2019 SEC Season Preview: Kentucky Wildcats

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Over the course of the next several weeks, the SoBros Network crew will be going team-by-team through the SEC, previewing the upcoming American tackle football season. Up next, the 2019 Kentucky preview!

2019 Kentucky Preview

Round of applause for Mark Stoops after last season. UK had their first 10 win season in 40+ years behind a great running attack/stout defense…both of which will not be the same this season. Benny Snell and Josh Allen are gone. The Wildcats do bring some talent back, but let’s not pretend that there is any way to make up for the loss of those big names.

Terry Wilson is coming into his junior year at quarterback and will need to take a big step forward if UK isn’t gonna take a big step back. Wilson should have a pretty solid line in front of him with a lot hinging on how Landon Young looks in his return from injury. Lynn Bowden Jr. is back to lead a receiving corps that is gonna have to step up big if this offense is gonna have any kind of balance. A.J. Rose, who averaged slightly over six yards a carry as Snell’s backup, looks to be the breadwinner this year which, again, is gonna be needed to take the pressure off Wilson. 

The defense lost seven starters from last year including the aforementioned Allen. They do have contributors from the overall #23 defense from last year, but I’m not sure any of us will know what that means until we see them on the field. I think they could put it together and be a feisty group, but coming anywhere near the statistics from last year is a pipe dream. 

2019 Wildcats Schedule

8/31 vs. Toledo- Toledo returns a bunch of talent from an 8-win team so maybe this one gets interesting depending on the UK defense. I’ll take the home team in front of a lively Wildcat faithful. 

9/7 vs. Eastern Michigan- UK shouldn’t have much of a problem here. This is a game the offense can hopefully get in a rhythm with much greater challenges down the road. 

9/14 vs. Florida- Dan Mullen has the Gator faithful with high, high hopes after last year’s 10-win season. The first low of the Mullen campaign though was a lost to Kentucky in Gainesville. I think Mullen is out for blood and the Gators get after the Cats. 

9/21 @ Mississippi St.- Not gonna lie, this is one that I’d probably take whomever is at home. Both teams match up pretty well, but again, this is a bit of a revenge game for MSU. They got a butt whooping last year in Lexington and Joe Moorhead is a guy who has those kinds of losses stuck in his crawl. 

9/28 @ South Carolina- I’m a little more confident in Jake Bentley that Terry as of now so I’ll go with SC. This one could be one of those zany SEC dark horse games. 

10/12 vs. Arkansas- I don’t have very high expectations for Arkansas this year. Wildcats win another win at home. 

10/19 @ Georgia- UGA is my ‘team on a mission’ this season coming off how things ended last year. Dawgs roll between the hedges y’all. 

10/26 vs. Missouri- Kelly Bryant and the Tigers are getting a lot of buzz heading into the season for good reason. The Mizzou offense has a ton of potential which is bad news for the Wildcat defense. This was a one point game last year (UK won) but I don’t think it’s that close this go around. Give me the Tigers. 

11/9 vs. Tennessee- This was the one loss for UK last year where they really laid an egg. Don’t get me wrong the Vols are always gonna be fired up for this rivalry game but a 24-7 win was a huge surprise last season. This is another one that could go either way but I’m learning towards UT solely because of Coach Pruitt. 

11/16 @ Vanderbilt- Another proverbial ‘coin flip’ game with neither team really having a huge edge over the other. I guess I’ll take Vandy. 

11/23 vs. UT-Martin- The Wildcats get a chance to breathe and add a (potential) much needed win. 

11/30 vs. Louisville- Louisville was awful last year and I don’t expect a giant leap forward in 2019. This could be a very important game for Kentucky bowl hopes. 

Prediction

2018 was pretty much a dream season for UK fans. There’s no way this year will come close to that based off the schedule/loss of talent. As long as the Cats win one or two of those toss up games I think they could hit 6 wins and keep the bowl streak alive. 

OTHER 2019 SEC SEASON PREVIEWS

Alabama Crimson Tide
Florida Gators
Georgia Bulldogs
LSU Tigers
South Carolina Gamecocks

John Mosley is the independent wrestling correspondent of the SoBros Network. He graduated from ETSU with a degree in Radio, TV and Film along with a minor in Film Studies. Since graduating he’s done pretty much nothing but watch, film, edit or commentate for local wrestling promotions and is the current color commentator for Resolute Wrestling. #Preds #Titans #DefendOrVacateConor Follow on Twitter: @SoBroMose.

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