Lack of talent among the big fellas continues to kill UK

[UKErik]

Head coaches and quarterbacks are the typical fall guys when it comes to losing football teams. And honestly, they probably should be. QB's get the girls and make the most money. Head coaches are incredibly (or in our case, ridiculously) well paid. But you win football games in the trenches. Simply put, that's why UK rarely wins.

In 1993, Kentucky had two offensive lineman taken in the NFL draft (Chuck Bradley and Todd Perry). From 1994-present, Kentucky has had ONE offensive lineman drafted (Larry Warford back in '13). Think about that for a second. Kentucky has had ONE offensive lineman drafted since 1994. One! Hell, even Vanderbilt has had five taken over that time span.

Since 1994, UK has had EIGHT d-lineman drafted. Eight! Alabama has had TEN d-lineman drafted...since 2010! So over the last 22 drafts, UK has had a d-lineman drafted about once every three years.

Fast forward to today. The Cats were absolutely throttled on both sides of the football. On the first play of the game, Drew Barker was knocked into next week. On defense, UK put virtually no pressure on Florida's QB (that's according to UF's QB...LOL)! UK's run defense is putrid.

Until Kentucky finds a guy that can land elite level lineman, it won't matter who we hire or what schemes the head coach wants to run. When you consistently get your *** kicked up front, you're screwed.

GBB!!!

 

[RUPPsRevenge1]

Losing someone like Hatcher really hurt this team. Hatcher could have really helped this defense.

 

[richbrookstomato]

We will never be able to recruit Off. & Def. Linemen with the rest of the SEC. That's why it is critical that we have the very best O-line and D-Line developing assistant coaches. We need a staff that can identify players that have the measurables but will be late bloomers and develop them into capable SEC Linemen.

Obviously Coach Stoops has failed miserably in doing this.

 

[howercat]

hgh, steroids, they should be taking,,,, just look at other SEC schools. THEY HUGE

 

[UKErik]

catben, you're right in that UK is never going to recruit with the big boys. BUT, they have to do better than one guy drafted in a 22 year period. That's just as asinine number. Unbelievable actually.

If that's the best they can do, fold the program. Coaches can get you so far, but you need good football players (and a lot of 'em) to win at a major program. Hell, U of L has had seven o-lineman drafted in the last ten years. There's no reason UK can't match that kind of success.

GBB!!!

 

[jnewc2_rivals30628]

It's a little hard for me to buy this. I know how important o-linemen and d-linemen are but it's hard to convince me that we didn't have a better o-line and d-line than teams like Southern Miss, Eastern Kentucky, Louisiana Lafayette, Vanderbilt, etc, etc, etc. Those teams haven't out-recruited us one time, but they pushed us around like a JV team. We had an 80-pound advantage over the d-linemen of Southern Miss. yet got pushed around all night long.

The trenches matter, but they aren't the reason we're losing to teams like Southern Miss. That's on the coaches, plain and simple. Even if it is the talent, at the end of the day it's those coaches who recruited the talent (or lack thereof). Maybe they should stop signing 15 DB's per class and start focusing their attention on recruiting the trenches. Just a thought.

The trenches are the reason we lose to teams like Florida and Georgia, but not teams like Southern Miss. We actually had an advantage in the trenches in that game and it didn't do a whole heck of a lot because we had Gomer Pyle running the show from the sidelines.

 

[richbrookstomato]

catben, you're right in that UK is never going to recruit with the big boys. BUT, they have to do better than one guy drafted in a 22 year period. That's just as asinine number. Unbelievable actually.

If that's the best they can do, fold the program. Coaches can get you so far, but you need good football players (and a lot of 'em) to win at a major program. Hell, U of L has had seven o-lineman drafted in the last ten years. There's no reason UK can't match that kind of success.

GBB!!!

You are absolutely correct Erik.

What I'm saying is that of those seven UofL O-Linemen, how many were highly rated recruits?

I look at the Missouri teams that won the SEC East the 1st 2 years in the league as a model for UK to become an actual contender.

Their former staff could develop linemen on both sides of the ball even though those players weren't 4 or 5 star recruits(for the most part).

 

[RACdad]

I've always thought UK has to run something out of the ordinary on both sides of the ball to really compete. Untill the instate talent rises to the likes of the deep south UK can never compete straight up with consistency.

 

[loublue22_rivals308424]

I watched some of the WKU game and their guys look the part of an SEC defense/linemen more than we do

 

[UKErik]

It's a little hard for me to buy this. I know how important o-linemen and d-linemen are but it's hard to convince me that we didn't have a better o-line and d-line than teams like Southern Miss, Eastern Kentucky, Louisiana Lafayette, Vanderbilt, etc, etc, etc. Those teams haven't out-recruited us one time, but they pushed us around like a JV team. We had an 80-pound advantage over the d-linemen of Southern Miss. yet got pushed around all night long.

