Kentucky players to watch against Ohio

Kentucky returns to Kroger Field on Saturday night to play the final game of a four-game homestand to begin the 2024 college football season. The Wildcats find themselves in an early season hole after dropping consecutive SEC games to South Carolina and Georgia at home.

Mark Stoops and his program will now look to get back into the win column against Ohio. The Wildcats are facing a MAC team with some intriguing skill talent and a good pass rush. Kentucky better not mess around early in this Week 4 football game.

KSR is now analyzing what players will be under the biggest microscope this week. These four individuals need to stand out in a good way on Saturday afternoon at Kroger Field.

Finding more explosives in the run game

Kentucky’s rushing attack is doing some very good things through the first three games. The Wildcats are playing with great efficiency and consistently getting ahead of the chains. That allowed the offense to extend drives and shorten the game against Georgia. Getting efficiency back in the run game was a top goal for the program in the offseason.

But you’d like to have some explosiveness to balance that efficiency.

Demie Sumo-Karngbaye is averaging under five yards per rush but owns a success rate up over 50 percent. Kentucky’s starting tailback has been a big positive for the offense but the former NC State transfer has only produced a 16.4 percent explosive run rate on 122 career carries. Therefore, Kentucky likely needs someone else to provide some big-play pop.

Could Jamarion Wilcox provide that?

We have not seen the big explosive play from the young tailback yet but the former high three-star recruit who picked Kentucky over Auburn and Clemson flashed some of his explosive play potential. With Jason Patterson’s status unknown for Week 4, Wilcox should get another heavy load. Can the second-year player provide the splash plays this offense is missing?

Saturday will be a good opportunity after Wilcox was very close to busting a couple of runs against Georgia.

Getting Anthony Tyus III on the ground

Ohio might have found a star in the transfer portal at tailback. Through three games, former Northwestern tailback Anthony Tyus III ranks No. 8 nationally in rushing yards per game (122.3) having rolled up 367 yards on 7.5 yards per rush. The senior has been efficient (51% success rate) and explosive (28.6% explosive run rate). Ohio’s offensive attack starts with No. 2. According to PFF data, Tyus has forced 26 missed tackles on 49 rush attempts and is averaging over five yards after contact.

Kentucky must get the 226-pound tailback on the ground before small gains turn into the chains moving thanks to missed tackles. Much of this could be on the second-level players.

When Tyus gets to the linebacker level or bounces a run outside, the Wildcats need their linebackers to bring him to the ground. D’Eryk Jackson and Tyus will likely meet a ton on Saturday afternoon at Kroger Field. Jackson needs to win his fair share of battles.

Kentucky did a ton of good things on defense in the Week 3 loss to Georgia but the defense did miss 11 tackles in 53 non-kneel snaps. Ohio will find ways to consistently move the football if Kentucky cannot tackle efficiently. It all starts by negating Tyus.

Getting explosive plays from Barion Brown

Kentucky has played three games and Barion Brown is averaging less than 19 yards on five kickoff return attempts, less than nine yards per reception, and less than a yard on five carries. The Wildcats need more out of the explosive junior.

Outside of a drawn pass interference penalty in Week 1, we have not seen Brown receive one target of at least 20 air yards. The Wildcats have been more willing to get the former top-100 recruit the football in throws behind the line of scrimmage but the success rate has not been great.

Kentucky needs Brown to provide some explosive plays. Could Saturday jumpstart the season?

Ohio has a bad pass defense and the offense could see some loaded boxes after how well Kentucky ran the football against Georgia. That means some one-on-one situations on the outside. Could a deep ball or a big run-after-catch arrive this weekend?

The offense needs the explosive playmaker to provide some more explosive plays.

Zion Childress vs. Coleman Owen

Northern Arizona transfer Coleman Owen operates out of the slot for Ohio and is receiving a high volume of looks in the passing game. The veteran leads the offense in targets (28), receptions (21), and receiving yards (282). Owen’s target share (37.8%) is outrageous at the moment and is someone Kentucky must slow down.

Over 70 percent of Owen’s targets have come over the middle of the field. The veteran will find himself matched up with Zion Childress a ton. This could end up becoming one of the best matchups of the game.

When Ohio looks to pass, they are wanting to force-feed the ball to Owen. On early downs, we will likely see Kentucky get into zone drops but man coverage situations will arrive on third down. Kentucky will know where Ohio wants to go with the ball. The Wildcats must get Owen covered up.

Childress will not be the only defender who draws the Owen assignment but we should expect that matchup to happen a ton against a heavy 11 personnel offense.

If Ohio can’t consistently get the ball to their star slot receiver it could become a long day for this MAC offense.