Hoping Koback can redshirt

[bballcat4]

I'm hoping the combination of Snell, King and Rose allows Koback to RS this year. Rarely can a team make it with 3 rb's.

• I'd love to have 2 years between Snell and Koback. I think he's going to be another special one.
• I'd like for him to have another year with limited hits.
• I doubt Bowden will play RB. He'll probably see some action from the WC package, but don't think we'll see him line up behind the qb.
• The new rs rules allows for more playing time before losing your redshirt.

I know Ala stacks 5 star running backs on top of each other, which usually only allows them to be the featured back for one year before turning pro. These guys want to go pro as soon as possible because of the short shelf life for rbs in the NFL. So, there's little to despair about if Koback plays this year, but still would like to see him rs if possible.

Someone update me on how much any player can now play and still qualify for a redshirt.

 

[RV2]

Ain't happenin' barring injury. He's a special player and folks are going to realize that pretty soon.

The new red shirt rules don't take effect until 2018.

 

[seccats04]

We'll be very fortunate to go through the year using only three RBs. Especially since one is 172lbs. I think it's highly probable that Koback plays.

 

[vhcat70]

I'm hoping the combination of Snell, King and Rose allows Koback to RS this year. Rarely can a team make it with 3 rb's.

You're wishin & your logic contradict each other.

 

[catscratchfever3215]

You're wishin & your logic contradict each other.

Kind of what I was thinking. Why would you want someone to redshirt if they are going to leave as soon as possible. That would only give us 2 years of service time instead of 3.

 

[3kidsandme]

I hope koback is so good he passes King and Rose.

 

[Caveman Catfan]

Ain't happenin' barring injury. He's a special player and folks are going to realize that pretty soon.

.

this

 

[Deeeefense]

If Koback is healthy and in football shape he can definitely help the team this year. and will be needed in the rotation. I'm not worried about losing a player to the NFL that hasn't played his first snap yet. Even if this guy does overachieve, fans should not worry about his longevity here, as we are already out recruiting guys just as good that will take his place in due time. That's the difference between the Kentucky teams of the past and the current team, outstanding talent is no longer the exception, rather it's becoming the rule. Williams leaves for the NFL and we have Snell to step in, Snell will leave for the NFL and we will have Koback, Rose or someone else stepping in, and so forth.

 

[bballcat4]

You're wishin & your logic contradict each other.

Wishing and logic usually contradict each other.

My wish is for Koback to redshirt for the reasons listed above.

Logic tells me we can't make it with just 3 rb's. Someone above stated that redshirting Koback would only give us 2 years of playing time. I agree with @Deeeefense, let's pump the brakes on putting him in the NFL before he takes his first college snap. My NFL reference in the OP was that Ala (and other top programs) stockpile very good rb's. (Granted, as a long time UK fan I'm not used to us stockpiling talent at any position ; -)

If Koback is too good to keep off the field then it doesn't make sense to rs him. But, I don't want to waste a rs year because of a lack of depth.

 

[bballcat4]

Ain't happenin' barring injury. He's a special player and folks are going to realize that pretty soon.

The new red shirt rules don't take effect until 2018.

Thx for the info. I'm still curious to see how the new redshirt rule will impact how coaches approach it.

 

[Caveman Catfan]

If Koback is too good to keep off the field then it doesn't make sense to rs him. But, I don't want to waste a rs year because of a lack of depth.

Even if he is 4th string going into the season, it will not be because he is behind by far or truly "behind." He brings a dimension that I don't think the other 3 bring. I could see him climb the depth chart, but I suspect the talent level is high among the four and we will see Gran use all four. I seriously doubt his RS will be burned because of a "lack of depth."

RSing a talented RB is not going to give you 4 years of play with that RB. I think the staff is recruiting with the intention of RBs being NFL prospects. Horton was a good RB, but Williams and Snell were exceptional college RBs and Kemp more reliable. Stoops said he could see Rose being an every down back in the SEC. That is quite a statement for a RB who has yet to take his first game snap.

I think Rose, Snell and Koback could be exceptional. I think King is very good by UK standards and suspect he brings a dimension the others do not with a Kemp sort of reliability. I see him getting situational snaps even if the other three have exceptional potential. He also seems to have developed a toughness that gives me confidence.

