Strengths, weaknesses, newcomers and surprises

[Hesperian Death Horse]

I’ve been out of the UK football loop for a bit dealing with work and life but now we’re officially one week from kickoff and I’d like to get some idea of what to expect from the Cats this year.

What position group do you think is the strength of this squad?

What group is projected to be the weakest?

Outside of Vandagriff, which newcomer is going to make the biggest impact right out of the gate?

And who would you predict is going to surprise people that have not been closely following the recruiting and off season developments? This can be an incoming freshman or a player that was on the team last year but played sparingly.

Thanks for your replies and GBB!

 

[The-Hack]

(1) What position group do you think is the strength of this squad?

Looks to be the D-line with strong LB’s behind them. Walker is on everyone’s preseason AA list, and Stoops/White have enough bodies to absorb the loss of Hayes, this season. And along with numbers, versatility is a key. Look at Walker. Is he a very big Tackle, a very big Nose or a very big End? He can do it all and will be a very big headache if he lines up at Safety (and he won’t line up at safety). TE’s deserve an honorable mention here.

(2) What group is projected to be the weakest?

With injury to the Ohio State tailback transfer, most feel this position to be the weakest, from the lack of experience. Several former highly ranked recruits populate the room, along with some transfers, so I expect one of them to emerge, but won’t guess which.

(3) Outside of Vandagriff, which newcomer is going to make the biggest impact right out of the gate?

Look for LB “Pop” Dumas-Johnson, a former Georgia collegiate AA on a title team, to shine. This guy just has too many quality snaps and prior recognition on the highest level to ignore. He has made AA teams playing for rings at UGA and knows the rigors of SEC play. Supposedly his weak link is pass coverage, but we’ll see.

(4) And who would you predict is going to surprise

Part of the reason I look for the Defensive front to shine is my hope/expectation that a dominant Weaver emerges at Jack. His total numbers from last year trail Josh Allen’s from Josh’s Junior year, but not by all that much. Weaver looked like a monster against U of L and played well in the Bowl against Clemson, finishing the season at a strong level. I have heard little talk about him (frankly all pre-season chatter has been very muted this year), but I think he continues his strong finish from 2023, to post double-digit sacks.

 

[Soupbean]

For surprises I’m going to pull out a veteran, who started his career hot then stalled a little lately.

Eli Cox was getting freshman all American talk his freshman year then got moved to center and had a different coordinator and QB each year to deal with and many say he’s been a disappointment. But I’ve always thought he’s made for the center position and is as athletic a lineman as we’ve had, so I’m looking for him to go out perhaps a big last year and get drafted next spring.

 

[Hesperian Death Horse]

(1) What position group do you think is the strength of this squad?

Looks to be the D-line with strong LB’s behind them. Walker is on everyone’s preseason AA list, and Stoops/White have enough bodies to absorb the loss of Hayes, this season. And along with numbers, versatility is a key. Look at Walker. Is he a very big Tackle, a very big Nose or a very big End? He can do it all and will be a very big headache if he lines up at Safety (and he won’t line up at safety). TE’s deserve an honorable mention here.

(2) What group is projected to be the weakest?

With injury to the Ohio State tailback transfer, most feel this position to be the weakest, from the lack of experience. Several former highly ranked recruits populate the room, along with some transfers, so I expect one of them to emerge, but won’t guess which.

(3) Outside of Vandagriff, which newcomer is going to make the biggest impact right out of the gate?

Look for LB “Pop” Dumas-Johnson, a former Georgia collegiate AA on a title team, to shine. This guy just has too many quality snaps and prior recognition on the highest level to ignore. He has made AA teams playing for rings at UGA and knows the rigors of SEC play. Supposedly his weak link is pass coverage, but we’ll see.

(4) And who would you predict is going to surprise

Part of the reason I look for the Defensive front to shine is my hope/expectation that a dominant Weaver emerges at Jack. His total numbers from last year trail Josh Allen’s from Josh’s Junior year, but not by all that much. Weaver looked like a monster against U of L and played well in the Bowl against Clemson, finishing the season at a strong level. I have heard little talk about him (frankly all pre-season chatter has been very muted this year), but I think he continues his strong finish from 2023, to post double-digit sacks.

Great post! It’s interesting that the RB room is the big question. We’ve been blessed to have some absolute beasts back there for the majority of Stoops tenure from Boom to Bennie to Rodriguez to Davis so it’s a different kind of problem for the coaching staff. The Ohio State guy has the pedigree so it sucks that he’s out for a while.

Hopefully one of the young guys can rise to the occasion and take over the way Bennie and CRod did. I like Sumo Karngbaye but he didn’t seem like an every down type of back to me last year. The new coordinator may be able to utilize him better though so we’ll see. It could be a RB by committee situation which would be quite different from our typical bell cow approach.

 

[Boz]

I believe the RB is the weakest spot on the team. No proven runner. Demi should get the start at RB. Unknown if he can be an every down RB and get tough yards.

DL and ILB are the strengths. Deone Walker could end up being the best interior lineman to ever play at UK. Pops and Jackson are very good run stoppers. Afari and Raynor gives us good pass defenders in the interior.

 

[Hesperian Death Horse]

For surprises I’m going to pull out a veteran, who started his career hot then stalled a little lately.

Eli Cox was getting freshman all American talk his freshman year then got moved to center and had a different coordinator and QB each year to deal with and many say he’s been a disappointment. But I’ve always thought he’s made for the center position and is as athletic a lineman as we’ve had, so I’m looking for him to go out perhaps a big last year and get drafted next spring.

Eli is my guy! I would not be a bit surprised to see him get some all SEC buzz by the end of the year. Strong, dependable, athletic and intelligent. I feel like center in general is a position a lot of people highly underrate as far as impact on the team (ask the Eagles how important Jason Kelce was). They are the ignition of the offense, if your center is shaky or inconsistent it can throw everything off before it even gets going.