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Five Predictions for the next Decade

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We had a pretty good ending to the decade for University of Kentucky athletics. The basketball Cats beat No. 3 Louisville in an OT thriller and the football Cats pulled out a last second win against Virginia Tech in the Belk Bowl with Lynn Bowden throwing the winning touchdown pass.

This past decade treated Kentucky fans pretty good too. A national title and a great basketball run, Kentucky baseball made the Super Regionals, Mark Stoops brought Kentucky football back from the dead with four straight winning seasons, including two bowl wins and a 10-3 season.

Whether you want to admit it or not, it was a great ten years for Kentucky Athletics. Yeah we could’ve won a few more games here and there, some more important than others, but it was a great decade.

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With another ten years on the horizon for Kentucky sports, here are five predictions for this next decade.

Alcohol will be sold at all games

A very controversial decision that was made this past year with no alcohol sales at Kentucky sporting events will come to an end.

Even though alcohol is allowed in the suites where the rich are, alcohol will be sold to fans with a stadium seat.

Many other programs have already allowed alcohol sales, raising revenue substantially. There was already a lot of backlash after this past decision, so I do not see it lasting long.

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Kentucky football will make the SEC Championship game

I didn’t think Kentucky football would have the success that they have had, so here we go.

Mark Stoops has done a tremendous job with bringing Kentucky football back from the dead and making them a legit contender in the east.

After they hosted Georgia last year with a trip to Atlanta on the line, I can’t help but think it will happen again and Kentucky will win.

It could come as soon as next year with Kentucky’s roster loaded with talent and the Bulldogs coming to Lexington for another matchup with the Cats.

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Mark Stoops will not leave Kentucky

As I said above, Stoops has already had a ton of success with Kentucky. After a terrible start to his career, Stoops is now 44-44 in his career at Kentucky with a 10-3 season and a major bowl win backed up by an 8-5 season with a WR at QB and a bowl win.

If the Cats do accomplish Stoops’ ultimate goal and make the SEC Championship game, many schools will come calling.

I think there will be a lot of drama surrounding Stoops and other jobs, but at the end of the day, Mark Stoops will not leave Kentucky.

Kentucky basketball will get No. 9 and No. 10

Kentucky basketball and John Calipari have not won a title since 2012 and while a lot of people think he’s underachieving, which is complete nonsense, Kentucky has been knocking on the door for many years now.

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Kentucky will get No. 9 and No. 10 this decade. With the one and done ending, I would not be surprised if the Cats won back-to-back titles.

Now, if John Calipari spends 15 years at Kentucky and wins only one national title, then we can talk about whether he underachieved here.

John Calipari will retire

Since John Calipari has been at Kentucky, there have been many rumors about him leaving. The rumors started right after Kentucky won the title in 2012 and have been swirling ever since.

Who will follow him? I have no clue. I just know that we need to cherish these next few years with Calipari.

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If the above does happen, I think Cal will retire right after.

Football

Jamon Dumas-Johnson: A NFL Draft Steal

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Kentucky Wildcats linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson (2) makes the sign of the cross while taking a knee before the game.
Carter Skaggs | Imagn

Before he transferred to Kentucky, Jamon Dumas-Johnson was an All-American at Georgia, with waves to at least test the NFL draft after winning a National Championship. However, with the decision to play his last collegiate season as a Wildcat, Dumas-Johnson was a cornerstone piece for the Kentucky defense, finishing the season with 7.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks during his 11 starts for the team. 

His athleticism spoke volumes at Kentucky football’s NFL pro day, where current NFL draft boards now list the linebacker as one of the best athletes at the position and has earned himself a “top 10” feel ahead of the draft. Before pro day, publications such as Bleacher Report had him listed as No. 13 at his position. 

Dumas-Johnson proved himself with the highest vertical jump (37.5) and the longest broad jump (10.60) out of the Wildcats who competed in said events, and ran an impressive best 4.50 40-yard dash. At 245 pounds, he also managed to press 16 reps of 225, which could technically be “better” compared to NFL standards, but is impressive nonetheless in hindsight.

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At 23 years old, this linebacker exploits explosiveness, agility and can hawk down any playmaker on the field. Out the 31 NFL teams that attended the event (a Cleveland Browns representative did not attend), one will be getting a prize steal of the draft with Dumas-Johnson. 

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Alex Raynor: A Rare Gem In This Year’s NFL Draft

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Kentucky Wildcats place kicker Alex Raynor (16) lines up a kick.
Jordan Prather | Imagn

Alex Raynor had an illustrious season for Kentucky last year, being named to First-Team All-SEC, as a finalist for the Lou Groza award and as SEC Special Teams Player of the Year.

