Jen Smith, the Kentucky beat writer for The Lexington Herald-Leader, took time this week to answer a few of our questions about the Wildcats as they prepare for Saturday’s game with South Carolina.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. at Kroger Field.
1. It’s late September and Kentucky is ranked, Benny Snell is building a Heisman campaign and Kroger Field looked like a madhouse at last check. How unique is the vibe around this program right now?
By this time most years, especially when there’s so much preseason hype for the basketball team, most people are discussing the season opener against Duke on Nov. 6. There’s generally wall-to-wall media coverage of an annual camp-out for free tickets to the Big Blue Madness.
This year, football coverage and discussions about running back Benny Snell and linebacker Josh Allen are leading newscasts and sports talk radio shows. On Wednesday night, UK announced just its third sellout of Kroger Field since the 2015 season.
Maybe Snell described it best when he said that he’s been going to the same Waffle House around town for years and eaten like an average college student, but now the waitresses know exactly who he is. He gets recognized at the gas station. This is a place where that usually only happens to basketball players, but a 4-0 start has changed the conversation for sure.
2. Kentucky started 3-1 last season, but finished 7-6. What’s different about this team that might lead to a better record in December or January?
This UK team seems more built for the long haul in a lot of ways. The Cats return starters at almost every spot on the field except quarterback, two linebacker spots and the left tackle (only after the starting left tackle went down with a knee injury a week before the start of the season). So it’s a veteran group that has a strong voice in the locker room.
UK’s had a ton of success in the second half of games this season — no opponent has scored against the defense in the third quarter, for instance — and coaches say that’s because of the team being player led. Players are having productive discussions and making adjustments even before the coaches come in to tweak things. It also helps that so many of Kentucky’s most vocal leaders (Snell, Allen, tight end C.J. Conrad, several offensive linemen, safety Mike Edwards, cornerback Derrick Baity) all are juniors and seniors and have learned a lot from those late-season slips.
Mark Stoops and his staff have done a good job of recruiting some depth at most positions as well, so there are a lot of guys playing sparingly right now that probably would’ve started as true freshmen three or four years ago. They’re coming in and making big plays, like safety Tyrell Ajian having an interception and a pass breakup against Mississippi State last week even though he only played six snaps. The fact that UK was able to keep moving forward despite losing a left tackle one week before the season is a good indicator of the depth, too.
One other thing to answer this question, UK hasn’t needed to use gimmicky offenses or trick plays to win games. It isn’t relying on 15 different packages on defense. It’s winning games at the line of scrimmage so far, which is usually a sign of a healthy team that can win some games down the stretch.
3. Snell or linebacker Josh Allen, which UK star has a brighter NFL future. Why?
I wouldn’t count either of them out. Part of what makes them so successful at this level is feeling like they’d been counted out during their high school careers and early in their college careers. Allen was a two-star linebacker out of high school who didn’t have any Division I offers beyond UK and he was added to that class really late. Snell has said regularly that he is driven by people doubting him. As a kid from Ohio, he really wanted to go to Ohio State, but got overlooked.
Those are things that motivate both of them on a regular basis. So while my gut says Josh Allen will have the more productive professional career — he’s slated by many to be a first-round pick right now — Snell might continue to surprise some people. I’m not sure anyone would have projected him to be on pace to break Kentucky’s all-time rushing record midway through his junior season (after not having a carry in his first two games as a true freshman). They both continue to get better and surprise people.
4. Kentucky quarterback Terry Wilson seems to complement Snell quite well in the run game. How is Wilson as a thrower?
Surprisingly accurate, connecting on 67.1 percent of his throws, which is far better than recent quarterbacks in UK history. But the coaches have done a good job of making them mostly manageable throws, a lot of the short and medium range kinds. But Wilson has been able to hit a few longer shots as well, like a bomb for a touchdown to Lynn Bowden at Florida.
One of his most important weapons so far has been his ability to get out of trouble and make a pass downfield. He doesn’t just scramble to get out of trouble, he can scramble to patiently wait for a receiver to get open. That being said, he’s also been prone — at least in his first four games — to try and make some throws his coaches would like to get back, including four interceptions. But it feels like as he settles in, he’s making fewer mistakes.
5. UK’s four straight wins in this series weighs heavily on South Carolina fans. How much pride has Big Blue Nation taken in the recent dominance of the Gamecocks?
Streaks are a thing Kentucky fans understand, especially the negative ones. UK just ended a 31-game losing streak at Florida that weighed heavily — like an anvil — on the fans, the coaches and the players. There was a considerable losing streak to Tennessee that ended a few years back, too. So I’m not sure this South Carolina streak is one that UK fans are crowing about. They know how these things go after all.
I do know that the players feel good about the streak, though, and have been quietly fuming that the Gamecocks have been picked ahead of them in preseason SEC polls each of the last two seasons because they know how those games have gone.
As for Cats fans, they’re a bit of a skeptical bunch especially about football, so there’s been some discussion this week about how hard it is to beat a talented team five straight times.
This story was originally published September 27, 2018 1:02 PM.