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For Kentucky’s 2014 recruiting class, it’s bowl or bust in 2016
By Corey Long
Published:
Kentucky’s football program hasn’t recruited a composite five-star prospect in the past five years (basketball, on the other hand, is a another story), but Mark Stoops has certainly done his best to upgrade the overall talent in the program and is hoping that the roster has the experience and the talent to get over the hump and become bowl eligible.
So we’re going to look at a few players in the Wildcats 2014 recruiting class and see how they have progressed.
Matt Elam, DT: Elam was Stoops’ first big recruiting win as the mammoth defensive tackle chose the Wildcats over Alabama. Naturally with that sort of decision come big expectations. Elam played in all 12 games as a freshman in a backup role and finished with 10 tackles. As a sophomore Elam dropped a little bit of weight and played a full season again with four starts. He had 23 tackles but only a half of a tackle for loss. In 2016 it’s will be time for Elam to take that next step forward.
Stanley “Boom” Williams, RB: Williams came out as a potential gamebreaker in the second half of 2014. He had three 100-yard games and finished his freshman year with 488 yards and five touchdowns. As a sophomore he took over the feature back position from JoJo Kemp and started 10 games with 855 rushing yards and six touchdowns. With Kemp and Williams returning next year the running game should be strong.
Dorian Baker and Garrett Johnson, WRs: Two three-star prospects who have played above their levels already. Johnson came out of the blue (pun intended) as a freshman and lit up Florida for six catches, 154 yards and two touchdowns. He and Baker both struggled with consistency as freshman but both came on as sophomores and had over 600 yards receiving on a team that struggled to pass the ball from time to time.
If the quarterback play can be more consistent in 2016 this receiver pairing can get even better.
Corey Long is a freelance writer for SaturdayDownSouth.com. Follow Corey on Twitter @CoreyLong.