The trenches matter, but they aren't the reason we're losing to teams like Southern Miss. That's on the coaches, plain and simple. Even if it is the talent, at the end of the day it's those coaches who recruited the talent (or lack thereof). Maybe they should stop signing 15 DB's per class and start focusing their attention on recruiting the trenches. Just a thought.

jnewc2, I didn't say UK is losing to the USM's of the world solely because of line play, but line play is one reason UK struggles mightily to pull away from mediocre teams. EKU. Lafayette. USM. Getting drilled by league schools. Line play is the most important aspect in the sport of football. QB play is next, and UK has been mostly woeful at that spot too.

And I agree, the coaching has been atrocious. Player development for guys like Towles, Barker, Elam and even Hatcher (when he was here) seems deficient. Add to that the gaffes and mental breakdowns, and you have a total nightmare.

GBB!!!

 

[richbrookstomato]

I watched some of the WKU game and their guys look the part of an SEC defense/linemen more than we do

They weren't as big, but they were flying to the ball on EVERY snap. The Tide just wore them down by the end of the game. I was more than impressed by their team speed and discipline, something we have lacked for the last 3 seasons under Stoops.

 

[SituationBlue]

While there is nothing untrue about this post, that doesn't completely excuse today's performance. It wasn't just the line, I've heard a lot all week about putting our secondary on an island. Florida absolutely toasted the defense with the long ball on a few occasions. The offense received their humanitarian TD against Florida's backups. Our supposed talent on the outside was no use today.

This is likely the worst defensive line I have seen in my time watching UK, so as much as we want to complain I'm not sure there's another coach out there that can compensate for it. But we've seen this before, UK has a propensity to turn early adversity into a downhill snowball and quit. The lines can't be blamed for a full-system failure across the board.

 

[anon_013cn8yrfncx2]

Head coaches and quarterbacks are the typical fall guys when it comes to losing football teams. And honestly, they probably should be. QB's get the girls and make the most money. Head coaches are incredibly (or in our case, ridiculously) well paid. But you win football games in the trenches. Simply put, that's why UK rarely wins.

...

Until Kentucky finds a guy that can land elite level lineman, it won't matter who we hire or what schemes the head coach wants to run. When you consistently get your *** kicked up front, you're screwed.

GBB!!!

Yet I've seen you talk about the improved recruiting. Seems like it's only improved in the number of stars on UK's recruits. Don't see much actual recruiting of guys who can play, or guys who can play where we are woefully inadequate.
If next years's class suddenly wound up with several 5 star athletes at WR and DB, how much good would it do? THat's sort of what you're saying but let's quit pretending that recruiting has actually improved in playing ability. I don't see it.
Was Conrad even targeted today?

 

[loublue22_rivals308424]

While there is nothing untrue about this post, that doesn't completely excuse today's performance. It wasn't just the line, I've heard a lot all week about putting our secondary on an island. Florida absolutely toasted the defense with the long ball on a few occasions. The offense received their humanitarian TD against Florida's backups. Our supposed talent on the outside was no use today.

This is likely the worst defensive line I have seen in my time watching UK, so as much as we want to complain I'm not sure there's another coach out there that can compensate for it. But we've seen this before, UK has a propensity to turn early adversity into a downhill snowball and quit. The lines can't be blamed for a full-system failure across the board.

Well they can in the sense that if they are that bad, it doesn't matter much what else you do. But everyone else seems pretty bad too.

 

[UKErik]

Yet I've seen you talk about the improved recruiting. Seems like it's only improved in the number of stars on UK's recruits. Don't see much actual recruiting of guys who can play, or guys who can play where we are woefully inadequate.
If next years's class suddenly wound up with several 5 star athletes at WR and DB, how much good would it do? THat's sort of what you're saying but let's quit pretending that recruiting has actually improved in playing ability. I don't see it.
Was Conrad even targeted today?

I think a lot of people have talked about the improved recruiting. The alleged experts say Stoops has done better than any other UK head coach in recent memory. Of course, we've yet to see much of that demonstrated between the lines. Timmons, Barker, Elam, and Hatcher were all HUGE in-state "gets" for Kentucky. UK hasn't gotten much in return from any of them.

GBB!!!

 

[*Bleedingblue*]

I've always thought UK has to run something out of the ordinary on both sides of the ball to really compete. Untill the instate talent rises to the likes of the deep south UK can never compete straight up with consistency.

Signed louisville football

 

[*Bleedingblue*]

I watched some of the WKU game and their guys look the part of an SEC defense/linemen more than we do

I haven't looked at the roster but I would bet that half their team is from the state of Kentucky. And they would blow our doors off make us look silly. All with 2 star players.

