5 Things to Watch | Kentucky-Tennessee
1. Does "Boom" go off? Freshman tailback Stanley "Boom" Williams is steadily earning a bigger workload in Kentucky's offense. He's carried the ball 22 times in the last two games, compared to just 30 combined in his first six appearances. After a 10-carry, 100-yard day against Georgia, he now leads the team in rushing (361 yards) and all-purpose running (885 yards). He's averaging 6.9 yards per carry, 10.6 yards per reception and 28.9 yards per return. Williams earned high praise this week.
"Talent-wise, probably the best overall back I've ever coached. I mean, he has a gift," UK running backs coach Chad Scott said. "Week by week, he's improving. He's understanding doing the little things right … the importance of actually studying the game the way he should so he knows the protections the way he should. He just wasn't really all into it at first; he just wanted to get the ball in his hands and make plays.
"Man, the sky's the limit with that kid. He's special. He's very special. The faster he can realize how special he'll become if he gets all that down, he'll be even better."
2. Where has Jojo gone? On the flip side, sophomore tailback Jojo Kemp has all but disappeared from the offense. After rushing 17 times for 131 yards and three touchdowns in a win over South Carolina – mostly out of the direct-snap "Wildcat" formation – Kemp has carried it a total of 14 times for 26 yards in the last five games. He didn't play at all against Georgia last week and is fourth on the depth chart this week. What's next then for the former four-star recruit?
"Right now, it's just hard to play all those guys, but he's done a great job being a team player," Scott said. "He's come on this week, done a great job this week practicing. He's gotta stay ready, gotta be ready. He's done a great job of getting ready, but he's just got to keep practicing really well and be ready when his opportunity comes. It's just so hard to establish a rhythm with any of those guys when you're trying to get everybody carries, so that's kind of what we've evolved to right now, going with two guys (Williams and Braylon Heard), and our third guy has to be ready when his opportunity comes."
3. Patrick Towles' happy feet. It doesn't help that Kentucky ranks 108th in sacks allowed this season, but Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said against Georgia last week his quarterback "got a little antsy at times and got out of the pocket when maybe he didn't need to. There were some throws in there, if he just hangs in there and goes through his progression, he's going to make some big plays. I think that's where he needs to improve and will."
In his first 10 games as a starter, Towles has already thrown for more yards (2,374) than Kentucky's quarterbacks have in any of the previous three seasons. He's also rushed for 442 yards, not counting sacks, and five touchdowns to go with his 14 TD tosses. "I think it's a fine line. You don't want to take that liberty away from him, because a lot of the big plays he's made are him scrambling around – kind of those, 'Oh, what are you doing? What are you doing? OK, good, first down,' " offensive coordinator Neal Brown said.
"You want to harness it a little bit, but you also don't want to take his playmaking ability away. So I think we just point out: 'Hey, you gotta have trust in the offensive line. You gotta have trust in the running backs. Take your drop, go through your progression. If nothing's there, then go escape.' He caught himself looking at the rush (against Georgia) and that's one of the Cardinal sins at quarterback. You can't look at the rush."
4. Dangerous Dobbs. Kentucky's defense has struggled against dual-threat quarterbacks and Tennessee's offense is suddenly surging behind sophomore Joshua Dobbs, a legitimate running threat. In their last three games against mobile quarterbacks – Missouri, Mississippi State and LSU – the Wildcats have allowed 255 yards on 34 QB carries (7.5 ypc), not counting sacks. Replacing injured starter Justin Worley, Dobbs, in less than two full games against Alabama and South Carolina, has rushed for 241 yards and three scores and thrown for 493 yards and four touchdowns.
Kentucky fans might recall that Dobbs was also pressed into action late in the season as a freshman and threw for 199 yards, rushed for 52 and accounted for all three Tennessee touchdowns in a 27-14 win over the Cats last fall. "Sometimes you think you have things covered and then they pull the ball down and run and scramble and get that third down or create, move the chains, and that's putting pressure on you," Stoops said of mobile QBs. "They've certainly found something (in Dobbs) with the way they're calling plays, with the style that they're calling them, and it suits him. It fits him. He's running and throwing it very well. The proof's in the pudding."
5. Blocking A.J. Johnson. Tennessee's senior middle linebacker is a tackling machine. He leads the SEC and ranks 16th nationally with 96 stops this season. The Butkus Award Semifinalist is second in Vols history with 420 career tackles. At 6-2, 245 pounds, Johnson is a terror in the middle. He has 8 ½ tackles for loss, five quarterback hurries, two forced fumbles, two pass breakups and a blocked field goal this season. NFLDraftScout.com ranks him the sixth-best inside linebacker available in the next draft.
"I think it all starts for them with A.J. Johnson," Brown said. "If not the best player in our conference on defense, he's in the conversation. A guy that will be a high draft pick and he's playing with a lot of passion. He not only tackles you; he tries to hurt you. He's aggressive. Seems like he's been playing forever. I was hoping he was going to leave and go to the draft last year, but he ended up coming back."
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