NCAA Football '14: Kentucky Wildcats depth chart

EA Sports newest installment in the NCAA Football franchise hit store shelves Tuesday, and that marks for many the start of college football season… at least in the video game world. New dynasty modes begin, the Road to Glory campaigns reset, and hours and hours of tweaking and editing rosters to get the game accurate to real life take over.

When the game was first unveiled on the E3 demo floor last month in Los Angeles, we had a sneak peak at the top ten players on Kentucky’s roster. Now that the game has been released, we have the full depth chart.

The following is what is given out of the box by EA Sports. Of course, names have been edited and some player’s values have been tweaked. You can take a look at the offense below; listed next to each player are some notable ratings to their respective position…

Some things to take note of:

— The depth at running back looks to be solid. Jonathan George will take the reins as the lead-back, but Josh Clemons and Raymond Sanders will see platoon action, mixing up size and speed in the new air raid offense.

— Wide receiver depth is really shallow. With the departure of DeMarcus Sweat and Bookie Cobbins, the wide receiving corps will rely heavily on speedster Demarco Robinson to pave the way. Note: Javess Blue may be slightly underrated and could be boosted in future roster updates.

— The offensive line is weak and thin. A lot of young players will be turning to Kevin Mitchell as a veteran, but the offense will likely see some struggles, especially early in the season, because of an O-line that’s still trying to figure it out. This is clearly the biggest weakness of the offense.

Regarding the defensive side of the ball:

— Likely the best unit on the team is the defense, specifically the front line. It will be respected in the Southeastern Conference. Mister Cobble, Donte Rumph, Bud Dupree, and Avery Williamson are among the best players on the team, and they will all be clogging in the box. This should be a very good run defense team.

— Za’Darius Smith was underrated out of the box, and the first roster download boosted his stats. It is likely his values will increase even more. If that happens, Dupree and Smith on each corner will be quite the formidable pass rush.

— Freshman cornerback Jaleel Hytchye is the fastest player on the roster with a speed rating of 94. It will take a year or two before he sees significant action — in fact, he could be redshirted — but the future looks good for this kid.

Stay tuned tomorrow I’ll have a full season simulation posted. Spoiler: There aren’t too many surprises.