Friday, May 21, 2010

UK Offensive Line


How close is the UK O-line to being an Elite SEC Caliber Line?

6 comments:

  1. As Billy Gillispie would say, "That's a bad question." It implies that UK does not NOW have an SEC calibre line, which would be false. UK has had some pretty decent SEC calibre lines for the past 4 years and should have another one this year.

    Are they the BEST in the SEC? No, of course not. But they are at least middle of the pack and certainly more than serviceable. You do not put up the kind of numbers that Woodson did without a serviceable SEC line and you do not go to 4 straight bowls without a decent line, either.

    To be sure, there is room for improvement and depth is always a concern -- although we have dealt with key injuries pretty well the last 4 years. But to imly that we are a sub-SEC calibre line is totally, utterly and unequivocably untrue.

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  2. Agreed. UK would not have been to 4 straight Bowls, Put up the #'s they did in '07 on Offense or put up the Rushing #'s they did last year (191 yds. / game--Top 20 in the Nation), put the Free Agents in the NFL that they have (Garry Williams, Zipp Duncan, Justin Jeffries, Christian Johnson (tryout-CIN Bengals)), if they didn't have an SEC caliber O-Line.

    Now, if you're asking if they will have an SEC-caliber O-Line this year, in 2010, I guess that's a valid question, but still an insult to the group that's coming back. Murphy & Burden (DL) have played & started games. They are not elite LT's, but are serviceable & can get it done for UK. Hines is an All-SEC caliber Guard & there is some good young depth in terms of size & strength behind him. Smith is one of the stronger kids on the team, has played & is battling w/ Davis & Lanefski & Simpson (depth at Center). Warford, at Right Guard, is our best Offensive Lineman in terms of the complete package (size, strength, power, agility). There are some big, young bodies behind him as well. At RT, Durham is a solid kid that has started games & arguably performed as well or better than Jeffries did at RT (he's w/ the San Diego Chargers now). There are intriguing young guys all over the place (i.e. Mitchell, Anderson, Ulinski (hope he's ok), Woods, Eatmon, Miller (on the way). Here's to hoping they can stay healthy, continue the success in the Run Game, provide great protection for whoever our QB is, & that we can sign 3-4 great ones in the 2011 class! This is how you build a Championship Offense (It all starts Up Front)!!!!!!! GO CATS!

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  3. Also, while we don't have Florida, Alabama or LSU's Offensive Lines (Ole Miss had a really nice one last year too), I think we're as good up front as any of: Georgia (highly overrated O-Line), South Carolina, Tennessee, Vandy, Auburn, Arkansas, Miss. State...FWIW IMO.

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  4. By all means Bill isn't slamming the current UK offensive line. The staff has some serious questions with the offensive line. Will they get it done? Sure, but the offensive line was a big reason UK was unable to name a starter coming out of spring. The staff had to spend too much time watching the QB's work on the run and couldn't evaluate them properly. The line must get better at pass protection. This group as the potential to be really good, especially in in 2011. I think Bill would agree.

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  5. Bill would definitely agree!

    The individual talent on the O-line continues to be one of the strong suits of the team. The issue that is currently haunting them is that they have very limited experience working together as a unit--which makes all of the difference in the world.

    When this group gets some experience working together -look out!

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  6. Trivia question: Who was the last UK OL drafted by the NFL? "Drafted", not "signed FA contract".

    Before you answer that, guess how long ago it happened. last year? 5 years? 10 years? 15 years?

    You may be suprised, considering the powerful offenses we have had since "Towel" Hal.

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