Lynn Bowden Opening Eyes In Kentucky's Spring Camp
- Thread starter wildcatman26
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Getting a late start last fall really set him back, imo. Even if only a few days he missed on a few days of offense being installed and was playing catchup at a new positon all year.
In high school, Bowden was a quarterback. In 2017, Bowden arrived at the last minute for UK’s August camp because the NCAA cleared him at the last minute. Then he had to learn a new position (receiver) in a new offensive system. So, the way I see it, Bowden only showed glimpses of what he can do last year. Now, with a full year on campus before the 2018 season begins, we should see a completely different player this time. In 2017, Bowden caught 17 passes for 210 yards and 0 TDs. In 2018, I would expect his receptions and receiving yardage to triple. And that doesn't address the impact he can have on special teams.
He is the next Randall Cobb. Bowden is our 2nd best player on offense imo this year. Snell, Bowden, and Conrad should be the meat of the offense. That'll give ya a draft pick to run with and two 4 stars to throw to using the best junior college quarterback.....case closed my friends.
I see 7 to 10 wins for sure unless somehow the defense sucks badly which it wont. Too many good returnerees on defense to suck. Closer to 10 wins than 7 wins imo!
2nd year in a row I'm super positive about Kentucky football. I can't say a single bad thing. We probably got the best set of football coaches on this team that we've ever had. We got some good guidance on this staff.
I see 7 to 10 wins for sure unless somehow the defense sucks badly which it wont. Too many good returnerees on defense to suck. Closer to 10 wins than 7 wins imo!
2nd year in a row I'm super positive about Kentucky football. I can't say a single bad thing. We probably got the best set of football coaches on this team that we've ever had. We got some good guidance on this staff.
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This fall will be pretty exciting, right now from looking at some of the message boards, 5 teams think they can win the East next fall. UT thinks they can go from worst to first because Pruitt is turning their players into Bama level players, he's good but not that good, UF has to find a QB and replace alot of D, Carolina has to replace much of their D and one of the best TE in college football, UK has to replace a QB, UGA will have to depend on it's offense early on while the defense jells. ,, I know UGA lost a good bit of offense, but return a back capable of leading the conference in rushing given the touches, best OL we have had in 20+ years including 4 returning starters from last year and a smart QB. So all have questions to answer. Missouri may be the most dangerous with their offense and receiver corp but defense has to get better.
I do think it will be UGA's weakest team for the next 3-4 years. very few sr will play, we will be a young team with as many as 10 soph starting and a couple of frosh, so hard to expect a repeat of last season.
UGA is the best in the east. After that, everyone has an argument including Kentucky, Missouri and Vanderbilt.
Hard to argue with that. Jake Fromm could be set for an all SEC type season and a team can go a long way on the arm of an elite QB, plus the rest of the team isn't exactly chopped liver
The best line in 20 years is a strong statement. Going to score a lot of points.
Dogs play in the final 4 game.
Hope UK just gets the ball in his hands as many times as possible. As mentioned...Snell, Bowden, and Conrad should be our focal point.
I don’t think it’s really fair to compare Bowden at this stage to an All American who has become a successful NFL player. What made Cobb so effective was his combination of speed, physical strength, and football IQ. Bowden is still learning the receiver position. However, Bowden is getting a heck of an opportunity. Chuck Walker has graduated, so Bowden could be the new punt returner. Baker and Richardson are our only 2 experienced wide receivers, so Bowden will have to become a much bigger piece of our offense than he was a year ago. You never know if a young player will stay healthy. But at this point, I would say Bowden’s floor is roughly Garrett Johnson and his ceiling, if all goes perfectly, could be somewhere near the Abney/Cobb level.
From the coaches quotes, that certainly appears possible. I think the biggest reason for that will be from what appears to be increased maturity.
At times last fall there seemed to be times that he lacked maturity, which would have definitely stunted his potential regardless of position.
Knowing he came from such a tough area/home life situation, here's hoping that athletics can be a tool to help him become truly successful in all areas of life and not just on the field.
No really a stretch, Right recruited the OL as an afterthought, we signed at least 2 kids a year that we hoped could gain 40lbs, he left us with zero OT on the roster and I actually mean none. So the best in 20 years isn't a real stretch. We return 8 starters on offense from a team that averaged 35 a game, RB was the biggest loss but return a back that averaged almost 8 ypc And a soon qb who is likely to improve. Why would we not be able to score?
