{"id":14269,"date":"2018-03-15T08:30:04","date_gmt":"2018-03-15T12:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosoncfb.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=14269"},"modified":"2021-07-31T11:19:53","modified_gmt":"2021-07-31T15:19:53","slug":"three-things-to-watch-during-kentuckys-spring-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2018\/03\/15\/three-things-to-watch-during-kentuckys-spring-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Things To Watch During Kentucky\u2019s Spring Practice"},"content":{"rendered":"

As he begins his sixth season in Lexington, Mark Stoops<\/strong><\/a> has one of his most experienced teams. Eighteen starters return from last season\u2019s 7-6 squad, which lost in the Music City Bowl. However, that doesn\u2019t mean there aren\u2019t questions concerning the 2018 Wildcats. Let\u2019s take a look at Three Things To Watch During Kentucky\u2019s Spring Practice.<\/p>\n

Who Is The Starting Quarterback?<\/h3>\n

Much has been written already about the quarterback job and will likely continue until September 1st. Terry Wilson<\/strong><\/a> and Gunnar Hoak<\/strong> are competing for the chance to replace Stephen Johnson<\/strong><\/a>. Danny Clark<\/strong> is also in the mix but looks to be behind the other two.<\/p>\n

Since signing with Kentucky<\/a> on December 20th, True Blue Fans are anxious to see the junior college transfer play. Wilson threw for 2,113 yards and 26 touchdowns for Garden City Community College in Kansas last season. In addition, he ran for over 500 yards and five scores.<\/p>\n

Wilson presents the first true dual-threat quarterback at Kentucky since Shane Boyd<\/strong><\/a> more than a decade ago. However, he does need to work on his accuracy completing only 54 percent of his passes with 11 interceptions.<\/p>\n

Hoak is a redshirt sophomore who was a four-star recruit out of Cincinnati. Though he has never taken a snap in a game, he was the star of the last year’s spring game. Throwing for 174 yards and three touchdowns, Hoak is ready to show what he can do in game situations.<\/p>\n

As it stands right now, Hoak is running with the first team offense. However, that is due mostly to him being in the system for two years. Look for both to get plenty of reps leading up to the April 13th spring game.<\/p>\n

This battle more than likely will go up to the season opener against Central Michigan<\/strong>. Either way offensive coordinator Eddie Gran<\/strong> and quarterback coach Darrin Hinshaw<\/strong> will start 2018 with a player who has never thrown a pass in an actual game.<\/p>\n

Positions Changes On Defense<\/h3>\n

Kentucky returns almost everyone from a defense which ranked 89th in football in total yards. In 2018, Stoops wants to get the best 11 players on the field in hopes of showing improvement. To that end, sophomore,\u00a0Joshua Paschal<\/strong><\/a> is moving from outside linebacker to defensive end.<\/p>\n

As a “baby blitz brother” in 2017, Paschal recorded 3.5 sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss. Playing behind Josh Allen<\/strong><\/a>, the sophomore would not see much playing time, now with the position change, he will. Stoops says the sophomore is “one of our best 11 and a guy who has the ability to be a difference-maker.”<\/p>\n

For several years, the Wildcats’ biggest weakness has been on the defensive line. The move of Paschal should pay immediate dividends.<\/p>\n

One player that the Cats must replace in 2018 is inside linebacker Courtney Love<\/strong><\/a>. His career totals of 168 tackles and four and a half sacks are going to be tough to match. In addition, Eil Brown<\/strong>, who figured to be the starter, announced he is transferring.<\/p>\n

To try to fill that void,\u00a0Alex King<\/a> <\/strong>has moved from outside to inside linebacker. The six-foot-four Ohio native was considered one of the best pass rushers in the Midwest coming out of high school.<\/p>\n

In addition to King, redshirt freshman\u00a0Jamin Davis<\/strong><\/a> is also getting reps at the middle linebacker spot.<\/p>\n

Can Anyone Play Tight End?<\/h3>\n

As we continue looking at Three Things To Watch During Kentucky’s Spring Practice, it is time to look at the tight ends. All-SEC performer C.J. Conrad<\/a><\/strong> is recovering from foot surgery and won\u2019t practice until the summer, and Greg Hart<\/a><\/strong> graduated. Highly\u00a0touted freshmen Brenden Bates<\/strong> <\/a> and\u00a0Keaton Upshaw<\/strong> <\/a> won\u2019t be on campus until summer.<\/p>\n

That leaves Justin Rigg<\/strong> as the Cats only returning player at the position. He was injured in an ugly collision with Derrick Baity<\/strong><\/a> on the first day of practice injuring his spleen. Rigg will be out for the remainder of spring practice.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/justinrigg83\/status\/971189529045594113<\/p>\n

Due to the injuries, tight ends coach Vince Marrow<\/strong> has been forced to use tackle Landon<\/strong> Young<\/strong> among others to simulate the offense. Marrow told reporters \u201cwe are thin now but come June we are going to be really good.\u201d Not having the starters out there robs Hoak and Wilson a chance to establish a rhythm with their tight ends until fall camp begins.<\/p>\n

Thanks for checking out Three Things To Watch During Kentucky’s Spring Practice here at Last Word On College Football. Stay with Last Word for more updates leading up to the spring game on April 13th.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As he begins his sixth season in Lexington, Mark Stoops has one of his most experienced teams. Eighteen starters return from last season\u2019s 7-6 squad, which lost in the Music City Bowl. However, that doesn\u2019t mean there aren\u2019t questions concerning the 2018 Wildcats. Let\u2019s take a look at Three Things To Watch During Kentucky\u2019s Spring […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":877,"featured_media":14338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2],"tags":[3145,184,1705,3146,3144,3143,126,2737],"class_list":["post-14269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sec","category-featured","tag-alex-king","tag-cfb","tag-gunnar-hoak","tag-jamin-davis","tag-josh-paschal","tag-kentucky-wildcats-spring-practice","tag-ncaa","tag-terry-wilson"],"modified_by":"Ben Kerr","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/877"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}