 

[vhcat70]

Wishing and logic usually contradict each other.

When you wish that logic prevails, it's not at all contradictory. Too often emotions prevail - a pet peeve of mine.

 

[vhcat70]

But, I don't want to waste a rs year because of a lack of depth.

You're not wasting an rs year if you need a player's help; i.e., depth.

 

[vhcat70]

Thx for the info. I'm still curious to see how the new redshirt rule will impact how coaches approach it.

I believe it doesn't take affect till 2018.

 

[greginky1957]

I believe it doesn't take affect till 2018.

It seems to me that this rule has not been voted on yet but that it will possibly be voted on and put Into effect in 2018

 

[southindycat]

I hope koback is so good he passes King and Rose.

I'll be honest. I just don't get excited about SEC RBs under 190#. King is a ST artiste and bit player from scrimmage in my mind. We need Koback healthy just to sport a legit 3 man rotation, though I freely admit King can take some work from scrimmage, in the right situations. Do I want him in the game on 4th and goal from the 1? Can I find 10 situations in a game that seem well suited to his skill set? The other 3???

 

[TBCat]

The only way Koback redshirts is if he's not ready to play. Even if the 3 above him on the depth chart are that good we are still one injury away from not having adequate depth. You need at least 4 backs at the beginning of the year to feel safe that you will get through the season. We would need a 4th back among our walkons that we feel good about. I don't think that situation has materialized. As we saw in the spring once Rose got hurt we had basically no running game when Benny was out. Koback's redshirt got burned when Boom made his ill-advised decision to leave.

 

[Blue Decade]

Ain't happenin' barring injury. He's a special player and folks are going to realize that pretty soon.

The new red shirt rules don't take effect until 2018.

Agree. Koback is healthy, and he will play this year. We need 4 running backs to be ready to play in games. Snell, Rose, King, Koback. Koback will be the next in a long line of outstanding UK running backs.

 

[Wvvrn]

I'm very excited about Mr Koback. Seems to have everything you'd want in an SEC RB. We'll see how it works out but it would be extraordinary if all of the RBs make it through the season completely injury free. Stoops had the outstanding combo of Boom and Snell and there were still a good amount of carries left for Kemp. This season it's projected that Rose will take Booms role and King will take Kemps carries so that means any injury would force Stoops to rely on Koback some unless he wants to wear out Snell/Rose (the walk ons will only get pt if things get truly desperate).

IMO the chances of Koback red shirting are less than 5% if he comes in healthy and in shape (which everything I've read says that he will be). I believe he will have some big moments this year in limited pt which will give us a little teaser of what the future holds. My eyes and my gut says he's going to be really good. Finding talent at RB has been one of this staffs biggest strengths imo: Kemp, Boom, Snell have all been great pickups and I think we'll be able to add Rose and Koback to that group soon. King has potential to be solid as well. We're gonna have a quality over quantity situation with the RBs this year.

 

[Blue Decade]

We'll see how it works out but it would be extraordinary if all of the RBs make it through the season completely injury free.

With exception of Moe Williams' UK career and Artose Pinner's senior season, I don't remember another season when all of our key running backs got through every game injury free. Won't happen this year either. In this offense, we need 4 running backs ready to play. And Koback is a much better player than most people realize.

We're gonna have a quality over quantity situation with the RBs this year.

We are going to have both, quality and quantity.

 

[Grumpyolddawg]

If a RB is good enough to play there isn't much use to RS him, several years back UGA had 3 good backs, all three got a shot at the league, 2 played for a couple of years. Richt decided to redshirt a back named Knowshon Moreno, who ended up being a better college back than either of them, we had him for 2 seasons and he left. His pro career wasn't much but he was a heck of a college back.

Almost all RB's leave if they feel they have a shot at the league, see Boom for example. I was shocked Chubb and Michel decided to return for a 4th year, but they did.

But this new redshirt rule, I am not sure I like it much from a parent's standpoint. As we all know scholarships are granted for 1 year for the most part, at the end of the year in games that are decided one way or the other a coach can put a kid in and let him audition for his renewal. I use to think that would hurt you in recruiting, but Bama has been processing kids for 10+ years and have finished in the top 2 all 10 years. Has to be because those kids feel it won't be them getting processed out. I don't think all coaches will do that, but I believe we have a couple in the SEC who will use it that way.

