For most of the past two years Kentucky fans have spent a lot of time talking and reading about two inside linebackers that have become big names in the program: DeAndre Square and Chris Oats.

Both arrived at Kentucky with a fair or good amount of hype as touted and coveted prospects who spurned lots of schools to pick Kentucky. Both have often played well and have either appeared likely to live up to or exceed expectations.

The hype for those players makes sense. They contributed right away. They have big game potential. They're likely to be major contributors for two more years.

But now's the time when you should start thinking and talking a lot more about another inside linebacker for UK: Fellow rising junior Jamin Davis, who was rated slightly lower than Square and Oats as a prospect but has a redshirt year under his belt. But the reason Davis is an intriguing offseason discussion piece is the way he finished last season.

He was, by most measures and also the eye test, one of Kentucky's better player defensive players in the last few games of the season.

Granted, Kentucky played some of the worst teams on its schedule in its last three games of the regular season and it wouldn't be wise to read too much into increased snap counts in those games. After all, they were mostly blowouts, and younger players or backups all saw increased duty in those games.

Nonetheless, Davis' spike in production, playing time, and impact seemed real in live action and on tape.

The significance of Davis' emergence is it bolsters the depth of Kentucky's inside linebacking corps, which is coached by Jon Sumrall.

More importantly, if gives Kentucky one more option and more competition as the 'Cats try to find a solution to the MIKE linebacker situation. While Square and Oats have spent most of their time splitting reps at the WILL spot, and the coaches have been reluctant thus far to move either player elsewhere, Davis changes the dynamics of the battle for playing time at the two inside spots in 2020.

Davis is capable of playing either the WILL or MIKE spot and he'll be competing for an increased role this spring.

Davis saw 430 snaps in 2019, more than some might have guessed. However, more than 200 of those snaps, so roughly half, were on special teams units: Kick coverage, kick return, punt coverage, punt return, FG/XP block.

That context is important but also relevant is the fact that special teams contributions sometimes precede and aide a player's push for playing time on the offensive or defensive unit. That was Kash Daniel's path to a leading role at MIKE three years ago before he succeeded Courtney Love.

On the surface the two things that would make a potential transition from Daniel to Davis different than the earlier Love to Daniel transition are that Daniel was groomed as an obvious fit at the MIKE position, with his big hulking frame that he worked to slim and speed up and his patented willingness to run through a wall to get to a ball-carrier, but also that Davis played more at linebacker in 2019 than Daniel ever did before becoming a starter.

In other words, Davis might not be the most natural fit at MIKE (which doesn't mean he can't play it well), but he has already proven he can play.

Davis logged 10 tackles as a redshirt freshman, with half coming against non-Power Five competition as he eased his way onto the field.

Last year Davis saw his defensive snaps rise from 30 (2018) to more than 200. In the first two months of the season Davis was almost exclusively a special teams contributor. But right around the season's midway point he burst onto the field as a significant backup linebacker who patrolled the box

Note the increase in snaps from Week 7 through the bowl: 2, 15, 13, 5, 32, 50, 27, 13.

The 100-plus snaps in three weeks came against Vanderbilt, UT-Martin, and Louisville -- all blowouts -- but Davis' playing time in the bowl game, a nailbiter, remained up from where it was earlier in the season.

Digging further into the snap counts, Davis was used in ways that were similar to how Kentucky deployed Square and Oats. So there is no obvious difference in how they were used, thus, it remains a big mystery how UK will get two of them on the field at the same time for 90-plus percent of its defensive snaps this year.