning are in place!
Go Big Blue!
