2010 Overview of UK Linebackers
Historically, one of the best units on the UK football team in terms of both depth and talent has been the linebacking corp. The ’09 edition of the CATS saw 2 senior linebackers with no more college eligibility leave the team, and move on to the NFL (MLB-Micah Johnson and SLB-Sam Maxwell). No one would argue that each made an indelible mark for the CATS with Sam Maxwell sharing the Defensive MVP award (at least awarded by this writer) with defensive tackle Cory Peters (who was also a senior and has moved on to play on Sundays). With the moving on of these players, that leaves only Danny Trevathan (WLB) as a starter for this unit for the ’10 season.
The Wildcats do sport some young talent which has shown flashes in High School, but has not had the opportunity to demonstrate any of it at UK due to insignificant playing time.
The all important middle linebacker position does have a lot of raw talent, but again it is very inexperienced. Look for the CATS to start the season with Ronnie Sneed as Micah’s replacement. Ronnie filled in numerous times when Johnson was injured and while he never distinguished himself, he does have the advantage of knowing the speed of the game, defensive alignments, and experience which means a lot in Big Time college football.
At this time, it looks like the main backup to Sneed should be Qua”Zilla” Huzzie. The ’09 recruit was injured during training camp (shoulder) and was immediately redshirted for the season. The tape on Qua shows that he has tons of speed, is instinctive, has a nonstop motor, and literally blows up plays all over the field making him the kind of impact player needed for the position. The main criticism of Huzzie has been his size, but there are successful college players even in the SEC with his size and stature.
At the end of the season, in the Music City bowl, the Blue Nation saw Maxwell out from his SLB position with an injury and junior Jacob Dufrene as his replacement. Jacob came into the game with 10 total tackles for his career prior to this game and never really made any type of impact during the MCB, and as of yet has certainly not staked any claim to playing time at a very inexperienced position. His size and lack of speed do nothing to indicate that he will ever be more than a situational/special team’s player unless he starts the season to get someone else acclimated to the college game.
Look for the CATS to move Matt Lentz (Junior) up to the SLB spot for several reasons. First, Matt has significant playing time at the safety position, and knows how to cover; however, his size and speed is much more suited for the SLB slot. Secondly, he knows the defensive schemes and alignments and can at times make plays on the field which will set well with the staff until someone else establishes himself as a difference maker. For Lentz to truly get the nod, he will need to add about 20 to 25 lbs of muscle (to play at about 240 lbs or so) by the beginning of the season.
The major backups for Matt would seem to be Ridge Wilson unless he comes on in the offseason and establishes himself as a force on the field. Ridge (a Soph.) has some playing time as a true freshman at UK but needs to continue to improve his all around game including maturity before getting the starting gig. Wilson should have redshirted, but if he takes his craft seriously, by staying in the weight and film rooms it might be tough for the coaches to keep him off of the field in the ’10 season.
Other backups, for the SLB position might include Jarvis Walker (a redshirt Fresh.) unless he plays safety. The film on Walker shows that he has range and can hit, making him a valuable commodity at some position in the always fast SEC. Also, he does have experience in coverage in high school, which only increases the likelihood of him seeing playing time somewhere.
As previously stated, the WLB position is the only one of this unit with a returning starter (Danny Trevathan). Danny played much of the ’09 season with a cast on his arm and showed some flashes in some stretches of the ’09 season (his 1st year as a starter). The junior should only get better, and will probably leave the team at some point as one of the more popular players at the position besides Wesley Woodyard. Look for him to get some preseason publicity for the ’10 edition of the team and be instrumental if the CATS are to have any success.
Major contributors behind Trevathan on the weak side include possibly Jarvis Walker and Qua Huzzie (if he does not sew up at least the 2nd slot for the MLB position.). Both of these highly coveted redshirts came in with a tremendous upside and should immediately increase depth, talent, and playmaking ability somewhere in the Wildcat defense.
Also look for Ryan Mosby (RS-Fresh.) to settle in somewhere due to his speed and knack for being a playmaker at the high school level. Due to his size, speed, and recognition skills, Mosby might be best suited to play behind Trevathan for a couple of yrs. before assuming the starting position for his final stint with UK.
Other previous players behind Danny at this position include William Johnson (RS-Soph.) and Brandon Thurmond. Johnson has had almost no impact for the CATS during his tenure while Thurmond has almost been continually injured since his arrival in Lexington. It looks like neither might even be on the team for the ’10 season; even if they are on the team their impact will only be marginal at best.
The 10 recruiting class is actually better than most people believe it to be. The CATS have recruited 3 specific linebackers (Jabari Johnson, Malcolm McDuffen, and Avery Williamson) and a couple of other players which could move from DE to the LB position if the staff so determines. Each of these 3 players seems to have been recruited to play a specific linebacker role (Johnson-WLB; McDuffen-SLB; and Williamson-MLB) and should be major contributors on this team for the future.
While experience is minimal for the ’10 edition of the CATS, talent, speed, and playmaking ability is not. In fact, look for the ’11 edition of the linebacking corps to be a dogfight for starting roles and playing time due to the experience that will be gained in the ’10 season and actually be one of the strengths of the team. This unit for the ’10 season seems to be very unstable, but on the whole there are at least some answers for the questions posed which is a far cry from where this team has been in the past.