I never once said we would reach the playoff, be surpised if we did, team is going to be very young on both sides of the ball, 19 is a different story, will be returning 17-18 starters and most of not all backuos
I think the biggest thing with Bowden is getting him involved in a variety of ways.
I would like to see him return kickoffs or punts. I believe we should utilize him on sweeps,screens, at half back and in the wildcat QB.
He is just so dynamic we need to get the ball in his hands as much as possible to help relieve some pressure off Snell.
I would like to see him return kickoffs or punts. I believe we should utilize him on sweeps,screens, at half back and in the wildcat QB.
He is just so dynamic we need to get the ball in his hands as much as possible to help relieve some pressure off Snell.
Ahhh, Spring Ball.......Where every positive comment helps to catapult expectations for the coming yr.....
You always have to take Spring comments like these with a little tempering given that's so far away from the coming season, but I'm inclined to get behind this one. During the last season you could see the talent dripping off Bowden.......but he just seemed a little lost.......a little overwhelmed. He arrived late, had to learn a ton of various parts of the playbook, while probably not being greatly ready physically......and it showed. I anticipate that these comments are genuine and that they have weight behind them. Should be fun to watch.
You always have to take Spring comments like these with a little tempering given that's so far away from the coming season, but I'm inclined to get behind this one. During the last season you could see the talent dripping off Bowden.......but he just seemed a little lost.......a little overwhelmed. He arrived late, had to learn a ton of various parts of the playbook, while probably not being greatly ready physically......and it showed. I anticipate that these comments are genuine and that they have weight behind them. Should be fun to watch.
Ahhh, spring and delusion are once again in the air for UT fans.
As with any assistant you hire as the head man, you never know for sure, you just hope.
Turning UT into Bama in a just a few months, well, that would be a trick even Russian Olympians would admire.
I expect Georgia to be the king of the east again.
The dawgs are my 2nd favorite SEC team. No doubt they are closing the gap with Bama. Maybe not a repeat type season but in 2 years they topple Alabama, just a early prediction for 2019.
I don't think 18 will be our year, good offensively, good defensively last half of the season. We should have beaten Bama this year, they caught 3-4 huge breaks with Sony getting hurt being a big one.
I can't argue with anything you said in this post, and, besides that, I don't want to, lol.
Probably, but I am hoping it is the QB-----and I don't care which one it is.
If the 5.9 transfer OT hits the ground running our OL might be right up there, but really I don't see us regressing that much if any anywhere, actually excited about the DL potential for the first time in ages.
The best OL in twenty years, maybe he slipped up and was talking about ours?
Not out of the realm of possibility. Of course it could be that and still not the best in the SEC.
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Pretty incredible what Bowden did with virtually no experience at his position. I don't think we gave him enough credit considering that in addition to his late arrival
Could easily be the case for UK too, I just don't know much about the last 20 years of OL play at UK. We return 4 starters and a 5th who started first 8 games in 17 from a pretty good OL last year, and was our best since Donnan was there.
Juice leaving opens up a ton of targets at the slot WR spot....but Juice was really good his SR year. Hardly any drops and when the ball came his way...he got open and gave teams fits working middle of field.
I'm hoping Bowden isn't too much of a drop off in keeping drops to a small number (which is huge for a slot WR...they are guys that keep the chains moving moreso than TDs and big plays) but gives us a bit more explosion plays with his legs which is his talent.
But I agree with Jauk11...we need the QB spot to be more consistent delivering the ball will be the biggest jump in WR production.
I'm hoping Bowden isn't too much of a drop off in keeping drops to a small number (which is huge for a slot WR...they are guys that keep the chains moving moreso than TDs and big plays) but gives us a bit more explosion plays with his legs which is his talent.
But I agree with Jauk11...we need the QB spot to be more consistent delivering the ball will be the biggest jump in WR production.
There were some who minimized the effect the late arrival had on his first year, forgetting that with Spring arrivals, and early summer enrollees, many first year players have acclimated to campus and being away from home for months prior to their first kickoff.
Hughes was moved over to the secondary last year. Last I heard, he is a back-up safety with a chance to see action on kick coverage teams.
With Chuck Walker gone now, I have to think Bowden inherits the punt returning duties. With Juice gone, Bowden should be the starter in the slot. In 2017, Bowden caught 17 passes. I would think that number will triple in 2018.
Given that Bowden and Thomas are inside guys, I would suspect Hughes is working outside.
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