Kentucky has had a very big linebacker class for a while. They've needed it given the losses this year stacked on top of the losses from last year. But whenever you have that many commits at one level it's going to prompt some questions. Becomes harder to keep everybody on board, especially when guys have really good options.
So Lorenzo Cowan decommits on the heels of a visit to Southern Cal, not long after Elijah Groves decommitted and later picked NC State.
In effect, Kentucky has lost a couple of really athletic, quick & twitchy EDGE guys in favor of the bigger EDGES they have added since - Jacob Smith and Brian Robinson in particular. Now not all of those guys were slated to play the same position but I do think that's a part of the story.
One of the things about that massive linebacker class Kentucky had put together (which also includes Devin Smith, Antwan Smith) is that it was heavy on traits. Some of the guys might not be recognized as plus-plus in every part of their game, but they had some really pronounced traits which made it easy to imagine them becoming breakout players after 2-3 years of development. A couple of those guys are now gone. But the reality is, it's going to be hard to keep a bunch of young guys in one room for several years in the portal era now. In my view with Cowans and Groves it's almost more like losing "the rights" to a player who is considered a prospect at the professional level. Really, they're just developing now, and we'll see where their careers take them. If they were to ever enter the portal - increasingly very common, even for good players who don't see the field after their true freshman seasons - you have to figure they will be guys would might strongly consider Kentucky in the future.
I do feel like Groves is the bigger loss because that would have probably ensured you're getting his brother, a '25 running back with several Power Fives already, and there's a third Groves brother coming up through the ranks.
If I had to guess I'd imagine that Kentucky does not really need replacements for these couple of decommitments. It seems like the bigger priority would be taking those scholarships that would have been spoken for and devoting them to building up the linebacker room via the portal. Of course they have lost Keaten Wade. He played about 75% as often as Alex Afari but it was usually a zero-sum game with he and Wade; if one played, usually the other didn't. So you have to replace Wade but Afari can play more. The difficult thing is finding a good EDGE defender in the portal. You may be able to find one but it's going to be really tough to get an elite pass rusher because they're in such high demand.
So Lorenzo Cowan decommits on the heels of a visit to Southern Cal, not long after Elijah Groves decommitted and later picked NC State.
In effect, Kentucky has lost a couple of really athletic, quick & twitchy EDGE guys in favor of the bigger EDGES they have added since - Jacob Smith and Brian Robinson in particular. Now not all of those guys were slated to play the same position but I do think that's a part of the story.
One of the things about that massive linebacker class Kentucky had put together (which also includes Devin Smith, Antwan Smith) is that it was heavy on traits. Some of the guys might not be recognized as plus-plus in every part of their game, but they had some really pronounced traits which made it easy to imagine them becoming breakout players after 2-3 years of development. A couple of those guys are now gone. But the reality is, it's going to be hard to keep a bunch of young guys in one room for several years in the portal era now. In my view with Cowans and Groves it's almost more like losing "the rights" to a player who is considered a prospect at the professional level. Really, they're just developing now, and we'll see where their careers take them. If they were to ever enter the portal - increasingly very common, even for good players who don't see the field after their true freshman seasons - you have to figure they will be guys would might strongly consider Kentucky in the future.
I do feel like Groves is the bigger loss because that would have probably ensured you're getting his brother, a '25 running back with several Power Fives already, and there's a third Groves brother coming up through the ranks.
If I had to guess I'd imagine that Kentucky does not really need replacements for these couple of decommitments. It seems like the bigger priority would be taking those scholarships that would have been spoken for and devoting them to building up the linebacker room via the portal. Of course they have lost Keaten Wade. He played about 75% as often as Alex Afari but it was usually a zero-sum game with he and Wade; if one played, usually the other didn't. So you have to replace Wade but Afari can play more. The difficult thing is finding a good EDGE defender in the portal. You may be able to find one but it's going to be really tough to get an elite pass rusher because they're in such high demand.
