Cats Illustrated continues with the task of running down the top returning players on each of the opponents Kentucky will face during the 2019 football season.

We're dividing the regular season into quarters, so to speak. In today's edition are Games 7-9.

Part I: The best players on Toledo, EMU and Florida

Part II: Top returnees for Mississippi State, South Carolina and Arkansas

GEORGIA

Safety J.R. Reed (89.0 PFF)

Quarterback Jake Fromm (84.7)

Edge defender Malik Herring (83.6)

Georgia is considered a prime national contender for a reason. They return a lot of big-time players with proven track records from a team that was very good in its own right. One of those standouts is at the quarterback position. Jake Fromm is one of the nation's top returning quarterbacks, especially when he has a clean pocket. And fortunately for him, unfortunately for opponents, UGA may have the best offensive line in the nation keeping his jersey clean. Whether he gets a lot of help from his receivers is a question that will be answered in time. Defensively J.R. Reed and Malik Herring are UGA's top returning players per PFF grades. Reed's coverage grade at safety last year was an outstanding 89.8. He allowed just one touchdown pass on 33 targets, and just about six yards per pass attempt. He did miss 14 tackles, however. Almost all of Malik Herring's stops were close to the line of scrimmage and he had 14 hurries and just one missed tackle last year.

MISSOURI

Defensive lineman Jordan Elliott (86.8)

Linebacker Cale Garrett (84.8)

Running back Larry Rountree III (80.9)

While UK will have faced McTelvin Agim, Javon Kinlaw and Georgia before this game against Missouri, Jordan Elliott will be the top returning defensive lineman by grade that the Wildcats will have faced to this point in the season. He was a very balanced defender last season, posting extremely high run defense and pass rush grades. Cale Garrett is an All-SEC candidate at linebacker and for good reason. He played a whopping 770 snaps last year and was a completely reliable tackler and a force against the run. Larry Rountree is one of the SEC's top returning running backs. He posted strong grades all season in 2018 ... Except against Kentucky.

TENNESSEE

Quarterback Jarrett Guarantano (86.0)

Cornerback Bryce Thompson (77.3)

Running back Ty Chandler (75.5)

A lot of fans would probably be surprised to see Guarantano grade out so well in spite of posting relatively modest numbers, but Pro Football Focus believes he only had four "turnover worthy plays" all season, which was by far the best in the SEC. There's a big drop off in grade from Guarantano to the second best returning Volunteer, but young cornerback Bryce Thompson had a nice SEC debut in 2018. He was a high risk, high reward player as you would expect a youngster to be. While he missed a lot of tackles and surrendered four touchdown passes, Tennessee used him successfully on blitzes to pressure the quarterback (six hurries), he had three picks and six pass breakups. Running back Ty Chandler didn't grade out so great as a runner but his grade was bolstered by very high marks as a receiver out of the backfield. In a four-game stretch in the middle of last season alone he had 19 receptions, 183 yards and three touchdown catches.