The House of Blue

We have below average to average talent on offense with the exception of a couple of young QB's who are SEC quality, maybe 3. A few skill players are good and the OL is competitive. On defense I am not sure we have any guys with the exception of two LB who would play for any SEC school. We have some good freshmen at CB. Overall we don't have enough talent to influence the choice of a coach but the young QB's may well interest a coach who likes the drop back passing game. Withlow may have some spread type talent but I am not sure his passing is good enough to be effective.

OFF...I think as long as it's not a spread option rushing attack...UK has enough talent to be respectable...Would like to see a wide open OFF - but one that uses the clock wisely!

QB: Pro Style Pocket Passers: Smith, Towles & TFR Phillips (if he sticks) ...Dual Threat / Spread: Whitlow (who's a WR - ATH, if a pass happy coach arrives in Lex)
RB: George / Sanders, Mobley / Clemons, Taylor (5 SEC backs)...Plus Kahlid Thomas as a scat back (if he doesn't move to Safety)....FB Warren
WR: Collins / Robinson, Legree/Sweat, Cunningham...Potentially Yancey & Smith....no telling if Cobbin's gets his head on straight!
OL: Miller, Mitchell, Swindle, Watson, West, Myers, Toth, Eatmon-Nared, Godby, Jones & Love...Maybe theirs enough depth that all 4TFR would RS.

DEF...If Hyde shows up the man-beast he appears to be...UK could be a very versatile & flexible DEF squad. Enough SEC sized pieces for a 3-4...Enough SEC ATH for the 4-2-5.

DT: Rumph/ Cobble/Johnson, Coleman, Chapman...All 300lbs+....then there's Jacob Hyde, a true SEC 3-4 NG, at 6'3" 320+ is strong enough to potentially start from day 1!
DE: Huguenin, Douglas/ Davis, Newton, & Sometimes Depree. Would consider Paschal & Bruase for move to DE.
LB: Every player returns...Williamson, Dupree, Forrest, Simpson, Thomas, Henderson, Johnson, McDuffen, Rancifer
SS/FS: Both Blaylocks, Tyler, Lowrey, Faulkner, Harris, Wright??...Plus maybe Battle, if he sticks.
CB: Quinn, Tiller, Harmon, Reed, the other Blaylock & potentially get Caffey back. (who knows what happened to Simmons & Dixon)

It is difficult to judge players potential when you have 1st and 2nd year players playing against 3rd, 4th and 5th year players.

I see a lot of young players with potential struggling against older stronger more experienced players.

The new coaching staff IMO will need to bite the bullet and redshirt most of the incoming Freshmen and maybe even some of the Sophmores.

The fans wouldnt like it but this team is out of balance and must regain its balance to have a chance to compete in the SEC.

Do you remember when you were a high school Freshman and went out for the football team. A Freshman coming into college ball faces near the same circumstance. There is a few more mature and outstanding athletes that can make a fairly seamless transition but most players need that transition redshirt.

I don't think that the new staff should have a honeymoon period. I believe that there is enough good players on this team that they should win at least five games next year. If Mitch doesn't put out the money to hire a top notch staff I will not be renewing my season tickets. I have had season tickets for about forty years

I don't think the OP was asking how good our talent is. I think he was asking what system does our talent fit best.

On offense: I believe that our players on offense can really be molded to any offense. Max Smith does not have lead in his feet, but he certainly is not greatly mobile......but he could be a decent fit for a pro-style or a spread that uses quicker passes. Towles is likely the most versatile. With his athleticism and mobility, he really could run any system. And Whitlow (whom I believe will end up being a WR someday) can run a fair spread with his running skills. The rest of the offense has a good mixture of size, speed, and skills that can be used for different styles.

On defense: Since Minter runs a hybrid system....basically switching from a 4-3 to a 3-4 on occasion. We have players that have been recruited to fit both systems. So really we could go either way.

Bottomline: First off you hire the coach you want. You don't hire a coach to fit your current players. Second we have players in place to adjust to really any scheme. This does not indicate how the players will do or how the talent will develop.

I would submit that we have the talent for just about any offense but the spread option.
We are very good at the skill slots for uk standards. These players are young but if smith and towles love up to expectations we can be good on offense.

Defense worries me. We almost certainly have to play a 3-4 as we have no traditional 4-3 defensive ends. Safety and outside linebacker worry me a lot. Inside linebacker and d-tackle/3-4 d-End may be serviceable.

To say they haven't developed a qb in the last 2 years is unfair. Their starting qb was Sophomore the back up was a Senior that they missed on. They've had decent qb play in recent history. Not defending the staff just stating a fact.

I'm pretty sure its safe to say most fans and media were a little excited about the possibilities that Max Smith presented to the program. Unfortunately for Joker he put all his eggs in one basket as he did with Newton. An injury later and you're looking for a job.

smith was in the top 3 in the sec in passing yards. he had a bad half vs wku bad routes by wr but he was likely going to throw for 2800 yards to say he isnt on par with other sec qb is a lil silly

I would drill down a bit more specifically on your post.

We have NO talent at D-end if we hire a traditional 4-3 defensive end. If we play a 3-4 we have the talent on the d-line to play the 3-4. Rumph already pretty much plays the 3-4 d-end and Christian Coleman and/or Tristan Johnson can play the other d-end. Dupree is probably an ideal OLB in the 3-4 but the other OLB would worry me. If Josh Forrest continues to add weight he can play that spot... Maybe... Safety is a MASSIVE concern for me. We have nobody at safety that can contribute IMO... Corner is pretty good and I'd say Inside linebacker is pretty good with Wiliamson, pancho Thomas, and Henderson

For Petrino who airs it out while running the I regularly it is a no brainer with our collection of talent.