THE BIG UGLIES

2010 Preliminary Offensive Line Evaluations

The Wildcats lost 4 starters off of the offensive line to the NFL after the ’09 season: Zipp Duncan, Christian Johnson, Jorge Gonzalez, and Justin Jeffries. That’s the bad news. The good news is that the CATS return several players which have extensive game experience (an anomaly for UK) which have more than average talent. The one thing that this unit will lack is playing time together which makes solidifying the Depth Chart in Spring Practice imperative.

Among the Wildcats returning players which will compete for positions on the depth chart include: B J Murphy (OT), Sam Simpson (C), Larry Warford (OG), Stuart Hines (OG), Dave Ulinski (OT), Brad Durham (OT), Matt Smith (C), Marcus Davis(C), Kevin Mitchell (OT), Jake Lanefski (C/OG) and a host of true freshman. A quick glance at the talent, makes it is easy to see that the majority of the depth and talent is at the interior positions and right tackle; the major problem area for the line in terms of depth and possibly talent would be the all important Left Tackle position; however, neither are we destitute at the position either.

Injuries hit the team in 2009 as always with M Davis getting injured (ankle) in the 1st game against Miami while filling in for J Gonzalez. J Lanefski was also bitten by the injury bug later in the season; both players look to return to the team this year and compete for serious playing time for a team which has lots of talent across the board.

If one looks at the roster, and shakes it out based upon past performance if would look something like this (from OLT to ORT): Murphy, Hines, Simpson/Davis/Smith, Warford, and Durham. These players are known commodities to the team and have improved significantly over their careers.

Murphy has filled in behind Z Duncan at OLT in the past and shown adequate strength and ability, and should only get better with another off season of preparatory work. At this time, his main backup, by default looks to be Kevin Mitchell a redshirt freshman from Georgia. Mitchell came to Lexington last year and the consensus was that he would need at least 2 yr. to establish himself as a legitimate player. The only other players that can be given serious consideration as backups at the position would be redshirt Sophomore Trevino Woods, Teven Eatmon and Kenarious Gates. If Woods has improved, he seems to have the nod by default especially since he has been in the conditioning program, and knows the line calls. Both Eatmon and Gates are true freshmen and if one of them makes the depth chart as the #3 OLT tackle, it would not necessarily be a bad thing (especially for future seasons).

Hines, who has historically played right guard probably shifts to left guard in order to get Warford (who is the team’s strongest player and very agile) on the field. Stuart has proven himself as a starter in the past and is probably the most reliable O-lineman returning this year.

The center position is a mixture of players (Davis and Smith) without much playing time and a redshirt freshman (Simpson) who will fight it out to establish some type of pecking order. If Simpson wins the battle for the position, the other two will fall into the depth chart at the appropriate place, if someone else wins the center position, look for the CATS to move Sam (rated from the #2 to #10 center by the 2009 recruiting sites) to a backup guard spot to get him some field time and prepare him for the future. At worse, Sam will end up at #2 in either the center or one of the guard positions.

Durham has filled in nicely in the past at RT, and in fact, at times has played better than some starters at the position. The senior also has extensive playing time at other points in his career making him and Hines the two most experienced linemen on the roster. The best guess is that Ulinski is the main backup for this position given his skill set and that he develops better technique to become a better pass blocker.

Lanefski could ultimately start at guard or center provided he continues to improve as in the past. Jake played extensively in the 2008 season and will certainly be in the main mix for an interior line position. If he starts at center, look for the coaches to move one of the centers mentioned above to one of the guard positions for depth reasons. At worse, Jake will be #2 on the depth chart either at center or one of the guard positions and be a major contributor for this team.

Success for offensive line units is always defined by cohesiveness, knowing the protections, and limiting mistakes. Too many times, holding, blown coverage, and offside penalties stifle important drives. For the offense to be successful, for the Wildcats this upcoming season, the line must avoid these mental mistakes. While depth is minimal, there are talented linemen for both this year and especially for 2011 and beyond.