The question Mark Stoops and every coach is asking right now: Are we good enough?
As training camps roll on and clocks tick down toward season openers, the football coaches of America are all asking themselves the same question over and over again.
Are we good enough?
So what’s keeping Mark Stoops up at night? His Kentucky football team plays Southern Miss on Aug. 31. The SEC grind begins a week later. Every drill, every practice counts.
Stoops’ most inner thoughts aren’t for public consumption, of course. Still, if I had my guess, here are three areas that have the head coach holding his breath:
1. The offensive line
The Big Blue Wall sprung a few leaks the past few years. The illness and passing of former offensive line coach John Schlarman caused a recruiting dip. Then Schlarman’s successor, Eric Wolford, departed after one year for Alabama.
Wolford is back. Given what he had to work with, Zach Yenser didn’t do a bad job as O-line coach the past two seasons. But Wolford is more experienced, especially in the college game.
Still, questions persist. Three spots are set. Center Eli Cox, right guard Jager Burton and left tackle Marques Cox are all returning starters. Left guard Jalen Farmer and right tackle Gerald Mincey are the newcomers. Farmer transferred in from Florida. Mincey spent time at Florida and Tennessee before arriving in Lexington.
New offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan wants a strong run game that leads to an explosive passing attack. The running backs need holes, the quarterback needs protection. Every team needs skill at the skill positions, but games are won up front. Is Kentucky good enough?
2. The running backs
After Rafael Little rushed for 1,013 yards in 2007, Kentucky did not boast another 1,000-yard rusher until Boom Williams (1,170) and Benny Snell (1,091) topped the century mark in 2016. Starting then, the Cats have had 1,000-yard rushers in six of the last eight seasons.
Ray Davis rushed for 1,129 yards in 2023, but the former Vanderbilt transfer was a fourth-round draft selection by the Buffalo Bills. His successor has big shoes to fill.
Ohio State transfer Chip Trayanum has the inside track. The 5-foot-11, 227-pounder from Akron, Ohio, rushed for 373 yards on 85 carries last season for the Buckeyes. His four years in Columbus, his most productive was his sophomore season in which he rushed for 402 yards.
Demie Sumo-Karngbaye transferred to UK last season from North Carolina State. He averaged 6.9 yards per carry on 20 attempts after averaging 5.5 yards per attempt with the Wolfpack in 2022. He’s considered an able receiver with 26 catches over the last two seasons.
Keep an eye on a pair of freshmen, one a redshirt, the other a true freshman. First-year player Jason Patterson, the freshman from Sneads, Florida, was running third team in the Fan Day open practice last Saturday. Jamarion Wilcox, a redshirt freshman from Douglasville, Georgia, earned praise after the first scrimmage.
As the offensive coordinator at Boise State, Hamdan had Ashton Jeanty, an All-America candidate who rushed for 1,347 yards last season. Watching his new backs, Hamdan is sure to be asking, “Are we good enough?”
3. Punter
Yes, punter. UK’s field goal specialist is set with Alex Raynor, who made 10 of his 11 attempts last season before deciding to return for another season. Punter is a different story.
Wilson Berry averaged just 39.7 yards per attempt last season. That ranked 11th in the SEC. In fact, Berry was the only punter with a minimum of 2.5 punts per game that averaged under 40 yards. Little wonder the Cats wound up 105th out of the 130 Division I teams in net punting.
To give Berry competition, Kentucky brought in Aidan Laros, a South African who kicked last season at UT Martin. Laros averaged 47.5 yards per punt and made 10 of his 16 field goal attempts. There were social media reports of Laros uncorking an 80-yard punt during Saturday’s scrimmage.
“Punting, we’ve got to make sure we get more consistent there, as well,” Stoops said when asked about his kickers. “When big plays happen, it usually comes down to a bad kick.”
Thus the universal question: Are we good enough?
We shall see.
This story was originally published August 12, 2024 at 6:00 AM.
