Projected record and finish in conference

Chris Leach – Sports Editor

7-5, finishing in a tie for third in the SEC East with Tennessee at 4-4. The Cats are dealt a favorable schedule, but not everything goes perfect during a football season. The record is still good enough to get into a bowl game.

Chase Campbell – Assistant Sports Editor

8-4, finishing third in the SEC East. I think there will be heavy competition between UK and Georgia behind Tennessee and Florida, but ultimately, UK will take the revenge game in Athens to secure third place.

Best win

Chris Leach

Tennessee. The Vols have won the last five contests, but that streak ends this October at Kroger Field. Tennessee will have a new offensive coordinator and quarterback leading the offense that has many other questions surrounding it. Having home-field advantage will be crucial in this closely contested game.

Chase Campbell

Tennessee. With a veteran defense and increased physicality, according to the defensive coordinator Matt House, I don’t see UK giving up 376 yards on the ground a second time. The biggest issue from last year’s matchup with Tennessee was holding onto the ball and staying away from third downs, two things I believe they’ll improve on by the time October rolls around.

Worst loss

Chris Leach

Southern Miss. It’s the first game of the season and the Cats will be far from perfect at that point. Southern Miss will have home-field advantage and a blueprint on how to beat the Cats since they did last year. RB Ito Smith finished with 219 yards in last season’s contest and will return for a senior-year encore this season.

Chase Campbell

South Carolina. I think USC is going to give the rest of the SEC more than they’ve bargained for. It’s no secret they’ve improved, but I think they’ll be extremely well-coached and hungry, especially in a conference home opener. I also think UK won’t have all the pieces together by the time South Carolina hosts them.

Season MVP

Chris Leach

Benny Snell. The emergence of the run-game is what arguably led to the 7-6 record last season, and will be crucial again this year toward the Cats’ success. Snell set six freshman records last season and was a 1,000 yard rusher. Snell will have AJ Rose and Sihiem King backing him up.

Chase Campbell

Jordan Jones. Jones was a man possessed last season, and with teams building game plans around stopping Benny Snell, I think Jones will isolate himself as the season MVP for the Cats. He’s extremely quick and has a nose for the ball, and I won’t be surprised if he’ll be able to get into the backfield at will on blitz plays. Teams will have to give him more than one blocker.

Breakout player

Chris Leach

Phil Hoskins. The depth at the defensive line is slim, so someone has to step up. Phil Hoskins is a junior-college transfer who could make an impact in his first season at UK. There has been good reports coming out of training camp on Hoskins, who has three years of eligibility remaining.

Chase Campbell

AJ Rose. The nimble Eagle Scout is going to do something that looks a bit like what Snell did last year, on a smaller scale. To expect a Snell-like year would be putting too much on any player, but the coaches talk about his ability to make guys miss. When I talked to him, he seemed really confident he could get around the best defenders in the SEC, so the confidence is there.

Biggest area of concern position wise

Chris Leach

Defensive end. After Alvonte Bell was dismissed from the team, that left TJ Carter as the No. 1 option at defensive end. Carter only recorded 11 tackles last season and was the projected starter in UK’s preseason depth chart. Kengera Daniel was No. 2 on that depth chart, and he recorded three tackles last season.

Chase Campbell

Safety. I was tempted to go with the offensive line, after Jon Toth’s departure and Cole Mosier’s career-ending injury, but there’s enough depth and starting talent there to preserve quality. The UK secondary doesn’t have any of that depth, and if a player like Darius West goes down at any point in the season, it’ll spell instant trouble for the Cats.