Kentucky College Football Preview, Best Players, Top Transfers, Season Prediction, Win Total 2024

Kentucky Wildcats Preview 2024

Alright, Kentucky. Let’s start beating the really good teams, too.

It took down a strong ACC Championship appearance-level Louisville team on the road, but that’s a rivalry game, and it was the fifth win in a row in the series and sixth in the last seven.

The other six wins last season were against teams that finished with a losing record/didn’t go bowling. Five of the six losses were to teams that finished with at least nine wins, and the other was a late season clunker at South Carolina.

The 2022 team won seven games. Again, it beat Louisville, and there was a nice home win over a decent Mississippi State team, and the other five wins were against teams that finished with a losing record. There was a gaffe against Vanderbilt, but the other five losses were to teams that finished with eight wins or more.

Let’s keep going.

The 2021 team pulled off a nice Citrus Bowl win over a strong Iowa squad, but the eight of the other nine wins came against teams that finished with a losing record and the other one was against a South Carolina team that went 7-6. The three losses all came to teams that finished with winning records.

The painfully belabored point? As good as the Mark Stoops era has been - if you’re 73-65 in 11 seasons with seven winning SEC campaigns, and seven winning seasons in the last eight, you’re doing something right - and to be fair, the 10-3 2018 team beat a slew of really, really strong teams to come up with the program’s first 10-win run since 1977.

This year’s team might have the stuff to come up with type of years no one sees coming.

There are just four road games - ALL are brutal, though; more on that later - there’s a ton of talent on the lines, plenty of help from the transfer portal, a few excellent skill parts.

It might just add up to a season with wins over a whole bunch of really good teams.

Kentucky Preview 2024: Offense

- As always the Kentucky offense defies logic and reason. The big yards weren’t there, forget about time of possession, and the rushing attack wasn’t great. Even so, the O had a much better season after stalling in 2022, but it wasn’t as strong as the 2021 attack. When UK scored 28 it went 6-0. When it didn’t, 1-4 until the 38-35 Gator Bowl loss to Clemson.

The improvement should start in the backfield with two new stars. QB Devin Leary wasn’t bad last season, but the upside of one-time star recruit for Georgia Brock Vandagriff is enormous, and adding Georgia Southern’s Beau Allen helps. With Ray Davis gone after running for 1,129 yards and 14 scores, Ohio State transfer DeaMonte Trayanum will get every chance to be the workhorse.

- The line didn’t do enough for the running game, but it was great in pass protection and solid at keeping the negative plays to a minimum. Eli Cox is one of the SEC’s best centers. Marques Cox is a veteran tackle, and getting Gerald Mincey from Tennessee should help at the other tackle spot.

- The receiving corps is deep enough to let Vandagriff spread the ball around. Dane Key led the way with 42 catches - he’s a deep threat on the outside - Barion Brown is one of the nation’s best all-around playmakers as a return man as well as a receiver, and the tight ends can stretch the field.

Kentucky Preview 2024: Defense

- For the first time since 2016 the defense allowed more than 300 points in a season. Even so, the run defense was great, the pass rush strong, and it’s not like there was a soft performance - UK’s D got rocked for 31 points or more by Georgia, Missouri, Alabama, Tennessee, and Clemson.

There’s not much from the transfer portal here for a starting 11 loaded with upperclassmen. It all works around …

- Deone Walker is one of the nation’s best defensive tackles. An almost certain first round draft pick, the quick 6-6, 348-pounder is the star of the show, 6-3, 317-pound Josiah Hayes and 6-4, 322-pound Keeshawn Silver rotate on the nose, and … good luck running inside on the Cats.

The tackles collapse things and get into the backfield, and the outside linebackers on this D take care of the rest. JJ Weaver was second behind Walker with seven sacks, and now he has even more help with Georgia transfer Jamon Dumas-Johnson after making 125 tackles with 9.5 sacks over the last three seasons.

- The secondary still has enough talent to be a strength. There might be a few losses, but the rotation was good enough to now fill in the gaps. CB Maxwell Hairston is back after making five picks and 68 tackles, S Jordan Lovett added three interceptions, and Zion Childress should once again be among the team’s leading tacklers.

