Preseason All-SEC Team

Kentucky has six players named to the Preseason All-SEC Team. The surprise player might be Mike Hartline being named 3rd team. If he lives up to this billing we might be in good shape especially now that the flap over the rumble with the Tennessee players has proved to be less than what was spread about on the blogs and boards. Congratulations to the players for representing UK so well.

1st Team
DB Trevard Lindley

2nd Team
LB Micah Johnson

3rd Team
DL Corey Peters
QB Mike Hartline
OL Zipp Duncan
C Jorge Gonzalez

http://www.secsports.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=2&url_article_id=12867&change_well_id=2

“PRO DAY” NFL LOOKS IN ON WILDCATS

Wednesday morning at the annual “Pro Day” workout for professional scouts, the 2008-2009 UK Football Seniors put their talents on display…Nutter Field House was the site, and while there weren’t as many scouts there as there was last year when we had six seniors, there were representatives of 18 professional teams and the Kentucky Horsemen…

Myron Pryor is the highest ranked Wildcat on the board and he expects to go in the middle rounds or as early as the third round…HE was pleased with his drills… “I went up there focused and had a mind-set that I was better than anybody else out there,” he said. “The main thing I’m working on now is getting in shape. The rest of it I think I have pretty much down.”

University of Kentucky senior linebacker Braxton Kelley ran the 40-yard dash for NFL scouts, but the biggest story may be that senior running back, Alphonso Smith ran a 4.27 forty. Official times were suspect, since each Scout had his own stopwatch, but that is in keeping with some of the, “4.2 range of times”, that Smith has notched…The fastest graduating senior on the board was David Jones who posted a 4.34 forty time…

Rich Brooks said Jeremy Jarmon, Trevard Lindley, and Micah Johnson, all who tested NFL waters, along with junior defensive tackle Corey Peters, should give the Cats a strong 2009 draft class. Johnny Williams, Gary Williams, and Liberty Bowl Hero Ventrell Jenkins also worked out for the Pro Scouts.

Three of the Wildcat seniors Myron Pryor, Tim Masthay, and safety Marcus McClinton had been worked out previously by The Scouts in February at the official NFL combine. Those players joined in for the additional evaluation.

The NFL Draft is scheduled for April 25-26, and Rich Brooks thinks that the 2008 seniors will add to the success of the UK senior class of 2007. Seven senior Wildcats from the ’07 team were drafted or signed as free agents, six of whom made it onto a roster in the NFL.

Football numbers Up…Offers Fly Out…

When it comes to the numbers, this year’s group of 3 & 4 star designated recruits UK has signed to LOI’s far exceeds any in recent years. It is obvious to me that our 3 consecutive bowl trips have led to some improved numbers in the recruiting arena, on paper. We can always count on Rich Brooks, Joker and Co. to deliver that little known recruit that turns out to be a star and I expect this year will be no exception…

Comparing UK’s recruiting this year, verses year’s past, reveals the discrepancy in the numbers this year, and that is The Good News. Consider that we only had 1-4 star player last year, Aaron Boyd, and 8-3 star players…This year, even with Morgan Newton not getting that 4th star, we have 3-4 star players and 16-3 star players….That is double the 3 star players and 3 times the 4-star….Definately our finest recruiting in decades!

It is hard to tell how good some of these 3-star players will be, especially Morgan Newton. In 2006, considered by many to be a great year – including the recruitment of Micah Johnson as a 4-Star, along with Corey Peters – We had 9-3 star recruits, so again, not in recent memory have we had a class such as this!

Now it appears that Brooks and Joker are keeping the proverbial pedal to the metal, and offering kids early once again…Miles Simpson, he of 6’2” grace and speed, of 6A Power Simon Kenton High, is on everyone’s wish list…Only a junior, he will have America in his back door before he is done. Maybe we need to get Micah to start recruiting him early, along with Chris Collinsworth’s son from the Northern Area of the Commonwealth. We let Shawn Alexander get away from there, and Miles is in that M-O-L-D…

UK is beginning to attract kids nationally with the program, and its unique position in the SEC as the northern-most school don’t hurt when recruiting in Indiana and Ohio where we are South of them, yet still in the SEC! Morgan Newton’s father mentioned location as being a “big factor” in his son’s attending UK as well as the chance to play QB in the SEC!

Indeed, the very thing we complain about – how tough the SEC IS – is our greatest benefactor in many cases…Kids see that the SEC is the toughest conference around, producing multiple consecutive champions, and they have a shot to be on national TV and play early.

Rich Brooks & Joker grabbed Two – Four star players from the juco ranks the last week of recruiting… These kids usually go elsewhere to play…Not any more…!