Scouting the Cats: Kentucky offense eyes more balance after year of ‘Bowden Ball’
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2020 College Football Preview
The Lexington Herald-Leader’s 2020 College Football Preview special section was published in the print edition on Sunday, Aug. 30. Click below to view all the stories from that section that have been published on Kentucky.com.
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A breakdown of the Kentucky football team’s offense heading into the 2020 season.
Coordinators: Eddie Gran, fifth season at Kentucky, 32nd season as a college assistant coach, 10th season as an offensive coordinator; Darrin Hinshaw, fifth season at UK, 20th season as a college assistant coach, ninth as an offensive coordinator. Gran, who coaches UK’s running backs, in January received a one-year contract extension through 2022, and is set to make $875,000 this season.
Position coaches: Jovon Bouknight, wide receivers; Vince Marrow, tight ends; John Schlarman, offensive line.
Other staff: Mark Perry and Josh Estes-Waugh, quality control assistants; Ryan Finck, John French and Maxwell Smith, graduate assistants.
Scheme: Multiple pro-style.
Last season: Kentucky led the Southeastern Conference in rushing (279.1 yards per game) and was one of only three league teams to average 200 yards on the ground, but its passing game was almost non-existent after Lynn Bowden took the reins at quarterback. That development helped put UK in the bottom half of the league (ninth overall) in total yards per game (392.8).
Returning starters: Josh Ali, wide receiver; Allen Dailey Jr., wide receiver; Luke Fortner, guard; Drake Jackson, center; Darian Kinnard, offensive tackle; Justin Rigg, tight end; A.J. Rose, running back; Clevan Thomas, wide receiver; Terry Wilson, quarterback; Landon Young, offensive tackle.
What to watch: The Cats boasted one of the best offensive lines in the country last season, and that unit returns four of its five starters. That, coupled with a deep running back room, should allow them to continue leaning hard on their run game while looking to regain some of the balance they demonstrated in the pass game prior to Wilson’s season-ending injury in 2019. Two strong backups, Kavosiey Smoke and Chris Rodriguez, will continue to push Rose, and speedy redshirt freshmen Travis Tisdale rounds out one of the deepest running back rooms in the league. The receivers, on the other hand, were barely featured beyond their ability to block last season and subsequently had little chance to display star-level playmaking ability on a consistent basis. The talent’s there, though, and ideally the likes of Ali, Thomas and others will have an opportunity to show more of it. An offense more favorable to passing options should also mean Rigg and Keaton Upshaw have their numbers called more; the latter is arguably Kentucky’s most physically gifted receiving threat.
Question marks: How effective will Terry Wilson be if he isn’t as explosive as he was prior to last year’s injury? Should Wilson be sidelined again, has Sawyer Smith earned the right to be the proverbial “Next Man Up” or will the coaches find it more fitting to begin grooming a newcomer (Joey Gatewood? Beau Allen?) for the Cats’ future? Will Kenneth Horsey be able to step into the starting offensive line unit seamlessly, or will the Cats miss dearly the edge that departed with Logan Stenberg? Was Josh Ali’s Belk Bowl showing a sign of great things to come or was it a one-off performance? What could star recruit Michael Drennen bring to the offense; is he the much-needed heir apparent to Lynn Bowden, to whom he was oft-compared in high school? Will we see UK continue to deploy two tight-end sets with more frequency as it tries to rebuild its passing game? Is it unreasonable to think this team could challenge any of the rushing records set by last year’s squad? Is it crazy to think it should try?
Outlook: Kentucky is built like a run-first team, and fans hoping for more time in the sky might be disappointed that the Cats aren’t tossing the pigskin around every other snap. However, for it to continue trending upward — on the field and in the eyes of recruits as well — UK needs to show more on that side of the offense and, on paper, is capable of doing so as long as Wilson is as ready as he says he is. His health will go a long way toward determining how well the ball is moved this season.
This story was originally published August 30, 2020 at 8:57 AM.
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