I have already addressed problems on our defensive front more than once. Our defense is the main reason I am not buying other posters' optimistic bowl expectations for our 2016 team. I gave you my assessment of King's skills and tradecraft, which are very impressive. King will share playing time with Boom, Kemp, Snell, Horton. I think Horton, not King, is the player on the spot now. And Horton isn't small. If you don't believe me, that's fine.
Mike Warren decommits.
- Thread starter ThwKentuckyKid
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I have already addressed problems on our defensive front more than once. Our defense is the main reason I am not buying other posters' optimistic bowl expectations for our 2016 team. I gave you my assessment of King's skills and tradecraft, which are very impressive. King will share playing time with Boom, Kemp, Snell, Horton. I think Horton, not King, is the player on the spot now. And Horton isn't small. If you don't believe me, that's fine.
Come on man OSU, MSU, and UM don't all recruit players who are not talented and deserving of their reputations. That's sour grapes and looks unbecoming.
Not sure how tall King is (used to be easy to jump to the top for info and back, but alas) but Locke only weighed 175# as a commit. He was also only a 5.2, and UK got him because Brooks promised him he could play RB when everyone else wanted him as a DB. They probably thought he was too little.
Locke was a true steal, putting him with Cobb
Was a nightmare for defenses everywhere. His speec made up for his size. Miss that guy.
Was a nightmare for defenses everywhere. His speec made up for his size. Miss that guy.
What 172# back are you discussing? If it's King, I can assure you he no longer weighs 172.
Yes, I can believe that, and as far as it goes he was listed as 175# on the commit list, and I doubt if he has lost weight. Although he did look awfully fast in the spring game, but I actually was just as impressed with him in the one game he got several carries in last year, looks like the real deal to me.
Sihiem King is a quality player. He was offensive player of the year in Georgia. His size is the reason he didn't get more offers. He is a hard worker and he will add strength in Kentucky's strength program. People who say defensive play in the spring game was not very good are right. Our defense is the reason I am not optimistic yet about 2016. But I do not base my opinion of King on the spring stats. You have to watch him and understand his skills. I see the kind of instincts that great backs possess. It sounds simple, but it isn't. When King hits a gap, he knows exactly when to cut back, and he always runs to daylight. When he runs on the edge of the offense, he knows how to set up his blockers. He is so quick that the advantages of his outstanding instincts are enhanced. Although he is small, he seldom goes down on initial contact because tacklers are off balance when they try to tackle him. He is also a surprisingly good blocker. When his critics say that he might get slowed down by big hits from SEC linebackers, they might be right. But they will have to catch him 1st.
King is a good player, no question, but you have to realize the kind of program he came from in Georgia. Its 6A,largest in Georgia, his team is on a 30 game win streak and has back to back state championships. Its a magnet school for football with kids coming from different places to play for Rush Propst who is one of the top if not the top HS coach in the country. He was the coach at Hoover High in Alabama when they were on TV. Now he has morals that would make Petrino look like a choir boy but a great coach. The kid who was suppose to replace King in 15 was arrested for murder so they went to next man and still went undefeated. They did this while having on a couple of kids sign D1 and one was a kicker. An example of Propst was last year while playing on Ga Public TV, he was going nuts at his qb, after completing a TD pass, and headbutts the kid while the kid still had his helmet on. Split is forehead open and didn't miss a beat. Very intense guy to say the least. He will have a tough time repeating this year, seems like all the top kids in metro Atlanta are "moving" into a particular HS's district, Grayson, and will have multiple P5 signees this year. So far, 2 DBs have moved in, a 4* and a 5*, a 4* OT and a 4* LB, and more likely to move in before fall. So they are coming after Colquit Co. this year to get the state championship back in the metro area. Only 3-4 teams have a legit chance to win state championship in that class and all recruit like crazy. But sadly its the same in all classes in Georgia. No one knows who they have until practice starts and you see who shows up.
Do you think our defense will be worse than it was last year? If so, then I also see a problem looming. I expect out offense to put a lot more points on the board than they did last year. IMO, if we had last year's defense with an improved offense then I would say that 6 or 7 win is very possible. Going back to last year, if we had just a tiny bit more production out of our offense, we could have easily won 8 or 9.
edit-I will say 8 wins last year because the loss to Auburn was on the defense. Defense also let down in the second half against UofL but I think if the offense had helped out at all, they would have played a lot better.
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If memory serves me Locke came to UK on a track schollie, asked Brooks if he could walk on and then got a football schoolie (to comply with the Bear Bryant rule).
I thought Locke came to UK on a football scholly, but the majority of his other schollies were for track with some interest as a DB.
That's kind of how I remember it, but he was a big track star, think he had a long jump over 25' in high school.
Some wanted Calvin Bird to run sprints at UK, but the coaches didn't want him to, something about changing his stride (lengthen it?) which would hurt his cutting ability. I saw him several games in high school, it was a pleasure to see him when he got in the open field, pure speed.