JD PicKell: Comparing Kentucky football’s situation to skydiving jump
Mark Stoops has grown the Kentucky football program from the ground-up since taking over the program a decade ago. With one victory to go until Stoops ties Bear Bryant’s all-time wins record at Kentucky, On3’s JD PicKell believes the Wildcats have the pieces in place for a magical run in 2022.
“How I think this fan base feels can be summed up in these three words: Do it now. When you jump out of an airplane to skydive, you don’t pull that parachute right away. You don’t pull it too late. You don’t pull it too early,” PicKell said. “You pull it at around 7,000 feet – that’s when they tell you ‘Hey, pull that thing because you’re gonna go splat if you don’t.’ Right now, Kentucky is in that spot where they’ve got to pull the parachute. They have got to find a way to get it done.
“Regardless of how you feel about [Will Levis] when it comes to the NFL Draft, he’s one of the most exciting quarterbacks they’ve had there in a really long time, and a lot of things are lining up, similar to what I just said. If not now, then when for Kentucky?
After two 10-win seasons and subsequent Citrus Bowl appearances over the past four seasons, Kentucky has seemingly plateaued – the obvious answer is for the historically poor Kentucky football program to return to the bottom of the SEC East. But what if they don’t?
PicKell believes the Wildcats have put together a team that is capable of beating the likes of the reigning national champion Georgia Bulldogs when they travel to Lexington for a late-season matchup in November, and in-turn staking their claim as the east’s representative in the SEC Championship the following month.
If the impossible continued to happen in this scenario, the College Football Playoffs are even on the table – but only if that parachute gets pulled at the exact right moment.
“If you look at the SEC east, I think you could even talk yourself into ‘Hey, is Georgia vulnerable right now?’ Coming up a national title, is there a hangover for them?” PicKell asked. “They lost eight guys on defense – are they going to take some time to get it figured out on that side of the ball? Stetson Bennett, is he going to be someone that you can really count on to win a game for you, is he someone who you can really lean on? I’m not saying Georgia is vulnerable, I’m just saying there’s a case to be made.
“… And so for Kentucky, like I said, do it now. I know it might take a second and a half to get synched up with the new OC Rich Scangarello coming from the NFL. He’s got that pedigree, but if you can get synched up, you have the NFL pedigree of your OC and the potential NFL quarterback in Will Levis. I mean, there’s a lot of pieces here to make an argument to get it done now that we that would be my diagnosis for Kentucky. Do it now.”