Kentucky football redshirt watch: who's still eligible?

With four games left to play in the regular season, this is the time to be looking for some true freshmen to start getting reps in real games. Against Missouri, we saw Jared Casey, KD McDaniel and JJ Weaver all make their first appearances of the season.

The official rulebook allows players to participate in up to four games and still redshirt that season. If a guy plays more than four games, his redshirt is to be considered “burned” for that season. Through Kentucky’s first eight games, eight true freshmen have played. The Cats brought in 18 true freshmen in the 2019 class, and may very well be on the way to redshirting each one of them.

Taj Dodson, a versatile defensive back, is the only freshman to play three games this season. The former three-star recruit played in Kentucky first three games to start the season and recovered a fumble against Florida. He hasn’t played since and can play in one more game this year to be eligible to retain his redshirt.

Wide receiver DeMarcus Harris – a former three-star recruit out of Florida – played in Kentucky first two games. Linebacker Tra Wilkins played against Toledo, while defensive backs M.J. Devonshire and Moses Douglass both saw time against Eastern Michigan. Devonshire, Douglass and Wilkins join Casey, McDaniel and Weaver as guys who still could see action in three more games this season.

Shawn’Kel Knight-Goff left the team, so that eliminates one freshman from the equation. Nik Scalzo tore his ACL prior to the season, so he will be receive a medical redshirt.

That leaves eight true freshmen who have yet to see the field. Assuming UK makes a bowl game, that means there are five more games for these guys to get some experience and still retain their redshirts. Those freshmen include: Cavon Butler (DL), Eli Cox (OL), Tae Tae Crumes (WR), Jalen Geiger (CB), Isaiah Gibson (DL), Amani Gilmore (QB), Jake Pope (OL) and Travis Tisdale (RB).

Some of these guys won’t see any time at all. But I expect a few will be sprinkled in before the season ends, especially against UT-Martin.

Be on the lookout for these guys as the season winds down. As Kentucky’s recruiting gets better and better, it will translate to the field. We already saw the impact a four-star guy like JJ Weaver could make (one big tackle and a PBU against Missouri). Now, it’s time to see what the other guys can do.