A SEASON ON THE BRINK FROM INSIDE THE HUDDLE Part 4

#1–It was the opening game of what we felt would be a very good season

#2–We lost to a team that we felt we should have defeated

#3–We defeated ourselves with mistakes and poor execution

Pretty hard for a team heavy with seniors and juniors that were experienced. We turned the ball over, We gave them short field position to score from, we got a lot of penalty’s called that killed our drives and helped our opponents drives. Our kick coverage was poor which ended our chance for a comeback.
We got behind early and let the crowd bother us but still this game was much closer than the score would indicate.

We got behind 13-0, then in the second half we marched down the field and scored 7. We were back in the game and good kick off coverage and a stop by our defense which had been playing well would give us the ball around our 35-40 yard line with plenty of time left to march down and score and win this game.

We got poor kickoff coverage and LSU ran it back for a long td. Game over, no alibis, no complaints, we lost that one. It would be a long ride back to bluegrass field.

The coaches were also in shock trying to figure out just where the problem was but they would have to look at and grade the film to know just what went wrong. Well it was mistakes and poor execution that did us in. That big tackle named Legget didn’t help either he was a load.

We got back to Lexington and everyone was in shock like zombies. I called 10-12 of the seniors and juniors in to write my weekly column–it went like this.

Inside the huddle the wrap.

The loss at LSU was very disappointing. It was the result of poor execution on our part. We turned the ball over. We gave LSU short field position to score from. We had a lot of penaltys that stalled our drives and a few penaltys on defense that helped LSU’s drives. Our kicking coverage was inadequate and cost us a chance to get back into the game. In the end we lost a game that we should have won, a very poor way to start a season.

Our only bright spot was that our defense played well enough to win and that we had marched down the field and scored 7 in the second half to get back into the game.

Ole Miss was coming to town and would be ranked #1 or #2 when the rankings came out on Monday. This was a great football team and it would take an error free effort to play with them. They were loaded with great rangy athletes that looked like a measuring tape had selected them. They ran a sprint out run pass offense with split ends and wide receivers. The quarterback threw on the run or kept the ball if the linebackers and corners came up. The quarterback would also slip the ball to the fullback who stayed in which froze the middle linebacker. They ran a well greased, well organized offense. They had speed at all the receivers including the ends. Their backs were fast, could get outside or power inside. Play action offense at it’s best.

Their defense was textbook, good linebackers, good corners, good safety’s and a very good line. They would be hard to run power stuff at

The common feeling of our seniors and juniors is that this will take a great effort to play with Ole Miss. At the same time this group feels that this will be exactly what Kentucky brings Saturday. Better get your tickets. Don’t miss this one it could very easily be the game of the year.

My prediction Kentucky 20 Ole Miss 14.

Jarmon Picked in Third Round

The Washington Redskins selected defensive lineman Jeremy Jarmon in the third round of Thursday’s supplemental draft.

Five teams put in fourth-round claims for the 6-foot-3, 278-pound defensive end, a source told ESPN.com’s John Clayton. The Redskins have five remaining draft choices in the 2010 draft. They are now without third- and sixth-round picks.

 Jarmon, the only player selected in the draft, is only the fourth supplemental choice on an active roster this year. The Chargers have two — defensive tackle Jamal Williams and safety Paul Oliver — and the Ravens have one — left tackle Jared Gaither. Jarmon is the first supplemental pick selected since 2007.

The Redskins needed to look for a young defensive end because they have too much age at the left end spot of their defensive line. Phillip Daniels is 36 and Renaldo Wynn is 34. The Redskins can develop Jarmon over the next year to take over the starting job and maybe help at defensive tackle on passing downs.

Vinny Cerrato, Washington’s executive vice president of football operations, was among a group of scouts who came to Lexington last week to watch Jarmon work out.

After drafting Jarmon on Thursday, Cerrato told Redskins.com that the 6-foot-3, 278-pounder was a bargain.

“He was a guy that the scouts really liked,” Cerrato said. “We graded him as a second-round pick.

“He’s a great kid. He’ll fit well in the locker room. He runs well. He’s making tremendous strides.”

Cerrato said he thinks Jarmon would have been a second-round pick in next year’s draft had he been able to stay at Kentucky and play his senior year.

“He’s basically a year ahead of where he would be if he’d come out next year,” Cerrato said.

“He can develop at his pace. He’s very athletic, but he needs strength. He benched 19 times. He needs to be doing that 30 times.”

Jarmon left Kentucky after he was declared ineligible for his senior year because of a failed drug test in which he tested positive for a banned diuretic supplement.

He fits perfectly in a 4-3 defense. He can play end or tackle.

Jarmon took the supplement while recovering from a shoulder injury and was not taking part in activities. He had been taking the supplement for 15 days before checking with the training staff, who told him to stop taking it.

“But it was too late,” Jarmon said, reading from a prepared statement in May.

Jarmon said his goal in the offseason was to become leaner. He bought a dietary supplement while shopping for vitamins on the recommendation of a worker at a nutrition store, not knowing that it contained a banned substance.

“I do not need to cheat to be successful,” he said.

Jarmon has the third-most sacks in Kentucky history. He was an honorable mention on last season’s AP All-Southeastern Conference team.

http://www.kentucky.com/817/story/864626.html

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4332087

Will UK’s Defense Rise to the Occasion Without Jarmon?

The Bad News. UK really could not afford to lose Jeremy Jarmon at his DE position…Now we have no one with experience at his position. We could ill afford to lose him. Someone is going to have to step up big time…. The dbs are going to be tested severely if the player(s) replacing Jarmon don’t perform. If the pass rush is not there, then the opposing QB can pick us apart in the secondary. We don’t have a single player that has made a tackle at that Defensive End position. That is the bad news.

The good news is we have several young kids that have an opportunity to step up and play. I’m thinking Dequin Evans and Chandler Burden in the fall… We’ve lost Paris, Minton, Stafford, and now Jarmon for various reasons the last couple of years at that Defensive End position.

This just means somebody/everybody HAS to step up that is already on the roster at the DE position, (Ukwu, Wyndham, Burden, Evans, Rumph etc.) There won’t be a size drop-off or manhandling Chandler Burden, at 6’4 295, or Evans the 4-star JUCO at 275lb, but will they bring the speed and talent that Jarmon did?

Curse be Gone

Robbie McAtee used a can of Curse be Gone on receiver Eldred King at the one yard line as time expired and Kentucky held on for a 20-14 victory over Middle Tennessee.

McAtee’s game-saving ankle tackle came after Middle Tennessee quarterback Joe Craddock heaved a desperation pass 61 yards in what appeared to be a last-second victory for the Blue Raiders. Instead, McAtee’s tackle kept Kentucky undefeated (3-0) and prevented the Blue Raiders (1-2) from a second straight win over a major conference foe, having beaten Maryland a week earlier.

Mike Hartline threw the first two touchdown passes of his Kentucky career. What was expected to be a timeshare at quarterback for the Wildcats ended up being Hartline’s job alone, at least for one week, as freshman speedster Randall Cobb hurt an ankle on a special teams play in the first quarter and didn’t return.

There was no immediate word on the extent of Cobb’s injury.

Twice Hartline led Kentucky’s offense into the end zone after the Blue Raiders had gained the lead.

The Wildcats took the lead for good, 17-14, early in the fourth quarter on a 6-yard toss from Hartline to Derrick Locke. The play was set up by three Hartline passes of 10 yards or longer — one preserved by an acrobatic one-handed catch from Dicky Lyons Jr.

Hartline was 28-for-47 with 254 yards 2tds and no interceptions.