As the record holder for the longest field goal in program history, and arguably one of, if not the, most consistent kickers to ever be a Wildcat, Raynor now looks to the NFL Draft in the next chapter of his book. 

Recently, at Kentucky football’s NFL Pro Day on Tuesday, March 11, Raynor kicked off the event with his workout. 

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Although he would miss a routine kick for him inside of the 45, he would continue to move back, nailing a 55-yard kick and nearly making a 60-yard kick. 

The best moments of his workout came when Raynor would line up behind the UK logo inside of Nutter Field House and would nail a 65-yard field goal.

That, although it’s an indoor kick and is not faced with the NFL pressure, would be one of the longest field goals in NFL history. 

Historically, it’s extremely rare for kickers to be drafted any higher than the 6th, more commonly going in the late rounds on the third day. 

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However, Raynor would hold as one of the rare occasions to go higher than projected, due to his historic year as a Wildcat.

Wherever the young man from Georgia ends up in the pros, don’t be surprised if you hear his name every reoccurring Sunday.

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The State of Kentucky Football

Following their worst season in nearly a decade, Kentucky Football faces a steep rebuild and rising expectations.

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Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops has been linked to the Texas A&M job.
Chet White | UK Athletics

After charting a 4-8 record in the 2023-24 season, including a 1-7, second-to-last finish in the SEC, Kentucky Football looks lost for the first time in a long time.

It can be argued that the program never really broke through to the “higher echelon” of college football in the first place, but even then, they’ve been consistently better than they were historically known to be. Until now.

With that aforementioned .333 record, the Cats weren’t able to earn a bowl game. That marks the first time since the 2015 season that Kentucky Football won’t appear in postseason competition, and, excluding the 2020 season (for COVID-related reasons,) it’s also the only time the Wildcats have finished under .500 since then.

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What about the last time the team had less than five wins? 2013, in Stoops’ first season. The deeper you dig, the worse it appears.

Losing to Louisville in blowout fashion at the end of last month felt like the straw that broke the Cats’ back. It was clear that whatever would happen next wouldn’t be simply transitional, and thus far, the early offseason has evidenced that.

The Big Move

It began with an exodus. Star wideout Barion Brown elected to transfer to LSU for his senior season. His receiver running mate, Dane Key, left for Nebraska. In addition to the team’s two primary deep threats, Chip Trayanum, the promising back and former Buckeye who spent much of this year battling injuries, took his talents to Toledo.

In total, the Cats have lost nearly two dozen players to the transfer portal, and that’s not even counting the guys headed to the NFL draft (like Deone Walker and Maxwell Hairston,) as well as the graduates.

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To put it bluntly, next year’s team will share little more with the players from this past season than the blue and white on their jerseys. It’s a brutal overhaul, though one Coach Stoops and his staff are trying to get the jump on, to their credit.

Fresh Faces

Among a growing list of incoming transfers, a few names in particular stand out. Chief among them is Zach Calzada, a quarterback whose upcoming season at Kentucky will mark his fifth year playing football in his third different jersey.

The journeyman spent this past season at Incarnate Word, where he threw for 35 touchdowns and only nine interceptions. He completed 344 passes on the year, almost doubling that of his previous two. 

Before his two-year stint at IW, Calzada spent the beginnings of his college career at Texas A&M where, among a mixture of steadily improving statistics, he led the Aggies to an impressive home win over the still Saban-led Alabama Crimson Tide. Whether or not his recent success in the Southland Conference will translate back to the SEC is yet to be seen, but, at least on paper, this pickup makes sense for Kentucky following a year of unsparing QB play across the board.

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Along with Calzada, the Cats have hauled in J.J. Hester, a 6 ‘4 senior receiver from Oklahoma, Dante Dowdell, a power back coming off a 12-touchdown season for Nebraska, and Sam Greene, a defensive end transferring in from USC, among a handful of others. We’ll have a team. 

Though, even considering the roster turnover, that wasn’t the question. That still remains, “what will that team do?”

Potential vs. Progress

Kentucky is 18-25 in their last three seasons of football; a steady decline that has been made worse by the fact that the program’s outlier 10-3 finish in the 2021 season has since been disqualified by the NCAA due to a rule violation. All in all, the last half-decade has been, at best, barely getting by.

How long will this trend continue? The only thing we know for sure is that nobody is sure. Answering that question requires the analysis and knowing of many moving parts, not all of which are at widespread disposal.

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But this much is clear: the longtime variable nature of Kentucky Football came to a head this year, and the product we’re about to see is going to have to be radically different from the one we’ve just seen in order to right this ship.

For better or worse, the 2024-25 season will likely go down as the most important yet in the Stoops era at UK.

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