It’s (spring) football time in the Bluegrass! Here’s what we’ll be watching at UK.
The University of Kentucky’s spring football schedule gets underway this week.
It’s always tough to glean a great deal from this period, given its relative short length of time compared to the actual season as well as variables that might or might not be foreseen as it’s actually happening. One needs only to look at last year, when backup quarterback Sawyer Smith wasn’t even part of the program until the summer, to remember that.
Still, this is a chance for newcomers and guys who’ve been on the roster but might not yet be household names throughout the commonwealth to make impressions before August arrives. With so many seasoned guys returning from last year’s 8-5 team, it’ll be fun to see who among the fresh faces starts to stand alongside them.
Here’s what we’ll be keeping an eye on throughout the spring.
QB development
A season-ending injury to incumbent starter Terry Wilson defined Kentucky’s 2019 season. UK teams of yesteryear would have turned into dumpster fires after losing a signal-caller who won 80 percent of his starts, but this staff figured things out well enough to guide the program to a fourth straight bowl appearance.
Wilson is not expected to be a full participant in spring practice. It’s not likely that freshman Nik Scalzo, recovering from an ACL injury, will be, either. That leaves Smith, Beau Allen, Joey Gatewood and Amani Gilmore to duke it out for first-team reps in the spring.
Smith is most deserving and makes the most sense as long as he’s fully healthy, seeing as he’s the only man on the roster who has started a college football game.
In the unfortunate event that Wilson isn’t able to retake the reins in September, Smith is best positioned to begin the year as UK’s starter. He was 0-3 in that role, but as a Wildcat he has played about three quarters at full health.
Mark Stoops and his staff valued Smith’s grit last season, arguably to a fault, but that loyalty could pay big dividends — even if Smith enters the 2020 season as UK’s backup, he’ll be a much better one for it after a strong spring.
Gilmore wasn’t at a point in his development at any point last season where he was considered a better option at quarterback than Lynn Bowden, but there were indications that he was progressing at year’s end. This spring appears to have been important enough for him to give up playing for UK’s baseball team, something he’d said he would do before coming to Kentucky.
Given how long UK has pursued Allen — since his freshman season at Lexington Catholic — and his high-profile status as a recruit, it’s easy to project him as the Wildcats’ “Quarterback of the Future.” Stoops during the early signing period thought Allen might have been able to play for UK last season, suggesting he might find himself on the depth chart much sooner than later, especially if spring goes as well as he hopes.
Gatewood’s the biggest wild card at quarterback entering 2020. A new NCAA proposal that would allow for first-time transfers to be immediately eligible might be approved in April, and would go into effect beginning with the 2020-21 academic year. Gatewood figures to receive his fair share of reps throughout the spring, but their significance would swell if he’s able to play this year. If the Auburn transfer’s as good as advertised, UK could have a quarterback competition on its hands come fall camp.
Who will leave?
UK received a boost via the NCAA when it awarded defensive lineman Phil Hoskins a sixth year of eligibility. It created an additional bind on available scholarship dollars heading into the fall, however.
Hoskins’ return means 68 of UK’s 85 allotted scholarships would go to returning players this fall. That figure includes Kelvin Joseph, a transfer who enrolled prior to the start of the 2019 season but who was ineligible to play.
Eleven players — 10 freshmen and Gatewood — enrolled in January, and at least 10 more newcomers have signed with the Wildcats. That’s a total of 89 players, meaning UK needs at least four players to leave school — or choose to play without a scholarship — before the fall in order to make room for its entire signing class. That number would grow to five if longtime commitment Torrance Davis actually signs with UK, which he contends is still the plan.
Spring camp will be an opportunity for guys at the bottom of the depth chart to assess whether they can climb upward and consider their relevance to the immediate future of the program. Attrition happens, and it’s almost certainly a guarantee that a few Wildcats will see their time in Lexington come to an end.
Special teams
Outside of Ray Guy Award-winning punter Max Duffy’s return, UK’s special-teams unit has several things to sort out. If nothing else, spring should give us a good gander at what things will look like on that front.
Walk-on Matt Ruffolo finished last season as UK’s starting place-kicker. Will scholarship kicker Chance Poore reclaim the role as a sophomore? If that’s indeterminate after spring, it’s possible Poore could be among those who seek a transfer.
Will Josh Ali continue to field punts or will a (likely) bigger role in the passing game open that role to another player? Running back Travis Tisdale, who will be a redshirt freshman, was a possible option there last year and could be again as the staff looks to make use of his speed. He might be an option on kick returns, too, along with Zach Johnson, the team’s leading returnee in that area.
An undervalued departure is Blake Best, a four-year starter at long snapper who never missed a game. Cade Degraw, a true freshman from Mississippi, was listed as his backup last season. Another freshman, Jordan Morrow, a Louisville native who played at St. Xavier, also could be in the conversation there.
Blue-White Game
Noon Saturday, April 11, at Kroger Field
