How Kentucky football could throw some wrinkles at opponents in 2018
Every year each football coaching staff spends hours in the film room trying to come up with an edge against an opponent. Most of the time you hear these things referred to as wrinkles as a team tries to put together a concept an opponent has never seen them do before. It can be something like a trick play or even a different formation.
So entering a huge sixth season for Mark Stoops, my guess is that UK will have a few different things they’ll try to throw at opponents in a huge first month of the season. Here we’ll try to give an educated guess on what those will be.
Darius West plays in the box
Darius West, after battling a string of leg injuries, started every game for UK at safety last season as he collected 85 tackles. The senior from Ohio is at his best when he is able to play downhill and has excellent closing speed. He showed some inefficiencies in pass coverage last fall and with Dean Hood moving over to coach the secondary, we could see the staff get creative and try to use his strengths in different ways.
Kentucky is loaded with upperclassmen starting at linebacker but after that depth is a huge question. Kash Daniel appears to have locked down a starting spot at middle linebacker but if UK wants more speed they could decide to bring West in the box in nickel and dime packages. A linebacker group of West, Josh Allen, Boogie Watson, and Jordan Jones would bring a lot of speed to the field and could be dangerous on pressures. It’s easy to envision this unit becoming a third down staple for Matt House’s defense.
Three Wildcat Quarterbacks
I know it has frustrated some fans in the past, but don’t expect for UK’s utilization of the Wildcat Formation to go away anytime soon. UK will still emphasize this moving forward and in 2018 they could very creative.
Benny Snell will obviously get a fair share of snaps from this spot, but Lynn Bowden proved to be a valuable player in this role as a true freshman last season. However, most of Bowden’s damage came with his arm as he completed throws vertically down the field while being more of an outside run threat on counters.
The x-factor in this spot could be redshirt sophomore A.J. Rose. The Cleveland native could be the best collection of Bowden and Snell’s strengths. The former three-star prospect played quarterback in high school, has the size to run inside the tackles, and the speed to bounce runs outside. Eddie Gran could get very creative with the Wildcat this fall and fans should expect for this to be an offensive staple.
Four Corners Playing at Once
It’s no question that the secondary seriously struggled last season as opposing quarterbacks completed 64% of their passes and average nearly eight yards per attempt. The UK pass defense was a sieve in 2017 and that must improve going forward. With three senior corners and two senior safeties on the roster, UK could get flexible this fall.
With Derrick Baity, Lonnie Johnson, and Chris Westry UK has three corners that have played a lot of football in their careers. In redshirt senior Mike Edwards, UK has one of the most versatile defensive backs in college football who plays almost every position in the back seven. With this depth, UK has even moved former corner Jordan Griffin to safety as he enters his junior year.
We’ve already talked about the potential of moving West to linebacker and Mike Edwards is one of the best nickel corners in the SEC. That leaves a void at safety where Jordan Griffin could use some help. Lonnie Johnson appears to be a guy that could play safety and that move would strengthen UK’s coverage.
Mark Stoops and his staff will have the ability to get very creative with this secondary. With all of the versatility this group has, UK could be able to pull off some very exotic looks and schemes this year. This should help out a pass defense that needs to climb out of the gutter.
Screen Game
If Terry Wilson becomes the starter behind center, you could make the case that UK will have a top 15-20 rushing offense in college football. Snell may be the best running back in the SEC to go along with Wilson’s speed and then you have to add in the potential of Rose.
With that, you will be seeing a lot of eight or nine man boxes by opposing defenses with plenty of blitzes thrown in. That means there will be room for the screens.
Expect UK to use a heavy dose of bubbles, jailbreaks, and middle screens. Everyone from receivers to running backs to tight ends will be involved and against aggressive defenses UK could find some very big plays with screens.