When head coach Mark Stoops brought Neal Brown and his Air Raid offense to Kentucky two offseasons ago, the Cats knew they’d need some wide receivers to make the system work.

They addressed that need with last year’s recruiting cycle, signing five wide receiver prospects ranked among the top 100 at the position in the class of 2014. Four of those wideouts — Dorian Baker, Blake Bone, Garrett Johnson and T.V. Williams — played right away as true freshmen, combining to catch 59 balls during the course of the season.

But the fifth wideout of the group, Thaddeus Snodgrass, was chosen to redshirt last season, forcing him to sit and watch his fellow freshmen each Saturday.

Now that Kentucky has begun spring practice and turned the page to 2015, Snodgrass is no longer a redshirt stuck on the sidelines; he’ll make his collegiate debut this fall, and he just might become the x-factor of the Kentucky offense.

Snodgrass was a four-star prospect and the No. 43 wideout in the class of 2014, while the other four now-rising-sophomores were all three-star recruits. At 6-foot-1 and 188 pounds with blazing speed and excellent route-running ability, Snodgrass has the skill set to make an impact anywhere on the field, and he’s excellent when it comes to picking up yards after the catch.

Perhaps the biggest complement he’s received this spring was from wide receivers coach Tommy Mainord, who told reporters that UK’s wideouts are starting to look like traditional SEC receivers.

“They’ve done nothing but get stronger and get smarter,” Mainord said of his young wideouts in an interview with the Lexington Herald-Leader. “This spring is a great opportunity for them. … “We’re finally at that next step now where we can build. “We lost two seniors (Javess Blue and Demarco Robinson) and we’re going to need some guys to play. We’re getting our ducks lined up to where we’re starting to build some really quality depth. … Where we’re at is exciting.”

Mainord noted the other reason Snodgrass may have a heavy burden placed upon him in the offense this year. Two of UK’s top 3 receivers last season have since departed, and among the team’s top 5 returning receivers from last year (not counting Snodgrass) only rising junior Ryan Timmons has more than one year of FBS experience.

Snodgrass has no experience in a live game at the FBS level, but he has more raw ability than any of his fellow wide receiver teammates, even Timmons who is a lightning-quick playmaker standing less than six feet tall.

If Snodgrass can man the outside and develop into at least a consistent threat as a possession receiver, Timmons can serve as the target who stretches the field and puts pressure on defenses. In that scenario, Snodgrass would only need to excel as a route runner who avoids silly drops. This is certainly attainable for a receiver of his ilk, especially one who has had a full year to learn the system.

But down the line, the expectation will be for Snodgrass to carry the offense, or at least lead it. He was the highest-rated receiver on the team coming out of high school, and he’s among the most physically gifted of the bunch. Not all prospects pan out as promised, but UK has taken special care to ensure Snodgrass has the best chance to make an impact for the next 2-4 years.

This fall, he can begin to show if the payoff was worth the wait.

“They’re a year older, a year more mature,” fellow UK assistant coach John Schlarman told the Herald-Leader, “and I think they’ve developed and they’re going to contribute for us.”