Competition is fueling Kentucky's cornerbacks: "We all have the same goal"

Kentucky’s cornerback room is deep, but loaded with youth. Andru Phillips is the oldest of the bunch as a redshirt junior, having played in all 13 games (including four starts) a season ago and 26 total as a Wildcat. Everyone else has seen limited action on the field during their short college playing careers. That’s not necessarily a bad thing though.

Phillips is all but locked into one of the two starting roles — he has the most experience under Brad White’s defense and has flashed plenty of potential. But it gets tricky from there. Will sophomore Maxwell Hairston take a leap after appearing in 12 games last season? Are redshirt sophomore Jordan Robinson and sophomore JQ Hardaway ready for larger roles? Those questions remain as we’re roughly two weeks away from the season opener, but the friendly competition bubbling throughout the entire room is producing promising results — both on and off the field.

“Our relationship has grew tremendously over camp, we have a really close relationship to where I can come to Max (Hairston) or Jordan Robinson and ask them questions about responsibilities and they’re helping me out,” Hardaway, who transferred to UK earlier this year from Cincinnati, said following Thursday’s practice. “It’s a healthy competition man. We’re friends off the field, we go out together on weekends, we really have built a relationship through the offseason.”

Instead of seeing each other as foes on the field trying to swipe away reps, they’re working together as teammates to make each other better. Equally as important, it’s developing chemistry and trust throughout the cornerback room. They can lean on one another and feel comfortable asking for advice.

“With our relationship now, when they’re coaching me up I don’t take it personally as like they know more than me,” Hardaway added. “It’s like my brothers trying to help me out. We all have the same goal, to work together.”

And while that’s all good and fun, someone still has to assume that second starting cornerback spot. So far through fall camp, no one has jumped off the page. Granted, going up against and successfully defending the likes of Barion Brown and Dane Key on a daily basis is much easier said than done, but it’s the consistency from the group as a whole that defensive backs coach Chris Collins is looking to see more of. The first one to lock down that aspect will be in line to suit up opposite of Phillips.

“I wanna continue to see those guys be consistent every day,” Collins said on Thursday. “We got some high days, some low days. I want to be consistent. Understand the challenge of playing the ball at this level. Especially versus the guys we have in practice — ‘I got to be on my A-game’. They’re getting the opportunity to really develop their skillset. Just the consistency aspect, being consistent and understand hey, sometimes they’re gonna get us. We wanna win more than we lose. And understanding that and not letting a good play or a bad play linger.”

According to Hardaway, Collins was mostly pleased with the tackling he saw from the cornerbacks during Saturday’s closed scrimmage, the first with full-on tackling and high-level intensity. But there won’t be much room for error with the cornerbacks — the weakest position group on UK’s defense — this season. Someone, or multiple someones, will have to step up to create a formidable secondary.

But that’s what fall camp is for.

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