UK also has Pitt transfer Demitrious Davis who was a 3-star recruit and a top 35 athlete in America before enrolling at Pitt. Williams was a 4-star recruit with offers from Auburn, Clemson, Florida State and was once committed to Georgia. In addition to having four SEC caliber running backs get carries yesterday, UK also has true freshman, Stanley "Boom" Williams coming in. Expect Clemons to be a significant contributor this fall. Clemons is an SEC caliber back with size and speed and led all rushers Saturday with 93 yards and a touchdown. Now Clemons is healthy and while some fans may have forgotten about him, he has made it clear he will not be an afterthought. Last season Clemons was poised to be the feature back but early on in pre-season workouts, he suffered an Achilles injury that sidelined him once again for the season. Unfortunately, Clemons suffered a season ending knee injury and sat out the following year rehabilitating it. Then there is Josh Clemons, Clemons came to UK and looked poised to be a career starter as he took the job by the throat early in his freshman season in what was seemingly the only long-term bright spot on that team. Horton finished with 70 yards on 13 carries and a touchdown on Saturday while flashing speed that most people did not realize he would have to go with his physicality. Horton has made an immediate impact this spring and showed that he is a serious contender for immediate playing time this fall. The Cats also have an early enrollee freshman in Mikel Horton who was a top 25 prospect from Ohio with an offer from Florida State. "He took as much advantage of a redshirt year as anybody I've seen." "He was a little stiff in his hips and in his movements, and he went to work and did a great job with our strength and conditioning guys, became more flexible and looks a whole lot different than he did when he was at Nebraska." Heard has received praise for his work ethic and Coach Brown has gone as far as saying Heard was a 4-star RB in high school and while at Nebraska was able to average a video game-esque 6.7 yards per carry as a sophomore. Heard has made a new home in Lexington because he was buried in the depth chart behind 2014 Heisman contender Ameer Abdullah. Kemp figures to be atop the depth chart this fall but the competition has been immediate, as Braylon Heard is eligible this season after sitting out last year due to transferring from Nebraska. Kemp scored two touchdowns in Saturday's spring game to go along with 93 yards rushing and another 41 receiving. Kemp has a good combination of size, speed and agility that should have BBN excited for his sophomore campaign. Kemp came on throughout season and showed flashes of excitement. Leading that stable of talent will be the returner Jojo Kemp. My point is that for the first in maybe the history of the program, the Cats will boast a true stable of SEC running backs to rotate through. The only year Kentucky could look to as a year where they had multiple threats in the backfield was that magical (by UK standards) 2007 season with Little, Locke, and Tony Dixon making significant contributions. Kentucky Wildcats Career Rushing Leaders - Since 1970 Over the next four years he ended up as the sixth leading rusher since '70 with just short of 2,600 yards. Derrick Locke provided a nice transition from Little with an unexpected breakout freshman season. The cats should have been 8-4 that year if it were not for the "Bluegrass Miracle" game Pinner's year pushed him to seventh in yardage rankings since 1970 with 1,917 career yards.įollowing Pinner was Rafael Little, who played a big part in the most recent glory days of UK football and finished his career as third on that list with 2,996 yards. Then you had Artose Pinner and his magical 1,400-yard senior year leading UK to a 7-5 record. More recently, you have the likes of Anthony White and Derek Homer, who were part of Hal Mumme's original Air Raid. As for me, it goes back to Moe Williams and his run through the record books, making UK football exciting. While Sonny Collins has the most career rushing yards of any running back since 1970, the a sizable portion of the fan base likely did not see him play. The history of the position for UK is not a very long and illustrious list in fact, the majority of the better running backs have been recent additions to the record books. In past years Kentucky would be lucky to have one such playmaker. There is also a need for a stable of thoroughbreds in the backfield. With the return of Air Raid, there is not only a need for an accurate quarterback, a good offensive line, and playmakers on the outside. The day that Coach Mark Stoops hired Danville native and UK alumnus Neal Brown away from Texas Tech as his offensive coordinator it was apparent that Air Raid was coming back to the commonwealth. The 2014 edition of the Kentucky Wildcats football team has a clear game plan in mind.
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