By Keith Taylor
Kentucky Today
Although Kentucky hasn’t settled on a starting quarterback, offensive coordinator Eddie Gran doesn’t think catching the ball will be a problem for the Wildcats next fall.
The sophomore receiving corps, led by Lynn Bowden, Josh Ali, Isaiah Epps and Cleven Thomas, have been productive in workouts this spring, giving Gran and the offensive coaches plenty of optimism for next season.
“All of them are showing up right now,” Gran said. “You can just see the confidence in all four of those guys. They’re different (and) they’e competing at a higher level and they’re not making the same mistakes (as last year). The main thing is the confidence.”
Ali agreed.
“We’re trying to work hard and get everything together as a group and do what we have to do,” Ali said. “Right now, we want to be able to play every position (at wide receiver). It doesn’t matter to me, I just want the ball.”
The four players combined for eight catches for 84 yards last season and Ali made his first catch against Mississippi State last year. For Ali, it was his official welcome to the Southeastern Conference. Overall, Ali made three catches for 25 yards, including a 14-yard catch in a 37-34 loss to Mississippi.
“It surprised me,” he said. “It was so fast and I didn’t know what happened until it happened. It was good for me.”
Kentucky offensive line coach John Schlarman said the interior players are making gains in addition to the playmakers and receivers.
“The game is slowing down for some of those guys,” he said. “The young guys are coming along and the main thing is, they can’t see toon many looks. The more snaps, the better.”
Like Gran, Schlarman has experienced many ups and downs during the first eight workouts of the spring.
“You hope they eliminate the ugly and push the bad up to the good,” Schlarman said.
Defense
Kentucky defensive coordinator Matt House announced Thursday that redshirt freshman linebacker Jamin Davis injured his knee during workouts last week and will be out for the remainder of spring practice.
“He’s going to be out three to four weeks,” House said Thursday. “He did something to his knee. Nothing major, he’ll be back.”
Senior linebacker Josh Allen has gained more weight and now weighs more than 250 pounds going into his senior campaign.
“I know what I’ve gotta do this year,” Allen said. “I know what it takes to be a good caliber team. I feel like we’ve got the players, we’ve just got to put everything together. That’s why we need players to step up and become better leaders and more mature. I feel like we are. Just have to take the next steps to be an all-around good team.”
Keith Taylor is sports editor for Kentucky Today. Reach him at keith.taylor@kentuckytoday.com or twitter @keithtaylor21.