Overall
Expectation - C; many fans figured 6-7 wins with the number of unknowns and the strength of schedule
Season Grade - D; only reason it's not worse is we somehow upset Ole Miss
Head Coach
Expectation - C+; for many reasons we all know
Season Grade - D; same undisciplined team, same horrible end of half/game clock management, more than usual 'stinker' games where it looks like the team didn't practice the week prior
Offense/OC
Expectation - C+; a lot of unknowns but the prevailing opinion was that we had some good skill players and the OL surely couldn't be as bad as last year
Season Grade - D-; OL was arguably worse than last year's abomination, QB play was definitely worse, playcalling was without rhyme or reason or rhythm, rotating QBs, not playing Wilcox enough, too many touches for Brown who underperformed, too many drives into the red zone that resulted in 3 or fewer points, did not see the squad improve as the season wore on, QBs (all) did not read the field quickly and accurately enough
Defense/DC
Expectation - B+; thought to be the strength of this team with expected quality performers at each level
Season Grade - D; 4 or 5 games we allowed > 250 rushing yards, inability (still) to get off the field on 3rd down, not enough takeaways, too many missed tackles, lack of improvement as the season progressed, still very underwhelming pass rush
QB
Expectation - C; a lot of unknowns but most thought we'd get at least decent play
Season Grade - D; missed opportunities, failure to improve as the season progressed, too many TOs, too many sacks caused by holding the ball too long, inability to correctly read the RPO play, failure to get in the end zone the few opportunities we had too often
RB
Expectation - C+; didn't have the bruiser we normally have, knew the OL could be sketchy, thought we may have a playmaker in Wilcox
Season Grade - C+; none were difference makers, Wilcox' limited touches in too many games, Demi played as expected, depth in the room never materialized due to injuries, ineffectiveness, etc.
OL
Expectation - C-; lot of returning experience but the line was poor last year, most blamed the scheme and Yenser, thought Wolford would make a difference
Season Grade - D-; M. Cox regressed badly, Burton is still Mr. Potential with not much to show for it, E. Cox still at best average, Farmer was awful start to finish, Mincey was fairly solid; subs were not really developed so we have no idea what to expect next year, Wood is a huge project at RT, a lot of drive killing penalties from this group
WR
Expectation - B+; thought to be a strength for the offense with Key, Maclin, Brown and, possibly, Farrier and Gilmore
Season Grade - C; Key did well until he disappeared the final 4+ games, Brown has not improved at all since coming to UK and, as shown today, still can drop passes in his chest with the best of them, Maclin was criminally underused, Farrier and Gilmore show some promise but need a decent QB to get them the ball
TE
Expectation - C-; no one believes the Big Dog anymore, TEs are glorified 6th linemen in our scheme, a nice play here or there was all that was expected
Season Grade - C; pretty much as expected; were underused (again); Kattus seemed to solve his 'holding' problem as the season wore on but no one else seemed to improve
DL
Expectation - B+; a lot of quality and depth throughout this group, thought to be a good SEC DL which would make running on us difficult
Season Grade - C-; Walker seemed to take too many plays off and got double teamed (and held) a lot, some of the other DL played well in spots but not consistently, got gashed repeatedly as the season wore on, fewer TFL than expected
LB
Expectation - B+, Jackson and Pop were thought to be top tier SEC inside corps, plenty of depth and bodies on the outside, several were seen as potential pass rush providers
Season Grade - C-; too many games giving up big yardage rushing, almost nonexistent rush from the edge against non-OOC opponents, seemed weak at the point of attack (couldn't shed blockers, RBs dragged them for extra yardage consistently, a lot of broken tackles), not a lot of newcomers played significant minutes so next year is a huge question mark with this group
Secondary
Expectation - C; thought to be the weakest of the 3 groups, some experience, some athletic ability but a lot of unknowns
Season Grade - D+; very soft on 3rd downs and that led to high success rate for opponents, lot of broken tackles, not as many blown coverages leaving WR wide open, few takeaways, were weak in man coverage, not much improvement as the season progressed
Kicking Game
Expectation - A for PK, C for P, C for coverage; Raynor was darn good last year and was expected to be so again, team has struggled with punters for the past couple or three years, coverage team was expected to not allow long kick/punt returns
Season Grade - PK: A+, Raynor was automatic from just about everywhere; P - D, crappy net, rarely punted the ball more than 40 yards in the air; Coverage/return - Coverage: C, as expected, Returns - D, Maclin let way too many punts hit and roll costing us valuable yards almost every punt, Brown had one KR for a TD but mediocre most of the time, several fumbles on KR team
