2014 SEC Top 100 Countdown: No. 37 Alvin Dupree, Kentucky
SDS talent evaluators Jon Cooper and Brad Crawford spent several months breaking down last year’s highlights, incoming talent and projected 2014 impact following spring practice to compile a list of the SEC’s Top 100 players heading into fall. Athletes were selected by position then ranked overall counting down to No. 1.
Stick with SDS throughout summer and get in on the action using the hashtag #SDSTop100 as we unveil a new player daily leading up to opening night on Aug. 28.
37. Alvin Dupree, Sr., DE, Kentucky
The second and more dominant Kentucky pass rusher in the Top 100, Dupree teams up with Za’Darius Smith to generate the most talented set of bookends the Wildcats have had in the last decade, leaders on what assistant D.J. Eliot hopes is a potent defense this fall. Dupree is Kentucky’s most valuable player defensively, a multi-position tackler in relentless pursuit of the football who can stand up at outside linebacker or be unleashed at the snap from a traditional three-point stance.
Sculpted with the ideal blend of speed, power and athleticism, Dupree rarely takes a play off and looks the part as a hybrid defender — a quality coveted in the NFL in recent years. According to NFLDraftScout, the 2014 Lott Impact Trophy nominee is the SEC’s top defensive end prospect for 2015 thanks to a quick burst and lateral agility in space.
RELATED: SEC’s 10 best defensive ends heading into spring
Production’s never been an issue with Dupree who has made at least three tackles in 27 consecutive starts. His 13 stops in last season’s loss to Mississippi State was the most by a Wildcat defensive lineman since 1993. Dupree led all SEC defensive ends with 61 tackles as a junior before deciding it was in his best interest to stay in Lexington one more season.
2013 statistics: 61 tackles, 9.5 TFL, 7 sacks
2014 projection: 70 tackles, 11 TFL, 8.5 sacks