Kentucky's defensive line has a chance to be one of the program's best units up front in quite some time and senior Kordell Looney is a reason for that.

Cats Illustrated takes a look at No. 59 for the 'Cats as we count down every scholarship player on the roster ahead of the 2020 season.

Background: The 6'3, 290 pound Looney helped jump-start Kentucky's recruiting successes at Springfield High School in Ohio when he was a member of the Class of 2016. Rivals.com rated Looney the No. 36 defensive tackle in the nation, good enough for a three-star ranking, and he turned down the likes of Pittsburgh and Louisville in picking the Wildcats.

Looney redshirted as a true freshman in 2016 and he has been a consistent, reliable player ever since. Over the past three seasons dating back to his redshirt freshman year Looney has been a mainstay in the defensive line rotation, seeing action in 36 games.

In that time he has 34 tackles as a Kentucky player. Last year he only had nine tackles but Looney had a sack, two pass breakups, two hurries, two forced fumbles, and two tackles for loss. He was one of Kentucky's best players in last year's narrow 29-21 loss to Florida.

2020 Outlook: Whether Looney will be a starter for Kentucky or not, he's going to play a lot of snaps. While everyone's talking about Quinton Bohanna and a banner class of freshmen, understandably so, Looney is talented and experienced enough that he won't be unseated in the rotation. He'll be part of a rotation that should be deep and he's a player who can both play the run and make some plays in the backfield.