Steven Clinkscale is knocking it out of the park on the recruiting front this offseason, but he has arguably the most difficult task of any coach on Kentucky's roster this year: Finding a way to help the Cats replace five key contributors and seniors from one of the best secondaries in school history.
Here's how Cats Illustrated writers see Kentucky's secondary stacking up with peer units across the SEC.
The Rankings Explained...
Drummond: Stop me if you've heard this one before: LSU is loaded at defensive back. They continue to run a DB factory down in Baton Rouge with Kristian Fulton and Grant Delpit leading this year's elite unit and the addition of No. 1 corner prospect Derek Stingley. The Tigers will likely have the best secondary in the nation with the Crimson Tide and Gators not too far behind. Throwing the ball against any of those three won't be too fun this season. ... As for Kentucky, it's a tough group to rank entering the season. This is a total rebuild for the Cats, who lose their top three corners and both safeties, so it's only fair that we list them toward the bottom of the league entering the season. However, Mark Stoops & Co. have recruited extremely well at these positions and express optimism for the group. Losing Davonte Robinson hurts. He has legit All-SEC talent. Guys like Jordan Griffin, Cedrick Dort, and Tyrell Ajian have played a good number of snaps as reserves and should be ready to step up. Moses Douglass is a high-potential signee who could step into Robinson's role. In hindsight, it's good that they got him enrolled for the spring semester. The addition of jucos Brandin Echols and Quandre Mosely should also help compensate for the lost experience.
Graf: For me, the top 5 schools on this list were locked in. After that, it became very interchangeable. LSU aka “DB U” lost Greedy Williams to the draft but still stays atop my list. Grant Delpit is a first round selection and incoming freshman Derek Stingley is my pick for SEC Freshman of the Year. Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Auburn all return key guys, but none of those defensive back groups compare to LSU. When it comes to Kentucky, you could list them anywhere in the bottom half of the rankings because nobody has a solid clue of what their ceiling is. The Cats’ front 7 is one of the best in the SEC, but the defensive backs are a complete wild card. Before the Davonte Robinson news, I had Kentucky ranked 11th in the conference and I dropped them down a spot after the fact. While they’re unproven, the Wildcats still have some young talent at the safety spots. I expect JUCO transfer Brandin Echols to lock down one of the corner spots due to his physical maturity when compared to the other candidates. Outside of those two, it’s hard to have a high level of confidence on any of the other defensive backs. Jordan Griffin has yet to live up to his four-star billing, but very well could this season with extended playing time in sight. Cedrick Dort, Tyrell Ajian and Moses Douglass are other players who will all have opportunities to earn significant playing time in fall camp.
Rowland: If we had divided this up into safety rankings and corner rankings then I'd be more bullish on Kentucky in the former category. But given the serious questions facing the Cats at the cornerback positions, i.e. finding Nos. 1 and 2 corners, to say nothing of when your depth is tested, I can't in good conscience rank them any higher than where I have them now. I will rank them ahead of the league's worst secondaries because Jordan Griffin and Tyrell Ajian have done some nice things in the past and I like the safeties and potential options at nickel.
