Vince Marrow knows former Georgia linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson can play a key role for the UK defense. (Larry Vaught Photo)
Kentucky associate coach Vince Marrow didn’t have to see Georgia transfer linebacker Jamon “Pops” Dumas-Johnson play in spring practice to know what he could add to the Kentucky defense.
“Our tight ends had to block him (when UK played Georgia). He’s a very good player and leader,” Marrow said. “This is the NFL now where you can be a star guy with the (Kansas City) Chiefs one year and then in unrestricted free agency you can look around.
“The good thing about Georgia is that they have so many good players that when Pop got hurt (in 2023) one of their freshmen came in and played pretty good. So do we rotate them. Pop wasn’t sure that was what he wanted to do.”
Marrow said even though Dumas-Johnson played on two national championship teams at Georgia he also understood what Kentucky was doing.
“A lot of guys in the SEC know we are very close. They know that. He looked at us and thought it was a good fit and he liked the other guys we have coming in. He thinks we can be special,” Marrow said.
The Kentucky associate coach believes freshman offensive lineman Aba Selm of Simon Kentucky can be special, too.
“He was probably one of the most underrated guys in our (recruiting) class and was heavily recruited. Alabama kept trying to get him to come down for a visit,” Marrow said. “He is a very big kid who wears a size 18 shoe, so he is still growing. He is 6-4 and is about 285 but looks about 265 because he is put together.
“Smart kid, very physical, very athletic. He could play defensive line too. Our fans should remember that name because I think he will be a three-year starter. He can play center, guard or tackle.”
Marrow also thinks freshman offensive linemen Hayes Johnson and Mark Nave also have big-time potential.
“Those three guys are going to be really good. Those three guys when you look back will be the guys that kept the Big Blue Wall consistently being physical and running the ball like we used to,” Marrow said.
3 Responses
If Marrow speaks highly of these guys, then UK landed some real winners
Size 18 shoe!!! I could put both oft feet in one of his shoes!
Landing a transfer from 2 National Championship UGA is big time!
UK has a lot of solid pieces & now needs to adjust the pre-game pep talk before kick-off to stir up the ranks instead of lulling them into a trance. After a decade, it’s a glaring problem just as the lack of a dedicated Special Teams coach has been so costly that Stoops even talked about it – but never really solved it.
I want 10 wins to build on some very good recruiting.
I think we get 10 wins. Whether it’s from a bowl win or we finish 10-2 in the regular season. This year’s team is the best team Stoops has had while at Kentucky. Also with a big year like this year will be Stoops will have teams come after him. If a big enough football school comes calling I think he rides the momentum out the door. What else would he have to prove here? Three 10 win seasons in 6 years shows continuity. It shows he can even make Kentucky a school that competes year in and year out. That is very hard to do here. Plus 8 straight bowl games in a row here is very hard. I’ve heard announcers say Kentucky would be happy if they were good 2 out of 4 years. Like missing a bowl 2 years then going to a bowl in back to back years. That would have been above the norm just 20 years ago. Now the fans expect us to get double digit wins every year. The last couple of years wasn’t on Stoops. The offensive line destroyed us Levis senior season. That was the only thing we were really missing off that team was a offensive line. If we would have even had a decent offensive line that year we would have been 9-3 or 10-2. After the Ole Miss loss the season was over. Which we were beating Ole Miss im every aspect of the game. Then we had a backup QB who never attempted a pass start against South Carolina who was down that year and we should have won that game but didn’t because we didn’t have Levis. We also lost to Vanderbilt which should have never happened but at this point the quarterbacks were beat to death. Last year we could have also easily won 9 games. We were destroying Missouri I think we were up 14 with the ball in the second quarter. We have a turnover give them the ball back and they went for it on 4th and long and the backup quarterback threw a touchdown on that play and its like we never recovered. Right now we could easily have four 10 win seasons over the last 5 years. Like I said our offensive line has been horrible. This year I don’t care what the magazines are saying or Phil Steele or anyone. We have a To
We have a top 3 offensive line in the SEC. We have Eli Cox who has now played in the SEC for 6 years. We also have Marquis Cox who is in his 7th year of college football. You can’t teach that much experience. We also have Jager Burton a 2 year starter and this will be his 3rd year starting in the SEC. Jalen Farmer the Florida transfer is a monster. The offensive line coach said he has the most talent on the team. Cortland Ford is a 5th year senior who played 3 years at Southern Cal and is now on his second year of playing in the SEC. Gerald Mincey was a starter at Tennessee the last couple of years at Tackle and I think he will start tackle opposite of Cox. He is also a 5th year SEC guy. Ben Christman was one of the top prospects and played 2 years at Ohio St. He was going to get alot of playing time last year but hurt his knee and missed the season. I think he starts getting alot of playing time halfway through the year. Aba Selm is a red shirt freshman who might make a splash this year. The West Virginia transfer was the biggest surprise on last year’s team. He went from walking on at West Virginia to starting in the SEC as a redshirt sophomore. It will be between him and Farmer for the right guard position. Marc Nave is also a name to remember. He will be a redshirt freshman and a excellent backup this year. Paul Rodriguez will also provide some depth I think he’s a junior now. We have a great passing and run blocking offensive line. To me we are definitely top 3 in the SEC. This is what’s going to make the difference this year. We will have a defense that’s hard to score on and a offense with a ton of weapons that can score some points. Like I said our floor is 8 regular season wins and our ceiling is 10. I think the Texas game the Georgia game and the Ole Miss game are the 3 toughest on the schedule. I think we can beat at least one of them 3 teams. Our schedule is brutal and even worse now that Brohm is at Louisville. If I had to guess which one of them 3 games we will win I’d say a toss up between Ole Miss and Georgia. The Georgia game is going to be very interesting because we have Brock and we have Pop. Those 2 guys will make that game very interesting. If Ole Miss struggles scoring against are defense we could pull off the win against them. Texas at Texas is the only game I will say will be a loss, but it’s there first year in the SEC they might have some guys beat up for that game. We will see. This is definitely the biggest year of Stoops tenure. Really it’s a make or break for him and his future. I think if we get 10 wins he’s gone. But if he has another 7-6, 8-5 season we will probably have him for a couple more years. His brother Bob quit coaching at 54 years old? I think if Stoops wins big he coaches somewhere else that’s a bigger football school for about 5 more years. If we have average year I think he stays here 2 or 3 more years. 3 things Kentucky can do to make this season historic is….#3 quit playing such a soft zone In the secondary, not only do we not rush enough guys at the quarterback which gives them ample time to find someone who is open but we also need to blitz our inside or outside linebackers if we are going to play a soft defense.#2 The quarterback is going to have to be able to run the ball more. When the receivers are covered and down the field a little they have to be able to run at least 10 yards and get the first down instead of trying to force a throw. I think Brock and Gavin do a great job at it.#3 they have to quit playing so conservative when they are up by a touchdown or 2. They need to keep there foot on the gas. Maybe if they get up by 20 or more you can play more conservative but 14 points is nothing and they can’t keep playing conservative as much as they do when they get a little lead. The offense and the defense plays conservative and the other team always gets back in the game. We can let teams have 8-12 yard passes at will from playing so far off the ball. Another thing you can’t run it every time when your up by 14 try to score and go up by more. If we can do all these things we win 9-10 regular season games. Go Cats