Josaih Hayes Responds to Challenge at Nose Guard

Few positions are less celebrated on the football field than nose guard. The anchor of the Kentucky defensive line is often tasked to take on two blockers to clog rushing lanes. A perfect play may not result in a stat. Even though it’s overlooked by the masses, the nose guard plays an important role on the Kentucky defense. After an offseason roster change, Brad White is demanding more from Josaih Hayes in the middle of the defensive line.

A celebrated recruiting win on Signing Day, the Mississippi native committed to Kentucky over Ole Miss, shocking first-year head coach Lane Kiffin. Josaih Hayes was four-star prospect and top 300 recruit. He was not expected to play right away, but now Kentucky needs him to play like a four-star talent.

Last season he split nose guard duties with Justin Rogers, but his playing time dwindled toward the end of the year, allowing Jamarius Dinkins to emerge as NG2. When Rogers transferred to Auburn, Kentucky added Keeshawn Silver from the transfer portal and Brad White had a difficult conversation with Hayes.

“Jo is one that I challenged heavily this offseason. He knows it and he’s not backing down from it,” White said Thursday. “I expect a guy that’s been in the program this long to be clean, to know their assignments, to know what to do, to play with effort, to strain every down. That is understood and quite frankly, Jo hadn’t done that. There was a big challenge for him this offseason.”

Those conversations can go one of two ways. Fortunately for Kentucky, Hayes took it to heart and ran with it.

“In my career a lot of guys have reacted poorly to those kind of conversations. They go into a corner, they sulk, they point, it’s someone else’s fault. Coach is being too hard on me. He looked at the film and he realized it’s nobody’s fault but my own. What you put on film, you put on film,” said White.

Now wearing No. 97, Hayes has done more than transform the aesthetics ahead of year four. He’s taken a step forward in spring practice and embraced the challenge.

“He understood that and he has responded in spring in a way that’s exciting.” White added.

“But here’s the deal it can’t just be eight practices. If you think about eight practices in-season, that’s two games. I want to see it from that guy the entire spring through summer. He knows that and we’re going to keep the pressure on him. But he has responded and he’s a guy that we need to be in there and a guy that we need to help us, because he’s got size and twitch and experience. He just needs to keep pushing. But I’m proud of how he’s reacted.”

Others Competing with Hayes at Nose Guard

White needs to see Josaih Hayes bring it every single day. The same applies to his competition. Dinkins, now entering his third year on campus, has length that sets him apart from his counterparts. To earn time on the field, he must use it to his advantage on every single snap in what White calls “repeatability.”

“A lot of guys see flashes and that’s big in recruiting, or that’s big from a media perspective. They see a flash and now there’s this huge excitement. But at this level and even at the next level, the repeatability of that flash talent, that’s where that consistency piece comes in. We need him to be consistent in his technique in those moments where he uses that length and he uses his body and the twitch that he has. That’s the big thing for him.”

There’s a steeper hill to climb for the biggest nose guard on the roster. Keeshawn Silver is a 6-foot-4, 322-pound athlete that is still learning the details required to excel at that position. You can’t just out-muscle SEC offensive linemen, you have to play with leverage. The former five-star talent is taking his medicine from coach Anwar Stewart.

“I’m just trying to be a better player, trying to be the person I came here to be, trying to be more explosive and come through my hips more,” Silver said Thursday.

“It’s the little thing like footwork, eyes, coming out of my hips, just little things that Coach Stew is teaching me right now to do.”

Once potentially a position of concern following Rogers’ departure, Kentucky has three solid options at nose guard. The key is ensuring they are repeatedly performing at a high level this fall for the Wildcats.

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