Historically, one of the best units on the UK football team in terms of both depth and talent has been the linebacking corp. The ’09 edition of the CATS saw 2 senior linebackers with no more college eligibility leave the team, and move on to the NFL (MLB-Micah Johnson and SLB-Sam Maxwell). No one would argue that each made an indelible mark for the CATS with Sam Maxwell sharing the Defensive MVP award (at least awarded by this writer) with defensive tackle Cory Peters (who was also a senior and has moved on to play on Sundays). With the moving on of these players, that leaves only Danny Trevathan (WLB) as a starter for this unit for the ’10 season.
The Wildcats do sport some young talent which has shown flashes in High School, but has not had the opportunity to demonstrate any of it at UK due to insignificant playing time.
The all important middle linebacker position does have a lot of raw talent, but again it is very inexperienced. Look for the CATS to start the season with Ronnie Sneed as Micah’s replacement. Ronnie filled in numerous times when Johnson was injured and while he never distinguished himself, he does have the advantage of knowing the speed of the game, defensive alignments, and experience which means a lot in Big Time college football.
At this time, it looks like the main backup to Sneed should be Qua”Zilla” Huzzie. The ’09 recruit was injured during training camp (shoulder) and was immediately redshirted for the season. The tape on Qua shows that he has tons of speed, is instinctive, has a nonstop motor, and literally blows up plays all over the field making him the kind of impact player needed for the position. The main criticism of Huzzie has been his size, but there are successful college players even in the SEC with his size and stature.
At the end of the season, in the Music City bowl, the Blue Nation saw Maxwell out from his SLB position with an injury and junior Jacob Dufrene as his replacement. Jacob came into the game with 10 total tackles for his career prior to this game and never really made any type of impact during the MCB, and as of yet has certainly not staked any claim to playing time at a very inexperienced position. His size and lack of speed do nothing to indicate that he will ever be more than a situational/special team’s player unless he starts the season to get someone else acclimated to the college game.
Look for the CATS to move Matt Lentz (Junior) up to the SLB spot for several reasons. First, Matt has significant playing time at the safety position, and knows how to cover; however, his size and speed is much more suited for the SLB slot. Secondly, he knows the defensive schemes and alignments and can at times make plays on the field which will set well with the staff until someone else establishes himself as a difference maker. For Lentz to truly get the nod, he will need to add about 20 to 25 lbs of muscle (to play at about 240 lbs or so) by the beginning of the season.
The major backups for Matt would seem to be Ridge Wilson unless he comes on in the offseason and establishes himself as a force on the field. Ridge (a Soph.) has some playing time as a true freshman at UK but needs to continue to improve his all around game including maturity before getting the starting gig. Wilson should have redshirted, but if he takes his craft seriously, by staying in the weight and film rooms it might be tough for the coaches to keep him off of the field in the ’10 season.
Other backups, for the SLB position might include Jarvis Walker (a redshirt Fresh.) unless he plays safety. The film on Walker shows that he has range and can hit, making him a valuable commodity at some position in the always fast SEC. Also, he does have experience in coverage in high school, which only increases the likelihood of him seeing playing time somewhere.
As previously stated, the WLB position is the only one of this unit with a returning starter (Danny Trevathan). Danny played much of the ’09 season with a cast on his arm and showed some flashes in some stretches of the ’09 season (his 1st year as a starter). The junior should only get better, and will probably leave the team at some point as one of the more popular players at the position besides Wesley Woodyard. Look for him to get some preseason publicity for the ’10 edition of the team and be instrumental if the CATS are to have any success.
Major contributors behind Trevathan on the weak side include possibly Jarvis Walker and Qua Huzzie (if he does not sew up at least the 2nd slot for the MLB position.). Both of these highly coveted redshirts came in with a tremendous upside and should immediately increase depth, talent, and playmaking ability somewhere in the Wildcat defense.
Also look for Ryan Mosby (RS-Fresh.) to settle in somewhere due to his speed and knack for being a playmaker at the high school level. Due to his size, speed, and recognition skills, Mosby might be best suited to play behind Trevathan for a couple of yrs. before assuming the starting position for his final stint with UK.
Other previous players behind Danny at this position include William Johnson (RS-Soph.) and Brandon Thurmond. Johnson has had almost no impact for the CATS during his tenure while Thurmond has almost been continually injured since his arrival in Lexington. It looks like neither might even be on the team for the ’10 season; even if they are on the team their impact will only be marginal at best.
The 10 recruiting class is actually better than most people believe it to be. The CATS have recruited 3 specific linebackers (Jabari Johnson, Malcolm McDuffen, and Avery Williamson) and a couple of other players which could move from DE to the LB position if the staff so determines. Each of these 3 players seems to have been recruited to play a specific linebacker role (Johnson-WLB; McDuffen-SLB; and Williamson-MLB) and should be major contributors on this team for the future.
While experience is minimal for the ’10 edition of the CATS, talent, speed, and playmaking ability is not. In fact, look for the ’11 edition of the linebacking corps to be a dogfight for starting roles and playing time due to the experience that will be gained in the ’10 season and actually be one of the strengths of the team. This unit for the ’10 season seems to be very unstable, but on the whole there are at least some answers for the questions posed which is a far cry from where this team has been in the past.
Bigbluebill's posts along with Aaron's football blog are tremendous assets and exciting reading for the "can't get enough UK football" fans like myself. Having followed the team thru SIX decades I have seen it all and I fully agree Brooks has done an amazing job. To me Papaw ranks up near Bear and Collier in what he has brought us ,overall. Bear only played 5 SEC games instead of 8 and threw in Villanova, Xavier, The Citadel,etc.but obviously was a great coach. Collier could beat Tennessee and had assistants named Shula, Arnsparger, Schnellenberger. Lets talk up that recruiting room, we need to keep up if we want to rise up.
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