2010 UK Football Evaluation Offense, Defense, Special Teams

Marooncat79
WT Member

Here is my evaluation comments on the 2010 UK football team.

2010 Evaluation Offense

QB--B M Hartline played well and minimized mistakes. Had he not had the 2008 season (with 0 talent--D Lyons got hurt, D Locke got hurt and R Cobb was a true Freshman), he would go down as a better than average UK QB. Unfortunately, he bears that stigma. Time will be much better to him than many of the current UK Faithful.

Could have been better: If one of the backups had gotten more snaps for the future

RB--B D Locke got hurt and even though they had chances no one really stepped up enough to impact the team. The backups were respectable/average just not dominant--YET.

Could have been better: If backs had demonstrated more of an impact especially when Locke got hurt.

WR--A- Cobb was Cobb. C Matthews had 9 TD catches and L King had 5 TD catches Much better than in previous years.

Could have been better: If the WRs would stop dropping balls (Cobb included) and another WR had stepped up a little more Roark flashed a couple of times

TE--C- But compared to the 2008 and 2009 seasons A++++ J Aumiller and T Robinson surprised everyone We have red-shirts in the wings for depth

Could have been better: A few more catches and 3-4 more TDs would have really put this team over the top

O-Line--B++ Few expected the success that the team experienced here before the season (I thought they would be pretty good but not quite this good) The interior of the line has never been this good and the tackles are not bad. There is also some depth

Could have been better: Stupid penalties have to be eliminated--PERIOD. This is rapidly becoming one of the true strengths of the team

2010 Evaluation Defense

DT- D The CATS were seriously challenged here. R Lumpkins never made a real impact, and S Mc Cords best ever moment was the turnover in the Georgia game in 09. M Crawford got suspended 2 times and ended the season that way. A Glenn was never in the mix, and D Rumph came in with lots of rust and not in serious shape. Arguments could be made that L McDermott was the best player, but honestly the CATS were just outmanned here all year.

Could have been better IF: Cobble had not been suspended for academics, Crawford had not been kicked off of the team, and the CATS had a better recruiting class for the D-line in 2007 to 2009. Bottomline, there was almost nothing to work with here talent wise; 2011 can not get here soon enough so that D Rumph has a year in the system and B Laughlin (and hopefully, E Porter) begin their treks to stardom.

DE D Just not enough plays made. D Evans seemed hurt all year and I still do not think that T Wyndham is recovered from his 2009 injury. C Ukwu still has yet to make any statements on the field as well. N Delic played early and then seemed to disappear, they should have just redshirted him.

Could have been better IF: Evans would have been healthy, and at least one more DE stepped up to the plate for the season. Again, the D-line recruitment was terrible for 2007-2009. The good news is that we redshirted tons of talent here and it will begin to get better although that may not be until 2011. Look for the redshirt freshmen (J Henderson, M Evans, A Davis et al) to really push the returning players here.

The bottomline is that the players: Lost Cobble before the season, and Crawford 2 times during the season. Add into that D Evans being injured and that is 3 out of 4 D-line starters out for several games.

LB C- D Trevathan is a Stud-pure and simple. My favorite quote of the year came from a D-lineman who said that he was pursuing a runner when "DT gave me a little nudge and I went flying up the field 5 yards and Danny made the tackle". R Wilson started out behind J Dufrene, but was really beginning to come along at the end. R Snead just seemed out of place until the end as well when he started playing some better as well. Q Huzzie had almost no impact and A Williamson got banged up as well. We were highly inexperienced here.

Could have been better IF: The staff had spent time developing players earlier in their career and they had better talent to work with sooner. They needed to devote some playing time to these guys in 2009, so they would have been better in 2010.

CB C+ P Warford was academically ineligible before the season began and that made M Neloms a starter. Neloms really came on and showed to be a very good tackler and better than average cover man while Burden was nothing special. Due to the lack of a pass rusher and bad LB play, the CBs were going to look bad by default. A Mosley made a few plays and broke up some important passes especially in the end zone as a backup, but stayed #2 on the depth chart due to the ability of the starters. J Priester got burned a couple of times and probably should have redshirted. C Rice blended in with the rest of the group.

Could have been better IF: It is hard to imagine how they could have looked much better unless there had been a pass rush and better LB play. They were really put in a difficult situation.

Safety C- Poor Tackling and bad angles continue to define the position. W Guy did progress as a tackler some, but he still missed way too many and really needs to be held accountable by the coaches. M Bailey was a JUCO transfer who came in with lots of fanfare but seemed lost at times. D Tyler has really improved his stock and will start by 2012 at the latest T Smith was nothing special and did little to distinguish himself.

Could have been better IF: They would tackle better, play better angles and had more help in front of them. Like the CBs, they were put in an almost no win situation. They need to be made to own the poor tackling and bad angles.

2010 Evaluation Special Teams

Punting-- A- Hard to believe that R Tylacka could have done much better, but there were a couple of times that it was evident

Punt Return--C Nothing special, very bland for the most part As the saying goes "Even a blind hog..." which proves the grade

Kick Off--B- Kickoffs were OK, but nothing to write home about

Kick Off Coverage--D+ You knew it was going to happen and could often see it, but you just could not prevent it from happening. We definitely need to improve in this area

Kick Return--C Nothing spectacular either way We were really average here

Field Goals--B- UK missed a couple of important ones that could have been game changers, then again UK hit a couple of big ones

***Special Ops Penalties really took the wind out of the sails at times