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Every team experiences turnover from year to year, but the Kentucky Wildcats have very little production to replace from last year’s 2-10 season.
Tailback Raymond Sanders is the Wildcats’ biggest loss on the offensive side of the ball. Sanders rushed for 464 yards and three touchdowns as a senior in 2013, and also caught 19 passes for 135 yards. UK will especially miss Sanders’ veteran presence in a young locker room, as well as his abilities as a pass protector in the backfield.
Among Kentucky’s other losses on the offensive side of the ball are quarterback/athlete Jalen Whitlow, tailbacks Jonathan George and Dy’Shawn Mobley, wideouts A.J. Legree and Darryl Collins and tight ends Anthony Kendrick, Jordan Aumiller and Tyler Robinson.
Whitlow threw for 1,033 yards, ran for 457 more and accounted for 11 touchdowns while splitting time under center with Maxwell Smith a year ago. Although he proved to be the supreme athlete he was hyped to be, he was never able to succeed in Kentucky’s Air Raid offense as an undersized, run-first player. He has since transferred to Eastern Illinois.
Mobley was a power-back who saw more opportunities in 2013 but ultimately couldn’t find a good fit in offensive coordinator Neal Brown’s offense. Mobley rushed for 300 yards at seven yards a carry, but could not work his way into the lineup as an every-down back. Despite leading the team in rushing over the final two weeks of last season, he has since transferred to Eastern Kentucky.
In addition to Sanders, George was another veteran tailback whose consistency was never able to make up for a lack of dynamic playmaking ability. George rushed for just 58 yards and one touchdown last season and has since graduated from UK.
Although the Wildcats have shifted to the Air Raid since firing Joker Phillips and bringing in Mark Stoops (and subsequently Brown as O.C.), it will hardly lose any talent at the pass-catching positions. Legree, a senior, caught just seven passes for 97 yards. Collins, a highly-touted recruit who could never stay healthy in Lexington, caught just one pass for five yards before transferring to West Alabama.
Kendrick, Aumiller and Robinson all took advantage of increased opportunities in the Air Raid in 2013, combining to catch 23 passes for 299 yards, but all three graduated after last season.
The team’s biggest loss came on the defensive side of the ball in the form of middle linebacker Avery Williamson, who is now playing with the NFL’s Tennessee Titans. Williamson led the team in tackles each of the last two seasons, registering 102 tackles (four for loss) in 2013. He also recorded one sack and two fumble recoveries while starting all 12 games for UK.
The Wildcats’ defense also lost most of its depth at defensive tackle in the form of Donte Rumph, Mister Cobble and backup Tristian Johnson. Rumph and Cobble made up Kentucky’s starting tandem up the middle over the last three years, and grew to become the anchors of the defense. Johnson learned from the bench and was able to earn a spot as a rotational player by the end of his career in the Bluegrass. The three DTs combined for 100 tackles, 9.5 for loss, with two sacks and three forced fumbles in 2013, but their impact reached far beyond what those numbers indicate.
And while the Cats return their punter Landon Foster for another season, they will have to replace place kicker Joe Mansour, who converted on 12 of 14 field goal attempts in 2013. No one else on UK’s roster attempted a field goal or extra point last season, nor did anyone else handle a single kickoff, leaving a gaping hole in the Wildcats’ special teams heading into 2014.
A former newspaper reporter who has roamed the southeastern United States for years covering football and eating way too many barbecue ribs, if there is such a thing.
