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Veterans, 4-star recruits make Kentucky OL a strength in 2016
By Keith Farner
Published:
If there’s a strength and a host of known commodities for Kentucky entering 2016, it’s at offensive line, where the Wildcats return four players who each started at least nine games last season.
A potential all-SEC selection in 2016, center Jon Toth has started 35 consecutive games. Right guard Ramsey Meyers started every game the past two seasons. Left guard Nick Haynes started nine games last season, and Kyle Meadows took over at right tackle and started the final nine games. Two others earned starts in 2015.
If that weren’t enough, coach Mark Stoops inked the nation’s second-ranked center, Drake Jackson, and fellow highly ranked linemen in Tate Leavitt and Landon Young. On National Signing Day, Stoops called it his best class at Kentucky, and it was fueled by those linemen.
And while Kentucky lost left tackle Jordan Swindle, a stalwart who started 35 games, the outlook is bright for the line as it looks to improve on its No. 85 national ranking in sacks allowed (30).
“I really think we’re building talent up front,” offensive line coach John Schlarman told the Louisville Courier-Journal. “We’re building some depth. We’re getting size and athletic guys.”
New offensive coordinator Eddie Gran is expected to spend time with the unit that received an infusion of talent from a better-than-average crop of in-state talent.
“I think they have tremendous futures ahead of them,” Schlarman told the Courier-Journal. “I think we’ve stacked two really good classes. Now time will tell. We’ve got to go out and prove it here on Saturdays.”
Landing better recruits and turning the SEC corner are separate things, and Stoops pumped the brakes on expectations on NSD.
“Young guys that are here at O-line in particular, that’s sometimes very difficult to do,” Stoops told the Courier-Journal. “O-line and D-line. That’s a physical game.”
While Stoops even admitted on NSD that Kentucky might still be ranked ninth or 10th in the SEC, added depth has improved the program.
“You need to stack classes on top of classes on top of classes,” he said during his NSD press conference. “Then you need to develop them and put them in position by coaching. There’s a lot of things that go into it. But it absolutely starts with having great players. …
“With that being said, I think a guy like Drake is one of the most technique sound guys I’ve seen coming out of high school in a long time.
“I think Landon is most definitely one of the more talented true freshmen I’ve been around in any school. He has great upside. He’s a worker, humble, wants to play. I think he has a good chance. Tate, he is not a high school guy, so we expect him to come in and be ready to play.”
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