Kentucky Key To The Season

Keep stopping the run.
In 2022, UK was 6-0 in the regular season when allowing fewer than 165 rushing yards, 0-5 when allowing more. Last year?

The UK D held seven teams to under 100 rushing yards and beat six of them - the lone loss was to South Carolina when the team was -3 in turnover margin. They were 1-5 when giving up more than 100 yards - the lone win was against Louisville when the Cats were +2 in turnover margin.

Kentucky Key Player

QB Brock Vandagriff, Jr.
A superstar prospect from Atlanta, he was supposed to be the star who’d take over the Georgia offense and raise the talent level and game at the quarterback position. It was a crowded room. He got in a little bit of work over the last three seasons, but when Carson Beck announced he was coming back, it was time to move.

Vandagriff is a 6-3, 210-pound mobile player with all of the tools. The talent is there to be the first Kentucky 3,000-yard passer since Mike Hartline in 2010. Vandagriff is the top transfer coming in, but …

Kentucky Top Transfer, Biggest Transfer Loss

Top Transfer In: LB Jamon Dumas-Johnson, Sr.
One of the many great Georgia recruits over the last few years, he played right away as a freshman, came up with 70 tackles and four sacks as a sophomore. Last year he was banged up and missed part of the season but made 34 stops. Don’t be shocked if he leads the Wildcats in tackles.

Top Transfer Out: LB Keaten Wade, Jr.
Kentucky won the transfer portal game in a big way and didn’t suffer any losses that were too painful. The 6-5, 250-pound Wade was a part of the linebacking rotation over the last two years making 51 tackles with 2.5 sacks and 5.5 tackles for loss, and now he’s off playing for Deion at Colorado.

Kentucky Key Game

Georgia, Sept. 14
It’s a new world of the SEC now. Beating Georgia isn’t to make noise in the SEC East; it’s just another game on the conference slate. In this case, it’s a chance to make a big, big statement as a program.

Kentucky has lost 14 straight to the Bulldogs and 16 of the last 17. A trip to Ole Miss is next up in SEC play, the final two conference dates are on the road at Tennessee and Texas, and …

It’s a home game. Beat Georgia already.

Kentucky 10 Best Players

1. Deone Walker, DT Jr.
2. Maxwell Hairston, CB Jr.
3. Eli Cox, C Sr.
4. Barion Brown, WR/KR Jr.
5. Brock Vandagriff, QB Jr.
6. Jamon Dumas-Johnson, LB Sr.
7. D’Eryk Jackson, LB Sr.
8. Dane Key, WR Jr.
9. DeaMonte Trayanum, RB Sr.
10. Alex Raynor, PK Sr.

Kentucky 2023 Fun Stats

- 4th Down Conversions: Opponents 11-of-18 (61%), Kentucky 2-of-10 (20%)

- Time of Possession: Opponents 32:23, Kentucky 27:37

- 2 Point Conversions: Opponents 4-for-5 (80%), Kentucky 0-for-1 (0%)

Kentucky 2024 Season Prediction, Win Total, What Will Happen

Kentucky will finish with a winning record finishing with a trip to a restaurant-quality bowl, because that’s what Kentucky does under Mark Stoops.

It also helps when the world handed it a not-that-bad schedule with just four away games. All four might be bears - Ole Miss, Florida, Tennessee, and Texas - but that’s the cost of doing business in this conference.

Georgia is on the slate, but at least that’s in Lexington. There’s no Alabama or LSU, missing Missouri is a plus this season, and it’s probably not a bad thing to miss Oklahoma or Texas A&M, either.

There are an almost guaranteed four wins built into the slate, and the Cats will find their way to winning at least two. They’ll be the underdog in all four road games and the Georgia game, so there can’t be any slips anywhere.

Set The Kentucky Win Total At … 7

Likely Wins: Murray State, Ohio, Southern Miss, Vanderbilt

50/50 Games: Auburn, at Florida, Louisville, South Carolina, at Tennessee

Likely Losses: Georgia, at Ole Miss, at Texas

- Kentucky 2024 Schedule: 3 Things To Know