Never mind the skill stars, Kentucky football’s 2022 fate will be decided up front

Kentucky football’s fanatical followers probably peg the Wildcats’ 2022 chances on Will Levis’ arm, Chris Rodriguez’s status, Wan’Dale Robinson’s replacement and strengthening a shaky secondary.

Instead, your honor, we argue the key to UK’s upcoming grid campaign lies in a kernel of knowledge routinely dropped by the Cats’ former offensive coordinator.

“Big men lead the way,” Eddie Gran used to say, and probably still does in his current role as special assistant to head coach Mark Stoops.

You know of who Gran speaks. The Big Uglies. The road-graders and pass-blockers on the offensive line. The run-stoppers and pass-rushers on the defensive line. How Kentucky fares this fall in the SEC shark tank will surely have much to do with the development of the fresh faces who put their hands in the ground on both sides of the football.

In fact, a close inspection of Kentucky’s rise under Stoops shines a light on the improvement on both fronts. Who says so? The NFL says so, that’s who.

Consider that from Todd Perry in 1993 until Larry Warford in 2013, Kentucky did not have a single offensive lineman picked in the NFL Draft. Not one. Since Stoops made Lexington his home, however, the Cats have had five names called among its OL alums — George Asafo Adjei, seventh round in 2019; Logan Stenberg, fourth round in 2020; Landon Young, sixth round in 2021; Darian Kinnard, fifth round in 2022; Luke Fortner, third round in 2022.

UK’s defensive line draft drought was not quite as dire. Coach Rich Brooks had four linemen selected during his tenure — Vincent Burns in 2005; Myron Pryor in 2009, Jeremy Jarmon in 2009 supplemental, and Corey Peters in 2010. Stoops has added four more to UK’s draft list — Za’Darius Smith, fourth round in 2015; Phil Hoskins, seventh round in 2021, Quinton Bohanna, sixth round in 2021 and Josh Paschal, second round in 2022.

The current deck requires some shuffling, however. Starters Fortner, Kinnard and Dare Rosenthal are gone from the offense’s Big Blue Wall. Starters Paschal and Marquan McCall have moved on from the defensive side. New OL coach Zach Yenser and third-year DL coach Anwar Stewart have paychecks to earn.

After arriving from the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers, Yenser inherited a pair of returning starters in Kenneth Horsey and Eli Cox. A senior guard, Horsey was a second-team All-SEC selection in the Birmingham News’ recent poll of the league’s SIDs. A junior, Cox was granted anchor status when moved from guard to center in spring drills, where he earned praise from both Yenser and new offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello, the 49ers’ former quarterbacks coach.

Tashawn Manning, a muscular transfer from Auburn, should man the offensive guard spot opposite Horsey. New tackles must be cast. Jeremy Flax, a former junior college star, is expected to take the right side with redshirt sophomore Deondre Buford receiving first crack at the left side. The possibilities don’t stop there. Freshman tackle Kiyaunta Goodwin was UK’s most highly publicized class of 2022 recruit. Sophomore guard Jager Burton, a Frederick Douglass product, is a freakish athlete. And Yenser has praised sophomore tackle David Wohlabaugh.

On the defensive side, time for potential to become production. UK’s 2020 signee class was led by a defensive line group that included Justin Rogers, Octavious Oxendine, Tre’Vonn Rybka and Josaih Hayes. To this point, Oxendine has earned the most snaps of the quartet, but missed the last half of 2021 with a leg injury. All will have important roles to play in defensive coordinator Brad White’s 3-4 scheme come September.

How important? SEC’s continued football dominance has been built on play at the line of scrimmage. Obvious examples: Alabama and, last year, Georgia. Over the past three seasons, Bama has had eight linemen selected in the draft. Over that same period, Georgia has had 10, including five this past April from the Dawgs’ national championship team.

Records over that three-year period: Alabama 37-4; Georgia 34-5.

Big men really do lead the way.

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