There’s an unusual concern for Kentucky football in 2024. Can the Cats run the ball?
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2024 College Football Preview
The Lexington Herald-Leader has been previewing the 2024 college football season throughout August. Click below to view all the stories that have been published on Kentucky.com.
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It was in the first half of last year’s LA Bowl when ESPN analyst Brock Osweiler proclaimed, “Right now, Boise State is putting on a clinic in the running game.”
The Broncos rushed for 215 yards in what turned out be a 35-22 loss to the UCLA Bruins, but Boise State’s offensive coordinator was Bush Hamdan. And, as you know by now, Hamdan is beginning his first season as the play-caller at Kentucky. He does so with a foundational belief.
“I think it certainly starts with that run game,” said the 38-year-old Hamdan at his introductory press conference in February.
Six months later, as Kentucky lifts the curtain on the 2024 campaign against Southern Miss for a 7:45 p.m. kickoff at Kroger Field on Saturday, there are some definite concerns about UK’s running game.
Projected starter Chip Trayanum, a transfer from Ohio State, is sidelined by a hand injury. The date of his return his uncertain. Demie Sumo-Karngbaye is now No. 1 on the depth chart, but the 6-foot, 210-pound senior carried the ball just 20 times last year, his first after transferring in from North Carolina State.
Behind Sumo-Karngbaye on the depth chart is true freshman Jason Patterson out of Sneads, Florida. Not listed on the two-deep chart, but believed to be next in line is Jamarion Wilcox, a redshirt freshman out of Douglasville, Georgia.
“I think we’re excited to see them,” said Hamdan after Tuesday’s practice. “Is there a little bit of nervousness about what it’s going to look like? Absolutely. But at the same time, as you guys know, that’s what college football is all about.”
The uncertainty is new for an offense that has produced a 1,000-yard rusher six of UK’s last eight seasons. Boom Williams (1,170) and Benny Snell (1,091) topped the century mark in 2016. Snell repeated the feat in 2017 (1,333) and 2019 (1,449). Lynn Bowden (1,468), who moved from wide receiver to quarterback after Terry Wilson’s injury, produced the program’s second best rushing season in 2019. Chris Rodrigues (1,379) rushed for over 1,000 yards in 2021 and Ray Davis (1,129) joined the club last season.
At Boise, Hamdan had a 1,000-yard rusher last season in Ashton Jeanty (1,398). As the play-caller at Washington, he had 1,00-yard rushers in Myles Gaskin (1,268) in 2018 and Salvon Ahmed (1,020) in 2019.
Can Demie handle the load?
“He’s been full-time at running back, because we need him to be there that way, and you’ve seen the progress,” Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops said during his Monday night call-in show. “Just the normal progression, the maturation process that happens. When guys stay in a program longer and longer and longer they get better, they understand our system. You’re seeing that with him, so we have a lot of confidence in him.”
“He’s a guy that’s really been focused,” Hamdan said.
While both Patterson and Wilcox have potential, neither has taken a handoff from a quarterback in a college game.
“Patterson had a really good spring,” Stoops said. “He’s been very conscientious about knowing what to do, taking care of his blocking responsibilities, especially on blitz pickup and things of that nature for young guys. And protecting the football. So, he’s showing flashes. He’s a big, strong guy that has some top-end as well.”
Wilcox reminds Stoops of Boom Williams, who rushed for 2,511 yards in three seasons (2014-16) at UK.
“He’s a guy that flashes. He has top-end speed. He has another gear that maybe we haven’t seen for awhile around here,” Stoops said. “I hope to get him the ball and get him some space because I want to see what he can do.”
“I think Jamari Wilcox, I think he’s really going to surprise some people,” associate head coach Vince Marrow said Tuesday. “He’s got juice.”
And for Kentucky to have a successful season, it must squeeze that juice out of its rushing attack. Starting Saturday.
“I got a lot of babies and Demie,” running backs coach Jay Boulware said Tuesday. “Which baby is going to grow up first, we’re going to find out Saturday. And we’ve got Demie to carry the bulk of the load until Chip comes back.”
UK season opener
Southern Mississippi at Kentucky
When: 7:45 p.m. Saturday
TV: SEC Network
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Series: Kentucky leads 3-1
Last meeting: Kentucky won 24-17 on Sept. 2, 2017, at Hattiesburg, Miss.
This story was originally published August 28, 2024 at 11:07 AM.
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