Expectation - C; many fans figured 6-7 wins with the number of unknowns and the strength of schedule
Season Grade - D; only reason it's not worse is we somehow upset Ole Miss
Head Coach
Expectation - C+; for many reasons we all know
Season Grade - D; same undisciplined team, same horrible end of half/game clock management, more than usual 'stinker' games where it looks like the team didn't practice the week prior
Offense/OC
Expectation - C+; a lot of unknowns but the prevailing opinion was that we had some good skill players and the OL surely couldn't be as bad as last year
Season Grade - D-; OL was arguably worse than last year's abomination, QB play was definitely worse, playcalling was without rhyme or reason or rhythm, rotating QBs, not playing Wilcox enough, too many touches for Brown who underperformed, too many drives into the red zone that resulted in 3 or fewer points, did not see the squad improve as the season wore on, QBs (all) did not read the field quickly and accurately enough
Defense/DC
Expectation - B+; thought to be the strength of this team with expected quality performers at each level
Season Grade - D; 4 or 5 games we allowed > 250 rushing yards, inability (still) to get off the field on 3rd down, not enough takeaways, too many missed tackles, lack of improvement as the season progressed, still very underwhelming pass rush
QB
Expectation - C; a lot of unknowns but most thought we'd get at least decent play
Season Grade - D; missed opportunities, failure to improve as the season progressed, too many TOs, too many sacks caused by holding the ball too long, inability to correctly read the RPO play, failure to get in the end zone the few opportunities we had too often
RB
Expectation - C+; didn't have the bruiser we normally have, knew the OL could be sketchy, thought we may have a playmaker in Wilcox
Season Grade - C+; none were difference makers, Wilcox' limited touches in too many games, Demi played as expected, depth in the room never materialized due to injuries, ineffectiveness, etc.
OL
Expectation - C-; lot of returning experience but the line was poor last year, most blamed the scheme and Yenser, thought Wolford would make a difference
Season Grade - D-; M. Cox regressed badly, Burton is still Mr. Potential with not much to show for it, E. Cox still at best average, Farmer was awful start to finish, Mincey was fairly solid; subs were not really developed so we have no idea what to expect next year, Wood is a huge project at RT, a lot of drive killing penalties from this group
WR
Expectation - B+; thought to be a strength for the offense with Key, Maclin, Brown and, possibly, Farrier and Gilmore
Season Grade - C; Key did well until he disappeared the final 4+ games, Brown has not improved at all since coming to UK and, as shown today, still can drop passes in his chest with the best of them, Maclin was criminally underused, Farrier and Gilmore show some promise but need a decent QB to get them the ball
TE
Expectation - C-; no one believes the Big Dog anymore, TEs are glorified 6th linemen in our scheme, a nice play here or there was all that was expected
Season Grade - C; pretty much as expected; were underused (again); Kattus seemed to solve his 'holding' problem as the season wore on but no one else seemed to improve
DL
Expectation - B+; a lot of quality and depth throughout this group, thought to be a good SEC DL which would make running on us difficult
Season Grade - C-; Walker seemed to take too many plays off and got double teamed (and held) a lot, some of the other DL played well in spots but not consistently, got gashed repeatedly as the season wore on, fewer TFL than expected
LB
Expectation - B+, Jackson and Pop were thought to be top tier SEC inside corps, plenty of depth and bodies on the outside, several were seen as potential pass rush providers
Season Grade - C-; too many games giving up big yardage rushing, almost nonexistent rush from the edge against non-OOC opponents, seemed weak at the point of attack (couldn't shed blockers, RBs dragged them for extra yardage consistently, a lot of broken tackles), not a lot of newcomers played significant minutes so next year is a huge question mark with this group
Secondary
Expectation - C; thought to be the weakest of the 3 groups, some experience, some athletic ability but a lot of unknowns
Season Grade - D+; very soft on 3rd downs and that led to high success rate for opponents, lot of broken tackles, not as many blown coverages leaving WR wide open, few takeaways, were weak in man coverage, not much improvement as the season progressed
Kicking Game
Expectation - A for PK, C for P, C for coverage; Raynor was darn good last year and was expected to be so again, team has struggled with punters for the past couple or three years, coverage team was expected to not allow long kick/punt returns
Season Grade - PK: A+, Raynor was automatic from just about everywhere; P - D, crappy net, rarely punted the ball more than 40 yards in the air; Coverage/return - Coverage: C, as expected, Returns - D, Maclin let way too many punts hit and roll costing us valuable yards almost every punt, Brown had one KR for a TD but mediocre most of the time, several fumbles on KR team
