Could Mark Stoops' Best Players Have Won a National Championship?

Kentucky and Mark Stoops have the national stage this weekend trying to take down the 2-time defending national champion Georgia in Athens. Obviously, the Dawgs have been a national title roster for many years now and send a plethora of guys to the NFL each season. Kentucky has never had the depth of roster as Georgia at any point in the Stoops era. That’s just facing reality.

But what I thought would be a good thought exercise was to determine if we took each of Stoops’ best players at each position and put them on a team together, would we have a national title winner. The point is has Mark Stoops recruited national title-caliber players but simply hasn’t been able to piece enough of them together to find his way to the top?

A couple of things to get out of the way upfront. Of course, backups play a key role in national championship teams. I am only picking the starters. I took into consideration if a player received All-American or All-SEC honors, as well as NFL Draft position. That means that some of the most “productive” players statistically may have been left off.

Lastly, Nick Roush contributed to this list as well, so if you hate it, throw your comments to @RoushKSR.

OFFENSE

QB: Will Levis
RB: Benny Snell
RB: Chris Rodriguez
WR: Lynn Bowden
WR: Wandale Robinson
TE: CJ Conrad
OG: Bunchy Stallings
OT: Darrian Kinard
C: Drake Jackson
OT: Landon Young
OG: Logan Stenberg

Personally, this offense would be national title level no doubt. The offensive line would be the best in the country. Mark Stoops is already known for that. You would have two running backs who were dangerous and great speed at the wideouts. Would they use CJ Conrad, who knows? And with this kind of roster around him, Levis would have all day to throw. The issue with this group is both Bowden and Robinson are somewhat the same player. Small, shifty wideouts. Do you have a deep threat on this group? Not really. So I think there would be a path to a defensive game plan to slow down this group. But it would have to be an elite defense to do it.

DEFENSE

DE: Josh Allen
DT: Calvin Taylor
DT: Deone Walker
DE: Bud Dupree
LB: Deandre Square
LB: Avery Williamson
LB: Jamin Davis
DB: Kelvin Joseph
DB: Chris Westry
S: Mike Edwards
S: Darius West

I think the front 7 would be good enough for anybody. You have a bunch of pros on that list and a star in Josh Allen. The defensive backfield would be the biggest question mark on the whole roster. Both Bossman and Westry were elite at times and average at times. Edwards was a top-tier safety but I struggled to come up with an obvious 2nd safety to put there. I think if this team had one “weakness” it would be in pass defense. It still would be a very good unit but one with inconsistency. Mark Stoops prides himself on defense so you’d also have to think he’s get this group together if a national title was on the line.

K: Austin MacGinnis
P: Max Duffy

Best tandem in the country, no doubt.

So could this group win a national title? I think so, absolutely. They wouldn’t be unstoppable. It wouldn’t be an unbeatable team. I think you would attack this team through the air on offense and force them to beat you with the pass on defense. But UK would be elite on both lines with national title-caliber playmakers on offense.

Point is, Mark Stoops is able to recruit players to compete at the highest levels of college football. The question is whether he can get them all on the field at the same time. And at Kentucky, that is a MASSIVE challenge.

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