Diagnosing current defensive issues plaguing Kentucky

Kentucky’s defense entered the 2021 season with high expectations. Brad White’s third defense in Lexington was set to have as many as 10 senior starters. A handful of highly ranked second or third-year players could help contribute in a secondary role.

Due to this experience combined with 11 former four-star recruits expected to be in the rotation, Kentucky was entering a year where the defense had the potential to be a top-five unit in the SEC.

After giving up 30-plus points and a combined 7.83 yards per play over the last three games, it is clear that Kentucky has legitimate defensive issues.

How did we get here? There are some significant factors that stand out and those have combined to turn into disaster on the field.

Front seven depth has been gutted

On paper, Kentucky was going to have a sturdy front seven to lean on as the Wildcats looked for answers at cornerback. The Wildcats had three-year starters at defensive line, outside linebacker, and off-ball linebacker. Kentucky was going to be able to give most offenses problems with their size, length, and depth along the front.

The injury bug has taken that advantage away.

Redshirt senior Jordan Wright has missed two games with an ankle injury, and the EDGE player has yet to look his disruptive self most of the season. Redshirt freshman Octavious Oxendine started to splash in October and looked like one of Kentucky’s best defensive players against LSU. However, he left that game with a knee injury and was lost for the season.

Senior nose tackle Marquan McCall was called the most important player on Kentucky’s defense by White. The Detroit product was lost against Florida and has missed the four games since. Meanwhile, expected Mike linebacker starter D’Eryk Jackson was lost for the season with an Achilles injury back in spring practice. The sophomore has dressed out the last two games, but his status is still in question.

Against Tennessee, sophomore Justin Rogers was knocked out of the game leaving Kentucky without its top two options at nose tackle. Fresh off an ACL injury in November, Kentucky has leaned heavily on redshirt sophomore J.J. Weaver to play a ton of snaps at EDGE. Unexpectedly, the front seven has had a ton of moving parts.

All of those fresh faces needing to play important snaps are starting to make an impact. Against Tennessee, redshirt sophomore EDGE K.D. McDaniel and redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Isaiah Gibson were called upon to play major snaps. That was not part of the defensive plan entering the season.

Due to this, Kentucky has had to put more pressure on the secondary and some monster passing numbers have followed.

Philosophy is dependent on turnovers

Kentucky’s core philosophy on defense is a sound one. The Wildcats want to stop the run, play with numbers in zone coverage, limit big plays, and force offenses to earn points with long, sustained drives.

The thought process makes sense. College quarterbacks and play-callers have a tendency to not stay patient when needing 10-12 plays for points and will take risks eventually. When those happen, the defenses get stops or turnovers.

That blueprint has worked well for Kentucky in the past, but the Wildcats got takeaways.

Since Brad White arrived on campus, the Wildcats have forced the turnovers to make this system work. Kentucky has not finished worse than eighth in the league in total takeaways since 2013. Under White, Kentucky forced 61 total turnovers in 37 games entering this season.

However, Kentucky is not getting that production this season. The Wildcats have forced just five turnovers through nine games and are well on their way to ranking last in total takeaways.

The Wildcats have seen their fumble luck disappear as opponents have recovered over 70 percent of their fumbles, and the secondary has been unable to make plays on the ball.

If takeaways aren’t produced, defenses will struggle in any scheme, but the Kentucky bend and don’t break approach appears to be getting shredded as the Wildcats struggle to force takeaways.

Hot quarterbacks

In college football, teams are often prisoners of their schedules. At Kentucky, the Wildcats have the freedom to schedule three games with eight conference games and the rivalry matchup against Louisville locked in.

Kentucky seemed to schedule the right teams in the non-conference, but having to play the three best quarterbacks in consecutive games is not something many saw coming.

Say what you want about Georgia’s Stetson Bennett, but the former walk-on has been superb this season. Bennett leads all Power Five quarterbacks in yards per attempt (11.8) and paces the SEC in passing success rate (55.8%). Those season averages were exceeded in his performance against Kentucky.

Down in Starkville, Will Rogers looks to be turning into Mike Leach’s next star Air Raid quarterback. The sophomore ranks third nationally in passing yards per game (367.7), leads the country in completion rate (75.2%), and is fourth in the SEC in passing success rate (53.1%). Not surprisingly, Rogers set a completion percentage record against Kentucky.

After the Joe Milton experiment seemed to fail at Tennessee, new head coach Josh Heupel reluctantly turned to Virginia Tech transfer Hendon Hooker. The redshirt senior was brought in by the previous staff but he has totally changed the season in Knoxville. UT might be the surprise of the SEC as Hooker has thrown for 21 touchdowns and just two interceptions while contributing 458 yards on the ground. The veteran is fourth nationally in yards per attempt (10.2) and third in the SEC in passing success rate (53.8%). Not surprisingly, his season averages were exceeded against Kentucky.

Kentucky was a prisoner of the schedule in 2021. The Wildcats had to play the three best quarterbacks on the slate in consecutive weeks when injuries started to pile up, and confidence for the secondary seemed to shrink with each snap.

Luckily, those games are out of the way, and the Wildcats will get a chance to build some confidence to end the year against some offenses that struggle with the forward pass.

Recruiting misses

Following the 2020 season, Kelvin Joseph entered the draft early as Kentucky began a rebuild at cornerback. However, both Jamari Brown and M.J. Devonshire entered the transfer portal, and position coach Steve Clinkscale left for Michigan.

The Wildcats dealt with a lot of turnover at cornerback, and that is playing out on the field with new position coach Chris Collins getting his first taste of Power Five football. All of that transition is playing a role, but the real problem is that Kentucky has itself in this kind of roster position with all the resources available to college football programs.

Kentucky entered the season with six scholarship cornerbacks. Three had experience — Cedrick Dort Jr., Quandre Mosely, Carrington Valentine — but none had proven to be a surefire starter in the SEC to this point in their career. That has played out on the field, but the Wildcats do not have other options.

Redshirt freshman Andru Phillips was one of the six players involved in the fraternity fight that caused him to miss all of spring ball and most of practice this season. The South Carolina native is just likely not ready.

Meanwhile, true freshman Maxwell Hairston appears to have not joined the team yet. Fellow newcomer Adrian Huey looks like a project who needs time to develop.

Overall, Kentucky has zero players at cornerback who were a top-500 recruit coming out of high school. The Wildcats are leaning on a super senior who came into the program from junior college and a bunch of young players who need time to develop. That is not a winning recipe.

Offenses have figured out where Kentucky is weak and have attacked it over the last few weeks. The front seven issues are magnifying the problems this group is having with a brand new position coach that didn’t arrive until the summer.

However, the brunt of the blame should go to the roster construction. With the transfer portal available to add a cornerback or two for depth purposes, Kentucky decided against it and entered the year with what we’ve seen out on the field.

The cornerback position must get fixed in the offseason. Signing four-star cornerback Alex Afari would be a start. After that, grabbing a couple of transfers needs to be at the top of the coaching staff’s to-do list once the season is over.

Moving forward

Closing out the year, Kentucky has two opponents that have major offensive issues (Vanderbilt, New Mexico State). Another that struggles with efficiency in the passing game but can hit big plays with a dangerous dual-threat quarterback (Louisville).

That should be music to the ears of the Kentucky coaching staff.

The Wildcats won’t see another precision passing game to close out the year and should start getting some guys back healthy in the front seven. There is time for Mark Stoops and Brad White to get things turned around.

However, the defense has specific personnel issues that must be addressed through recruiting. Those problems must start to get fixed this offseason.