Kentucky Football: 2017 season preview, predictions
By Shane Lunnen
Offense
The biggest thing to know about Kentucky’s offense is that it’s run happy and there is no problem with that when it works. Last season the Wildcats finished with the second most run yardage in school history with 3,044 yards.
Boom Williams rushed for 1,170 of those yards, but he is now gone to the NFL. There should not be a drop off with sophomore sensation Benny Snell. He had close to 1,100 yards rushing last year and more touchdowns than Williams with 13 scores. Snell did that while not playing the first two games of the season and really caught fire in the latter half of the season. His performance at Missouri was eye-opening, rushing for eight yards shy of 200 yards and scoring two touchdowns.
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The Wildcats probably won’t have two 1,000 yard rushers this year, but they do have depth behind Snell. Junior Sihiem King and redshirt freshman A.J. Rose will get carries when Snell needs a breather. Both are speedsters to complement Snell’s power.
Under center will be senior Stephen Johnson. He took over the starting duties early last season when junior Drew Barker suffered a season ending back injury. Barker appears healthy now and while there has been a little competition in fall camp, it would be a surprise if Johnson is not the starter for the opener at Southern Miss.
The offensive line will be missing four-year starter Jon Toth at center this season, but have four starters returning. The depth and size along the offensive line is great and one of the big reasons for Kentucky’s successful rushing attack. This could be one of the better offensive lines in the conference.
Can the Wildcat passing game improve?
With an efficient running game last season and winning games, it was easy to look over the inefficient passing game. Johnson was not bad but not great either. He threw for 2,037 yards and 13 touchdowns, but he was under a 55 percent completion rate. The inefficiency was really exposed in losses, where Johnson was under 50 percent.
That’s not to put the blame all on Johnson as his receivers contributed to the inefficiencies. With the departure of Jeff Badet to Oklahoma, the other receivers need to step up their game. This is especially true now that it appears Dorian Baker may be lost for the season to an ankle injury.
The Wildcats need more out of their passing game this year and avoid becoming one-dimensional. If that happens, defenses will key in on Snell and the rushing attack.