Kentucky Football: Should Wildcats be viewed as an SEC dark horse?

The Kentucky football program is rarely thought of as an SEC contender, but should they be a dark horse team in 2017?

This time a year ago, the Kentucky Wildcats were nothing more than an afterthought as teams geared up for the 2016 season. Now, as the 2017 season approaches, the Wildcats are popping up as a trendy dark horse pick in the race for the SEC East crown.

Much of the buzz that the Kentucky Wildcats are generating this offseason stems from Kentucky’s successful 2016 campaign and the sheer amount of experience that the Wildcats will be returning in 2017. They went from an 0-2 start, to being in the heat of the SEC East race as late as November.

The Wildcats garnered a lot of respect at SEC Media Days a few weeks ago after the Wildcats tallied seven wins in 2016, a stark contrast from the team’s 2-10 season dating back to the very beginning of the Mark Stoops era.

SEC Network analyst, Marcus Spears, told SEC Country that he expects more of the same from the Kentucky Wildcats in 2017.

ALSO READ: Butch Jones and Tennessee Own Kentucky 

“I think what you saw [Stoops] do last year wasn’t a fluke,” Spears said “When he took over on defense, it got better. Eddie Gran and those guys are trying to get it right over on offense. Stephen Johnson did a great job. He’s a very usable quarterback in the SEC.”

More graces were showered upon Kentucky last month when Pat Dooley, a writer for the Gainesville-Sun, delivered a hot-take on the Paul Finebaum show and suggested that Kentucky will finish 2017 with a better record than Tennessee.

Kentucky Football: Offense

Kentucky’s offense will be headlined by QB Stephen Johnson. Johnson led Kentucky to a 7-4 record after taking over QB duties in the aftermath of Drew Barker’s season-ending back injury.

Johnson’s athleticism adds an interesting wrinkle to Kentucky’s run-heavy offense.  However, his 54.7 completion percentage leaves some to be desired. Look for Kentucky offensive coordinator Eddie Gran to try to reinvigorate a passing attack that ranked near the bottom of the SEC last season.

Kentucky Wildcats Football

Last year, Kentucky boasted a rushing offense that averaged 234.2 yards per game and featured two 1,000-yard rushers, the only team in the SEC to do so. One of those 1,000-yard tailbacks will be returning to Lexington in 2017. Benny Snell, Jr. was tabbed as a 2016 Freshman All-American after totaling 1,091 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns. Snell is poised to be Kentucky’s feature back for the next two seasons.

The good news for Snell is that he will be running behind perhaps the most experienced offensive line in the conference anchored by seniors Nick Haynes and Cole Mosier.

Kentucky Football: Defense

Kentucky’s linebacking corps will be led by one of the conference’s most productive linebackers a year ago in Jordan Jones. Last season, Jones tallied a team-high 109 tackles.

However, Kentucky’s secondary is what I consider to be the real strength of this defense. After earning a spot on the Associated Press’s 2016 All-SEC team, Mike Edwards will return at safety to shore up the back end of a Kentucky secondary that only gave up 206.1 passing yards a year ago, which was good for 3rd in the SEC and 35th nationally.

So what’s my takeaway from all of this dark horse chatter?

Stoops is slowly molding this football program into one that can contend in the SEC, but there is still some work to be done.

Kentucky’s defense has been the deal breaker for me. It is filled with playmakers at every level, but as a unit they were among the SEC’s worst last season. Newly minted defensive coordinator, Matt House, and his players will need to make some serious strides on that end of the ball if the Wildcats wish to make some noise in 2017.

At the conclusion of SEC Media Days a few weeks ago, the media predicted Kentucky to finish fifth in the SEC East standings behind Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, and South Carolina, respectively.

Next: Ranking All 14 SEC Fight Songs

While I fully expect Kentucky to obtain bowl eligibility for a second consecutive year, I still have a difficult time believeing that the Wildcats are capable of topping seven wins in 2017.