Scouting the Cats

by Murray Poole

Location: Lexington, KY

Conference: SEC East

Enrollment: 27,108

Wildcats in a thumbnail: After returning six offensive
starters and five defensive regulars from last year’s 5-7
team (2-6 SEC), Kentucky will carry a disappointing 1-6
season mark and 0-4 conference record into Saturday
night’s 7 o’clock kickoff against Georgia at Commonwealth
Stadium. The extremely young Wildcats have defeated
only Kent State (47-14) while losing to Louisville (32-14),
Western Kentucky (32-31, OT), Florida (38-0), South Carolina
(38-17), Mississippi State (27-14) and Arkansas (49-
7), with the game against the Razorbacks this past
Saturday night being halted with 5:08 left in the third
quarter due to severe weather and lightning.

A look at the Kentucky offense: Finishing at the bottom
of the SEC in nearly every statistical category in 2011,
the Wildcats have struggled once again this season. Only
in their win over Kent State and the overtime loss to Western
Kentucky did the Wildcats tally more than 17 points.
To date, they have been led in rushing by junior tailbacks
Raymond Sanders and Jonathan George. Sanders, from
Stephenson High out of Stone Mountain, has run for 324
yards while George has totaled 201 yards on the ground.
Sophomore quarterback Maxwell Smith (6-4, 224) has
passed for 975 yards and eight touchdowns, with four interceptions,
but missed the Arkansas game with an ankle
injury. Freshman Jalen Whitlow stepped in for Smith and
accounted for the Wildcats’ only score when he hooked
up with senior receiver La’Rod King on a 61-yard touchdown
pass. Kentucky’s leading receiver from a year ago,
King tops that department once again with 31 catches
for 351 yards and four touchdowns while sophomore Demarco
Robinson, from Ellenwood, Ga., follows with 22
receptions for 194 yards.

A look at the Kentucky defense: In coordinator Rick
Minter’s new ever-changing system (combo 3-4, 4-3), the
Wildcats lost the SEC’s top two tacklers from last year in
Danny Trevathan and Winston Guy but have gotten good
production this season from formidable linebackers Avery
Williamson (243, Jr.) and Alvin Dupree (249, Soph.).
Williamson has recorded a team-leading 68 tackles while
Dupree follows with 49 tackles and 3.5 sacks. Senior cornerback
Martavius Neloms, the leading returning tackler
from 2011, is a force in the UK secondary.

What Wildcats head coach Joker Phillips says: “I
told the team at half (against Arkansas), we’re all responsible
for what we see. It starts with me. I’m responsible
for it. The players, the coaches, we’re all
responsible for it. Now, we’ve got to get ready for a good
Georgia team.”

Game Prediction: Coming off one of their most disappointing
setbacks in years, the 35-7 spanking by South
Carolina, I look for the Bulldogs to be a bit inspired to get
things going once again. If they aren’t, then something
is badly wrong in Athenstown. And, too, Georgia ought to
be a bit motivated by South Carolina’s loss to LSU this
past Saturday evening. I’ll ride with my preseason forecast
here … Georgia by 41-14 over the “Mildcats.”

Tagged: murray poole, georgia sports news, georgia football, uga football, kentucky