Great wide receiver pickup for the University of Kentucky Wildcats football team

His name is Chris Matthews, and we hope he'll play hardball in the SEC next year for the Kentucky Wildcats. Currently the 9th ranked JUCO prospect according to Rivals, Matthews is an athletic receiver from Los Angeles Harbor College in California who runs a 4.5 40, and weighs 210 pounds. With a 6'5" frame, Matthews hopes to elevate the Wildcats wide receiving corps currently made up of mostly freshman.

In the way of wide receiver play, the 2008 season has certainly been a bust for the Wildcats who saw their leading receiver go down to a season-ending injury in their 6th game against South Carolina. How unoffensive has their wide receiving production been? That leading receiver, Dicky Lyons Jr., still led the team in receiving yards when the regular season ended after a heartbreaking loss to Tennessee. Add a talented Randall Cobb being moved from receiver to quarterback, a career-ending concussion to junior DeMoreo Ford, and the Wildcats leaning on a crop of freshman receivers who never seemed to gell in 2008, and you had a recipe for an anemic offense that would've had Dracula himself moving down the SEC buffet line looking for some new blood.

Matthews has the potential to be that new blood. With the highly touted duo of Mossakowski and Newton coming in from Texas and Indiana respectfully to compete for the quarteback position, the Wildcat staff certainly have confidence that they will be able to put the ball in the air. With Matthews coming on board, Cobb moving to wide receiver, and a healthy Aaron Boyd, the staff should have receivers who can catch and run for big plays in '09.

The one glaring defeciency could be at running back, where the staff is still looking for a bruiser that can get some yards on the ground. Last week's commitment from Dakotah Tyler is certainly exciting, but is still a ways away from calming a fanbase's fears over the lack of personell at that position. One can only hope that either a.) a rejuvenated Christian Johnson and freshman Simpson is enough to lead an offensive line in opening up holes in SEC D lines wider than Red River Gorge, b.) a healthy Derrick Locke returns in '09 looking closer to his '07 form, or c.) Newton or Moss have an arm rivalling Couch's, and one or the other ends up putting up 500 yards passing a game.