The preseason is the time for fans to feel great about their team. The untested prospects? They’ll all pan out. The injury-prone veterans? They’ll stay healthy. The returning stars? They’ll be even better. It’s not hard to be optimistic in June or July.

That said, even the most positive fan on the best day thinks back in the school’s past at some point, and remembers some legendary alum who would really help the team. If only they were in school now, and still had eligibility, and yet were magically physically transformed back to their college days. This is where SEC Time Machine comes in.

To help gets fans from the blazing summer into football time in the fall, we’re awarding each team’s head coach an extra scholarship — and a time machine. Go back in time, nab the player who will help your school in 2016, bring them back, and suit them up. But you get only one pick, so the key question is who would be the best guy to bring back.

Kentucky, you’re on the clock. Now how far back are you going to set it?

Quarterback help? Nope

The obvious answer for most Kentucky fans is the man under center. Surely, it’s time to bring back Tim Couch (or Andre Woodson or Jared Lorenzen) to trigger the UK offense, right? Negatory.

Sure, Couch threw for more than 8,000 yards and 73 touchdowns in two seasons of starting under pass-happy coach Hal Mumme. And more than numbers, he made Kentucky football fun, something that it rarely had been before, and rarely has been since. Why not bring him back to 2016 and turn the Deuce loose? Or if not Couch, then maybe Woodson, whose final two seasons at UK included over 7,200 yards passing and 71 touchdowns? Or Lorenzen, who threw for more than 10,000 yards and 78 touchdowns on some inept UK teams?

Sure, a veteran QB at Kentucky would be helpful in 2016. But the program has bigger holes to fill. Four-star recruit/sophomore Drew Barker will be the man at UK in 2016. And while there is no guarantee that Barker will succeed, he has more talent than most who came before him. Barker threw for 364 yards in limited action in 2015, and showed the ability to make plays with his legs as well as his arm.

UK in 2016 will rise or fall with Barker, even with a time machine. Mark Stoops is passing on a passer, tempting as picking one would be.

Another linebacker? Tempting, but not so fast

In recent seasons, even when Kentucky struggled, the team usually had a star linebacker who held the defense together. Danny Trevathan filled that role earlier this decade, and last season, Josh Forrest did likewise. But perhaps the best of the recent UK linebackers was Wesley Woodyard. In four seasons, Woodyard amassed 395 tackles, 26 tackles for loss, six and a half sacks, and seven fumbles recovered. Woodyard was All-SEC in 2006 and 2007, and it probably isn’t coincidental that those years were Kentucky’s best seasons since the early 1980s.

And Kentucky’s returning linebacker depth in 2016 is virtually non-existent. But while it is tempting to plug Woodyard in at linebacker, there are other talented players in Lexington. Nebraska transfer Courtney Love and Minnesota transfer De’Niro Laster are both expected to have an impact. Sophomores Jordan Jones and Josh Allen as well as redshirt freshman Eli Brown all showed flashes of SEC ability last year. So Woodyard stays out of the time machine.

A Big Man With a Big Motor? Yes, please

Stoops’ SEC time machine is heading back to 2002, and needs an extra-large seat to bring back defensive tackle Dewayne Robertson.

At 6-3, 311 pounds, Robertson was a beast out of Memphis Melrose when he signed with Kentucky. In three seasons, Robertson had 114 tackles, 26 tackles for loss, nine sacks, and an interception. But beyond his raw numbers, Robertson was the kind of amazing athlete who made plays that shouldn’t have been possible for a man of his size.

In his third game at UK, Robertson forced a fumble from Indiana QB Antwaan Randle-El that was returned by a teammate for the game winning score. As a sophomore in a game against Mississippi State, Robertson came off of a block, leaped to snag an interception, and rumbled back nine yards before he was tackled.

How impressive of a prospect was Robertson? Impressive enough that when he left Kentucky after his junior season, he was chosen fourth overall in the 2003 NFL Draft.

Kentucky’s cupboard is almost entirely bare on the defensive line. Huge tackle Matt Elam enters his junior season in 2016, but has shown little impact in his first two years. End Denzil Ware looks to be emerging as a pass rusher, but the unit is short on size and experience.

Enter Robertson, who immediately teams with Elam to create a formidable interior even for SEC running games. With blockers having to concentrate on slowing Elam inside, Ware and some of UK’s other undersized ends would be able to bring a push off the edge of the defense.

Many Kentucky fans would expect Stoops to go back and take a great quarterback or a game-breaking receiver. But Stoops is a defensive coach, and he knows that while you can recruit good passers and talented receivers, that there are only so many giant, athletic players like Robertson. And given UK’s limited defensive line depth in 2016, he’s the pick in the Wildcat version of the SEC Time Machine.