With Kentucky's football season now less than 100 days away, assuming there aren't any alterations to the schedule because of coronavirus, Cats Illustrated is embarking on a new Roster Rundown series.
We'll go player by player -- number by number -- and lay out the case for why you should care about each player on the roster and what the 2020 season means for them.
Starting at No. 1 means we begin with LSU transfer and cornerback Kelvin Joseph.
Background: As a member of the Class of 2018, Joseph came out of Baton Rouge (La.) Scotlandville as the No. 55 player in the nation, the No. 5 safety in the class, and the No. 3 player in Louisiana. He held offers from LSU, Alabama, Clemson, Florida, Georgia, Notre Dame, Oregon, Texas A&M, and many others.
Joseph ultimately signed with LSU as many probably expected but a year later Rivals listed it as one of the wildest recruitments in the modern era. Joseph was committed to LSU early in the process but later called Alabama his favorite even without decommitting from the Tigers. He finally did decommit before re-committing to LSU. It didn't take long for him to enter the transfer portal and from that point it wasn't long until he picked Kentucky.
Joseph has spent the last year toiling behind the scenes, gaining respect for his work ethic and commitment to improvement.
2020 Outlook: The fact that the coaching staff has already made it pretty clear that Joseph is a first-teamer on the depth chart says a lot about how they feel about him. According to multiple coaches on the staff from interviews this offseason, Joseph is physical, can cover, has meshed well with his teammates, and wants to be great. It might not be a stretch to say that in terms of raw talent and makeup, he could prove to be one of the most talented defensive backs to go through the Kentucky program in a long time.
The fact that Joseph is likely to start says something because the Wildcats return quite a bit in the secondary. He will be opposite Brandin Echols but is also the kind of player who could move around. Joseph is going to play a lot of snaps.
Because only the coaches have been watching Joseph he's a great mystery to fans, media, and outsiders, but there's been enough buzz that expectations won't be kept in check. Nor do the coaches seem eager to tap the brakes on the hype.