 

[BigBlueCatNation]

Head coaches and quarterbacks are the typical fall guys when it comes to losing football teams. And honestly, they probably should be. QB's get the girls and make the most money. Head coaches are incredibly (or in our case, ridiculously) well paid. But you win football games in the trenches. Simply put, that's why UK rarely wins.

In 1993, Kentucky had two offensive lineman taken in the NFL draft (Chuck Bradley and Todd Perry). From 1994-present, Kentucky has had ONE offensive lineman drafted (Larry Warford back in '13). Think about that for a second. Kentucky has had ONE offensive lineman drafted since 1994. One! Hell, even Vanderbilt has had five taken over that time span.

Since 1994, UK has had EIGHT d-lineman drafted. Eight! Alabama has had TEN d-lineman drafted...since 2010! So over the last 22 drafts, UK has had a d-lineman drafted about once every three years.

Fast forward to today. The Cats were absolutely throttled on both sides of the football. On the first play of the game, Drew Barker was knocked into next week. On defense, UK put virtually no pressure on Florida's QB (that's according to UF's QB...LOL)! UK's run defense is putrid.

Until Kentucky finds a guy that can land elite level lineman, it won't matter who we hire or what schemes the head coach wants to run. When you consistently get your *** kicked up front, you're screwed.

GBB!!!

I've been saying this for years!

 

[kyjohn]

Does UK have 22 players (11 offense and 11 defense) that can actually play SEC football?You would be hard pressed to find them.Throw that in with the inept coaching and one can see why this team is hard pressed to compete.

 

[Xception]

The odd thing is that defensive linemen are much harder to get than offensive linemen and yet we have had far better dl players over that timespan , with more draft picks . There's no excuse for not getting some quality ol but that's so Kentucky , nothing that happens here surprises me in the least .

 

[mrhotdice]

I haven't looked at the roster but I would bet that half their team is from the state of Kentucky. And they would blow our doors off make us look silly. All with 2 star players.

They would play with heart and a desire to beat UK. UKs desire is to win six games.

 

[*Bleedingblue*]

They would play with heart and a desire to beat UK. UKs desire is to win six games.

I think they play with a heart and desire to beat everybody they play.we do not play with a heart and desire against anybody

 

[BigBlueTuckian]

Sheds some light on the situation on just how bad Kentucky's trench play has been over the past 25 years.

Even the DL of Pryor, Peters, etc. was simply average by SEC standards, and we thought they were excellent.

The OL has had zero bright spots during that time span. Better days are ahead, but I still shake my head about how some folks were wanting to put this season on the backs of true freshmen Landon Young and Drake Jackson. Look at what Young did yesterday in his first action: caused his QB to fumble.......

 

[seccats04]

Schlarman and Brumbaugh are bigger problems than a lack of talent. Brumbaugh made Za'Darius and Bud Dupree look average and Schlarman's lines, well, lol.

 

[kyjohn]

Schlarman and Brumbaugh are bigger problems than a lack of talent. Brumbaugh made Za'Darius and Bud Dupree look average and Schlarman's lines, well, lol.

Yet the recruits that come to UK sing the praises of both of these guys/
Anyway i wish whatever is wrong with the o and d lines could be figured out and these guys would play with a lot more heart and dedication.

 

[Littlefeller_rivals66952]

Losing someone like Hatcher really hurt this team. Hatcher could have really helped this defense.

He certainly would have provided a different buzz!

 

[Kingebeneezer]

UL always has crap Olines but they consistently find QBs that make plays. The excuses are tired.

 

[shutzhund]

It's a little hard for me to buy this. I know how important o-linemen and d-linemen are but it's hard to convince me that we didn't have a better o-line and d-line than teams like Southern Miss, Eastern Kentucky, Louisiana Lafayette, Vanderbilt, etc, etc, etc. Those teams haven't out-recruited us one time, but they pushed us around like a JV team. We had an 80-pound advantage over the d-linemen of Southern Miss. yet got pushed around all night long.

The trenches matter, but they aren't the reason we're losing to teams like Southern Miss. That's on the coaches, plain and simple. Even if it is the talent, at the end of the day it's those coaches who recruited the talent (or lack thereof). Maybe they should stop signing 15 DB's per class and start focusing their attention on recruiting the trenches. Just a thought.

The trenches are the reason we lose to teams like Florida and Georgia, but not teams like Southern Miss. We actually had an advantage in the trenches in that game and it didn't do a whole heck of a lot because we had Gomer Pyle running the show from the sidelines.

Hard to believe but painfully obvious. By the way there's nothing "plain and simple" about this and the past half century of UK football unless………..