Cats Illustrated's Roster Rundown series leading up to the start of the 2020 college football season continues with another very interesting player.

Our series began with a look at Kelvin Joseph, a cornerback transfer from LSU who has built up a lot of hype for his work behind the scenes over the last year.

It continues with the man in the No. 2 jersey, Joey Gatewood. He's another transfer from an SEC West program -- Auburn -- and a quarterback who drew comparisons to Cam Newton coming out of high school.

Background: The Newton comparisons were inevitable for Gatewood because of his big arm, his big physique, and his prospect pedigree. He was part of the Rivals100 coming out of high school and he signed with Auburn, the place where Newton won a national championship.

When Gatewood arrived at Auburn it was clear he had some room to grow, but that was expected for a true freshman. He redshirted and then before his redshirt freshman year he battled for the starting quarterback position with Bo Nix but eventually lost out on that job. Nix went on to set many freshman passing records for the Tigers.

As a redshirt freshman backup Gatewood rushed the ball 32 times for 176 yards and three touchdowns but only had 54 passing yards, though two scoring passes were included.

Gatewood had a storied high school career which included taking his team, Bartram Trail in Jacksonville, Fla., to the state championship game and then competing in the Elite 11 competition as a finalist.

2020 Outlook: This all depends on whether the NCAA rules Gatewood eligible for the 2020 season. Kentucky has worked on a waiver request and the NCAA has had a tendency to grant those recently, but it's anybody's guess what the sport's governing organization will decide.

If Gatewood is ruled eligible then Kentucky's quarterback room gets a significant boost to its depth. He would likely be contending with Sawyer Smith for backup duties to rising senior Terry Wilson. Early in spring practice quarterbacks coach Darin Hinshaw told reporters that Smith would be the first player to rotate in for reps after Wilson, with Gatewood, Beau Allen and Amani Gilmore (who has since transferred) vying for reps after that.

If Gatewood is ruled ineligible and has to sit out for a year then he would have two years of eligibility, in 2021 and 2022, and he would be expected to compete with Allen, Nik Scalzo, and Kaiya Sheron in what should be a wide open competition.