As Cats Illustrated continues to get you ready for the start of spring football, which is getting cranked up, we're tackling a question that should be at the front of everyone's mind.
How will the Wildcats replace Josh Allen, four top defensive backs, Jordan Jones, Adrian Middleton and Tymere Dubose - all rotation players and key contributors on last year's unit?
Who's ready to step into a starring role?
Travis Graf: I have said a couple of times before that I think Calvin Taylor will be the highest draft pick off this year’s squad. For his size, which isn’t teachable, he does a fantastic job of staying low when he fires off the ball. I look for him to improve and continue his disruption next season. DeAndre Square is a player whose explosion this season, given more snaps, isn’t that unimaginable. During limited snaps while playing behind Jordan Jones, Square recorded 35 total tackles last year. He also accounted for 4 TFL’s and a sack. Square is one of the best pure football players on the roster, despite not wowing you with his size.
Warren Taylor: The most likely candidates to step up for the UK defense in 2019 are obvious to me: Chris Oats and Josh Paschal. Oats was a valuable contributor for the Cats in 2018, notching 27 tackles, including three for a loss. He filled in brilliantly for Kash Daniel during the first half at Texas A&M. Oats also spotted Jordan Jones at inside linebacker during the season, giving him experience on multiple spots on the field. Combine his experience with his versatility and Oats will be a force to be reckoned with. Josh Paschal missed majority his true sophomore season battling cancer. The fact that he recovered and made it back on the field for the last third of the campaign is miraculous. It also gave him a headstart on getting used to playing on the defensive line again after spending his frosh year as a linebacker. Paschal has the tools and the drive to ensure that the Cats improvement on the D-line won't be a one season spike.
Jeff Drummond: Although there is no denying that Kentucky loses a lot of productive players on the defensive side of the ball, the good news is the Cats should stay relatively strong up the middle with a good group of interior D-Linemen and linebacker Kash Daniel. That gives you a really solid base for a good defense if you can develop a couple of guys on the perimeter. Boogie Watson will be going into his junior season with some nice flashes of potential. It would not be realistic to ask him to duplicate what Josh Allen did at outside linebacker last season, but I think he could still be an impact guy with good pass-rush ability. Corner will be the other position under the microscope. No one has really stepped forward to separate himself yet, but I tend to think Stanley Garner could be that guy after spring practice. He's got the size and athleticism that Mark Stoops loves at corner.
Justin Rowland: I like Travis' choice and believe Calvin Taylor could be poised for a very big year but I'm torn between several other options including Quinton Bohanna, Chris Oats, DeAndre Square, Jordan Griffin, Marquan McCall, Josh Paschal, Davonte Robinson and even Tyrell Ajian. Taylor's start to last season was incredible and while his production tapered off a bit in terms of hurries, that happened to Josh Allen during his junior year as well. Davonte Robinson had some highs and lows but he was sometimes one of Kentucky's best defensive players last year and they need him to be really good.
We didn't see the real Griffin last year and I think if he's 100-percent then he could have the breakout year I've been thinking he's capable of for a really long time. Bohanna has already had a breakout of sorts - two straight years. But he probably didn't get enough credit for how well he played down the stretch last year and he could become one of the SEC's better interior defensive linemen this year. Paschal is the real X-Factor because his talent is undeniable and it all depends on readiness. In short, I'm taking the easy way out by pointing out that the defense will regress, but there's a lot of young impressive talent on this squad.
