By LARRY VAUGHT

If you want to know what a solid coaching job Rich Brooks and his Kentucky staff did this year, just take a look at the Associated Press all-Southeastern Conference football teams.
There’s a reason Alabama is undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the country. The Crimson Tide had the league’s top offensive player — running back Mark Ingram — and top defensive player — linebacker Rolando McClain. Defensive tackle Terrence Cody was also a unanimous pick and  four other Alabama players also made the first team.
Florida lost to Alabama in the SEC championship game. The Gators had six players on the first team.
Georgia and Mississippi both placed three players on the first team.
Kentucky? The Cats had one player — all-purpose player Randall Cobb — named to the first team.
On the second team, Kentucky landed defensive tackle Corey Peters, linebacker Sam Maxwell and all-purpose threat Derrick Locke.
That means UK did not have a single position player named to the first or second teams on offense and only two on defense.
That’s the talent gap Brooks and his staff face annually — and yet have still managed to put UK in four straight bowl games.
It also reminded me of conversations I had with NFL scouts earlier this season when UK played Alabama and Florida. I asked the scouts how many UK players would start for those two teams. At that time, all three went with cornerback Trevard Lindley, who had not injured his ankle yet. They felt Cobb and Locke would play as specialists, but not as position starters.
And that was it.
No Peters. No Micah Johnson at linebacker. No offensive linemen.
Going into the season, Lindley and Johnson were UK’s marquee players. Both had turned down a chance to go to the NFL to return for their senior seasons and improve their draft status. Instead, NFL scouts say both will likely go lower in the draft this year than they would have last year.
Lindley would need a “monster workout” to move back into the late second round or early third round where he was projected last year according to the scouts. NFL personnel question Johnson’s durability and ability to play in space against faster players.
“Both are going to be drafted and both could still be very good NFL players, but they are not as high on draft boards now as they were last year,” one scout said.
Maxwell and Peters have gone the other way.
One scout says Peters likely will be drafted higher than Myron Pryor, UK’s starting defensive tackle last year who is now with the New England Patriots. Maxwell has gone from a likely free agent to a second-day draft choice who intrigues a lot of NFL teams because of his ability to play pass defense.
Locke and Cobb? They are both terrific playmakers with size limitations. However, they are as versatile as any player in the conference and deserve the honors they received. And they are both back next year to lead the Kentucky offense.
So while it was easy to predict that Alabama’s Nick Saban would be SEC Coach of the Year, I think Brooks did every bit as well with his available talent as Saban did. Sure, UK could have beat South Carolina, Mississippi State and Tennessee. But it could have lost to Georgia, Auburn and Vanderbilt.
The talent level is better at UK, but things like all-SEC teams and recruiting rankings show the uphill battle Brooks and his staff still have to overcome.

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