 

[Comebakatz3]

It seems to me that most teams use just 2-3 running backs. Very few teams have 4 guys rushing the ball over 30 times in a season. Take Georgia for instance... they had Chubb, Michel, and Herrien as their three guys. Chubb ran the ball 224, Michel 152, and Herrien 63. After that they didn't have anyone carry it more than 20 times, and the closest was McKeinzie, a WR, who carried it 19. Next guy had just 3. Tennessee had Kelly, Kamara, and Hurd as their three guys and all had over 100 carries. After that the next guy had 14. Alabama is one team that does break that mold with Harris, Scarboro, and Jacobs being the top three, and then the fourth had 35, but they had the luxury of using backups in a number of games.

Yea, we'll be lucky to get through the season without injuries, but it is very possible and if we can save a guy to help us in the future then it might very well be worth trying to redshirt him. The great thing is that it doesn't really hurt to try. Just because you try to redshirt a player doesn't mean you have to keep them redshirting.

 

[Sparkaces1]

If Bowden is the wildcat QB, then he will basically be a RB won't he? I mean we ran the wildcat 5 straight times on several occasions last year.

 

[jtownbandit]

How about last year.

 

[jauk11]

If Bowden is the wildcat QB, then he will basically be a RB won't he? I mean we ran the wildcat 5 straight times on several occasions last year.

I think UK's Wildcat loses some effectiveness because the D knows we are running the ball 95% of the time. Even with Cobb, that was a high school QB.

 

[bballcat4]

It seems to me that most teams use just 2-3 running backs. Very few teams have 4 guys rushing the ball over 30 times in a season. Take Georgia for instance... they had Chubb, Michel, and Herrien as their three guys. Chubb ran the ball 224, Michel 152, and Herrien 63. After that they didn't have anyone carry it more than 20 times, and the closest was McKeinzie, a WR, who carried it 19. Next guy had just 3. Tennessee had Kelly, Kamara, and Hurd as their three guys and all had over 100 carries. After that the next guy had 14. Alabama is one team that does break that mold with Harris, Scarboro, and Jacobs being the top three, and then the fourth had 35, but they had the luxury of using backups in a number of games.

Yea, we'll be lucky to get through the season without injuries, but it is very possible and if we can save a guy to help us in the future then it might very well be worth trying to redshirt him. The great thing is that it doesn't really hurt to try. Just because you try to redshirt a player doesn't mean you have to keep them redshirting.

Thanks for the research. This is my point. If Koback is going to be in the top 3 for rushing attempts then I want to see him play. I don't want to see a wasted year with approx 35 carries.

I agree with @Grumpyolddawg but would just add that unlike Ga, UK is not used to stockpiling talent. Our talent level is headed in the right direction, but I'm not sure we have multiple NFL rbs. Boom is a prime example. Until I'm certain we have multiple NFL players I want to see the talent utilized as efficiently as possible.

All of this is based on the unlikely event of no injuries. One injury that causes someone to miss a couple games will all but guarantee all 4 rb's get used.

 

[football follies]

He will play unless he has an another injury.

 

[Deeeefense]

Both Williams and Kemp missed parts of, and entire games during their time here which is illustrative of why you need more then 3 backs. Also Snell will likely be gone after 2018 so we need to start finding and developing his replacement. King doesn't figure to be an every down back, so either Rose or Koback need to make a move this year IMO, which is why both need a fair number of snaps.

Hearing that Koback is going to be good-to-go this year was about the best news I have heard in some time, and it could make the difference in a game or two before it's over IMO

 

[aikenite4uk]

If he's better than King and Rose, and I suspect he will prove that in fall camp, he'll play a lot this year.

 

[vhcat70]

I think UK's Wildcat loses some effectiveness because the D knows we are running the ball 95% of the time.

Depends on the defense you're against. Weak - no. Strong - yes.

 

[Sparkaces1]

I think UK's Wildcat loses some effectiveness because the D knows we are running the ball 95% of the time. Even with Cobb, that was a high school QB.

I assume they will let Bowden throw out of it more than Kemp and Snell over the last couple of years. I just know how heavy they have relied on it the last couple of years and how good our line is supposed to be, I would be surprised if we didn't see heavy doses again this year.