When you talk about the Wildcat receiving corps, the brightest light in the bunch is the oft-mentioned (around here anyway) Keenan Burton; and rightfully so. We've already established that he's the best receiver in the SEC ;) and for that distinction, he should get the all the accolades that go with it.

However, every great receiver has to have a partner-in-crime. Think Alvin Harper and Michael Irvin or Jerry Rice and John Taylor. In the case of the Wildcats, the one who will be playing Reggie Wayne to Burton's Marvin Harrison is Dicky Lyons, Jr.

Not only is Lyons one hell of an explosive receiver, he's also pretty damn silly; an idea YouTube supports nicely. But don't let the frivolity fool you. If your defense does something stupid like only pay attention to Burton, Lyons will absolutely punish you.

Take, for instance, his first group of catches during last season. Now, I don't have the exact numbers - nor the time to extract them from the 2006 game recaps - but Lyons exploded onto 2006 with something like five of his first six catches going for touchdowns. He also set a record for being the first player in UK history to have 2 touchdown catches in three consecutive games - a record that was incidentally broken by Burton that same season.

And in case you are thinking that was just early season lack of recognition on the opposing team's behalf (Lyons did redshirt his sophomore season), I should point out that Lyons also had a TD reception - a 24 yard scamper to the end zone - against Clemson in UK's season-ending Music City Bowl game victory.

Lyons' catch is around the 6:08 mark

How does this bode for 2007?
Because of Lyons' presence (not to mention DeMoreo Ford, Steve Johnson and some redshirt freshmen that have been getting some really good praise from the preseason practice reports), the Wildcats have a receiving corps that can go toe-to-toe with anyone... annnnnnd, if I was feeling particularly hyperbolic, I might even say best in the country but that's probably a little too blue-tinted of a view, even for me.

I will say this however: when your team's coaching staff is coming up with defensive scheme for their secondary to use against UK, they will have their hands full; and if they decide to take Keenan out of the game by constant double-teaming, Lyons and the rest of the Cats receivers will eat you alive.

Ya know, despite the fact that I'm clearly one of the founding members of the Keenan Burton fan club, I'm hoping some of these opposing defensive gurus do just that.

Here's an example of Lyons' ability to tide you over until NEXT SATURDAY!!!

Until then, GBB (sorry about all the YouTube but it's just that kinda day)!!!

Writing the Keenan Burton post inspired me to introduce you all to some more of the UK Wildcat football players you will be reading and hearing about during the 07 CFB season. Everyone who is a fan of CFB as probably heard of the two players I've talked about the most in Andre Woodson and Mr Burton. However, there are other players you should be aware of and that's where I come in... Think of me as your guide.

And with that, your guide is moving on to the next area of interest... in this case, allow me to introduce one of the better RBs you've never heard of -- number 22, Rafael Little.

While Woodson and Burton have been getting the majority of the publicity that follows the 2007 edition of Wildcat football, when it's all said and done, the success of the team may very well lie in how well Little performs during his senior season. And if you think this is more Jedi hot air, let's look a little further at his body of work.

In 2006, Little missed four games with a knee injury -- an injury that he had surgically repaired in-season -- and still managed to rush for 678 yards. If he would've played in enough games, Little would've led the nation in punt return average with 22.6 yards per return.

During his first game back from knee surgery, Little put up some massive numbers against Vanderbilt: 20 carries, 132 yards, 1 TD and 8 catches for 114 yards. That was the second time Little surpassed the 100-yard mark in both rushing and catching. The other was against the same Auburn team that went undefeated in 2005.

In fact, because of last year's injury, Little's 05 season actually has better bragging points than last year's did but that doesn't mean he wasn't an impact player for the 2006 UK Football team. Some highlights, courtesy of UKAthletics.com:

Normally, UK fans aren't used to seeing a UK player get these kinds of accolades but Little certainly did make a name for himself during his sophomore season. At one point, he was a close second in all-purpose yards to some dude named Reggie Bush...

The question surrounding Little going into the 2007 season is can he avoid injuries and improve on a sterling sophomore campaign? If you consider just how much opposing defenses are going to be paying close attention to UK's passing game, you have to think Rafael will have plenty of opportunities to make some big plays carrying the ball. And like the above huzzahs demonstrate, he's certainly capable of making some HUGE plays.

The wonderful thing about this time of year is we only have 10 days to wait until we find out. Here's a video to tide you over until September 1st:

Until later, GBB.

ESPN's 2007 Preseason All-America Team has been selected and this year, there is a pleasant surprise sitting in the quarterback position: UK's Andre Woodson. That's right Cat fans, by earning this particular accolade, Dre surpassed the much more hyped Brian Brohm from Louisville... at least in the eyes of Ivan Maisel, who was in charge of picking the team, so make sure to send your complaints about this and other AA choices his way.

Maisel offered these thoughts about Woodson's selection to the All-America team:

Thank you Ivan for jinxing Woodson with that stat. It's like the announcer who says such-and-such hasn't missed a free throw all evening and sure enough, the player they were just bragging on misses... and it's usually a brick. If Woodson throws a pick with his first pass of the season, I'm coming for you Ivan. ;)

Ever the humble prospect, Woodson had this to say about the preseason acknowledgment:

Coach Rich Brooks was also complimentary of the "award" but he's hoping it happens again at the end of the season:

In other, less pleasant news, the injury bug has struck the UK football team again. Junior defensive end Nii Adjei Oninku will be out for the 07 season because of a major knee injury he sustained in one of the team scrimmages.

According to reports, Oninku tore both his MCL and his ACL meaning it will be quite sometime before the would-be junior sees the field again.

Oninku was expected to start and contribute a great deal. However, Brooks doesn't seem too worried about his defense, saying there is sufficient depth (something UK fans are NOT used to hearing) to cover for Oninku's loss. However, said depth can quickly deplete as other players get banged up throughout the season.

Of course, as a UK football fan, it's easy to adopt the "here we go again" attitude, coupled with thoughts that the program will never fully succeed as long as things like this continue to happen. Even I'm guilty of that. However, I am going to follow Brooks' lead and not freak out about losing an important defensive piece... for now, anyway.

However, if the injury bug decides to ferociously target UK again for the second time in 3 years, I may just give up for a while...