That's a huge Kentucky presence, folks. Lot of respect getting 3 players on 1st team, including *the* defensive player of the year, another on 2nd team, and *the* Coach of the Year.
I have seen awards from other conferences announced and wondered when the SEC would follow.
I hope we have truly appreciated Benny's 3 years and Josh's 4 as much as they deserve. Josh is a prime example of coming back for a senior year helping a player's stock. Benny won't due to his position, but Josh is a great success story for UK. He should be remembered for years, kind of like how people talk about Art Still now.
Josh is the best defensive player I have seen at UK (watching since about 1991) and Benny is not far behind on offense.
Edit - props to Bunch too. Last year he struggled when trying to replace Toth at Center, but moving back to guard has been terrific for him. The story of UK coaches walking through a storm to visit him is a classic.
So is everyone pleased with Stoops now as our coach, I know there was a lot of less than thrilled fans before the year started. He does have us at a level weve never been at with consistency as I would suspect we will go to our 4th bowl in a row next year for the first time ever right? Do we think Stoops has learned on the job and is our guy now? Do we think Mitch made the right decision in picking a guy and building with him and paying him early? I'm not provoking arguments i'm just asking the crowd and would love to hear from the folks that felt he was not the right guy.
Me personally, I think were on the right path with Stoops, but I think he may have reached his ceiling here unless he can start recruiting at an even more elite level. I'm not sure Kentucky football can drag in recruits like a TN or Florida can, but i'm not sure why they cant considering our success this year. Do it again next year and id say were turning some more heads in the recruiting world.
The first season for Mark Stoops to measure up to his peers on the sideline. I believe he has successfully transitioned into a good head coach over the course of his time at UK. Coaching philosophy aside, he never negatively affected an outcome this season
He was on top of things from horn to horn
Benny got his pretty much on his own because Gran did not do so well this season.
Has a positive effect on UK Football branding and recruiting. Can't help but believe Josh's play and the recognition went a long way with JJ Weaver deciding in our favor. I think we'll see more of the impact on 2020 class rather than 2019, as some of the top in-state players committed before the season began.
Great and well deserved recognition. We finished second in the SEC East to more than likely the second best team in the country regardless of what Georgia's ranking is.
Stoops deserves all the credit in the world. No one is perfect but what he and his staff and players have accomplished is pretty darn good.
Tried to find the thread, but we had hovered in that team defense ranking of around #80 in the nation for years, and this year we were up to around #23. I remember saying if we could get it up to around #40 we would be able to take a step forward but Kentucky football has never really done that in my lifetime or the mark stoops era, until now. On this we went from #75 in 2017 to #8 in 2018...now that is some serious increase and probably similar to what Mark did at FSU if I recall. This is what shores us up and makes us an annual bowl visitor every year under stoops. Now get that offense in the top 50 and we may be doing some real damage.
Josh is the best defensive player I have seen at UK (watching since about 1991) and Benny is not far behind on offense.
Congrats to both!
Agree, Allen is the best defensive player I've seen at Kentucky since I started watching around 1980. I mean, the guy can't be stopped by SEC lines putting 2 or 3 guys on him at times. And not only does he make plays, he makes them at crucial moments. As far as I'm concerned, he deserves to be mentioned with guys like Couch and Cobb as one of the best ever players at Kentucky.
Tried to find the thread, but we had hovered in that team defense ranking of around #80 in the nation for years, and this year we were up to around #23. I remember saying if we could get it up to around #40 we would be able to take a step forward but Kentucky football has never really done that in my lifetime or the mark stoops era, until now. On this we went from #75 in 2017 to #8 in 2018...now that is some serious increase and probably similar to what Mark did at FSU if I recall. This is what shores us up and makes us an annual bowl visitor every year under stoops. Now get that offense in the top 50 and we may be doing some real damage.
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