'We need to get that back': Kentucky must get better play from the defensive front

Kentucky’s defensive line entered the season as the best positional unit on the team. The Wildcats appeared to have one of the best defensive fronts in college football. Anwar Stewart‘s position group met those standards in September despite losing two expected contributors for the season in spring practice. Kentucky’s front dominated the line of scrimmage in multiple SEC games and was the No. 1 reason why UK took Georgia to the wire and defeated top-10 Ole Miss.

“Their defensive front challenged our team the most,” Georgia head Kirby Smart told ESPN’s Molly McGrath during a halftime interview in a Week 3 game versus Kentucky.

After a strong five game run to begin the season, that strength has become a weakness since the bye week. In Kentucky’s three-game losing streak, we’ve seen this defensive front consistently lose the line of scrimmage battle.

Vanderbilt produced a 48.4 percent rushing success rate on 31 carries for 179 non-sack yards on 5.8 yards per rush. That allowed a methodical option offense to consistently play ahead of the chains. Florida produced a 51.2 percent rushing success rate on 41 carries for 208 non-sack yards on 5.0 yards per rush. Auburn rolled up 361 non-sack rushing yards as a team on 8.4 yards per rush with a 58.1 percent rushing success rate.

Kentucky has consistently developed into a strong run fit defense over the last few years. That weakness disappeared in October. Can Kentucky get it back?

“We need to be better from a run fit standpoint. I think collectively we were all embarrassed by that performance,” Kentucky defensive coordinator Brad White told the media on Monday. “Especially against the run.”

“When we’ve played really well, our front seven this year has been dominant.”

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That group has certainly not been dominated and now injuries are beginning to pile up. Josaih Hayes, Darrion Henry-Young, and Tavion Gadson were all expected to miss most of if not the full season. Those were three players expected to be in the rotation. Keeshawn Silver and Deone Walker each appeared on last week’s injury report. Silver has appeared on multiple availability reports this season. To contribute to the run game woes, off-ball linebacker D’Eryk Jackson also played through injury last week and did not receive his normal snap count volume.

Kentucky went to more of a youth movement against Auburn, and that led to redshirt freshman offensive lineman Austin Ramsey playing some nose tackle in the fourth quarter. Kentucky is a banged-up football team, but that cannot be an excuse for the notable slippage we’ve seen over the last three games.

“Guys can get nicks here and there, but everybody’s got that. So this is where that true toughness, the true grit, and your true character really starts to shine through. In this sort of backend of the season, you’ve gotta play through some of those bumps and bruises,” White explained. “You gotta play physical. You can’t get worn down physically or mentally. You gotta keep fitting, you gotta keep striking, and you gotta keep tackling.”

The Kentucky football program is reeling in a big way with some tough matchups remaining. Things could get worse before they get better. This football team can likely only stop this avalanche going against them by the team strength becoming the team strength again. Kentucky needs their defensive line to start dominating again.

“We need to get back to that,” White added.