Spring Briefing: New faces highlight Kentucky's defensive line room

Preparations for the 2024 college football season are already underway at the Joe Craft Football Training Facility. In a few short weeks, cleats will be hitting the grass practice fields and/or the turf at the Nutter Field House as Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops oversees his 13th team at Kentucky.

The Wildcats are fresh off some notable roster-building in the transfer portal. Along with numerous returnees, expectations could be high for this group but a lot of new faces will play snaps for defensive line coach Anwar Stewart.

Everything starts at the line of scrimmage for this program and the combination of injuries, lack of depth, and failure to reach expectations on the defensive line ultimately doomed the Wildcats in 2024. That led to some ugly performances to end the season. Kentucky is working to make sure that doesn’t repeat itself in 2025 even if the start power on this year’s roster is not as strong.

The new-look defensive line room in Lexington will play a major role in how the defense performs on the field against a brutal slate in 2025.

In KSR’s Spring Briefing series, we will cover every position on Kentucky’s roster before spring practice begins. Now we shift to the defense where the program will need some impact performers to emerge in the trenches.

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The Room

Josaih Hayes (6-3, 328, Super Senior)

The former four-star recruiting is back for year six at Kentucky after receiving a redshirt year in 2024 due to an Achilles injury. Hayes made an impact when he returned to the lineup in November and will be asked to play a big role at nose tackle this fall.

David Gusta (6-3, 316, Redshirt Senior)

The Washington State transfer was one of the highest-ranked interior defensive line transfers to become available this offseason and was a big recruiting win for the Wildcats. Gusta emerged as a productive interior pass rusher last season and could give the defensive line some interior position flexibility.

Kahlil Saunders (6-5, 297, Redshirt Senior)

Saunders is now in year five with the Kentucky program after playing 200-plus defensive snaps three seasons in a row. The Huntsville (Ala.) Grissom product has recorded 48 tackles and nine tackles for loss during his collegiate career. Saunders can play multiple spots along Kentucky’s front and is expected to have a big role this season.

Mi’Quise Humphrey-Grace (6-4, 265, Redshirt Junior)

One of Kentucky’s biggest transfer portal additions came from the FCS. Humphrey-Grace played high school football at Cincinnati (Ohio) Princeton before beginning his college football journey at South Dakota. The defensive end earned All-American honors after recording 17 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks in 2024. Humphrey-Grace will be asked to be a plug-and-play starter at 3-4 defensive end in Lexington.

Mi’Quise Grace is in the fold. What will the DE transfer bring to Kentucky?

Playmaker with 2 years of eligibility remaining.

Player bio, scouting report, and much more.

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Jaden Williams (6-4, 291, Redshirt Junior)

Kentucky’s third transfer addition on the defensive line came from the Mountain West where Williams spent three seasons at Wyoming. The Southern California native recorded 20 tackles over 12 games for the Cowboys last season and should provide immediate depth at defensive tackle. Williams picked UK over multiple power conference teams.

Tavion Gadson (6-5, 307, Redshirt Sophomore)

The former Florida State commit has had issues staying healthy during his first two seasons on campus. If Gadson can get healthy, he should find snaps. The Savannah (Ga.) Jenkins product gives UK a nice blend of size, mass, and athleticism along with some positional versatility.

Kendrick Gilbert (6-5, 262, Redshirt Sophomore)

Gilbert arose in fall camp as a player who could potentially help Kentucky at nose tackle in 2024 but that never truly developed. Keeping weight on has been an issue for the former four-star recruit out of Indianapolis (Ind.) Cathedral.

Austin Ramsey (6-4, 311, Redshirt Sophmore)

The former offensive line recruit moved to Kentucky’s defensive line room in the middle of the season in 2024 to provide some nose tackle depth. Now the class of 2023 recruit is staying there and will give UK some interior depth on the defensive line.

Jerod Smith II (6-4, 275, Sophomore)

The Corbin (Ky.) High product was a huge recruiting win for Kentucky in the 2024 high school cycle as the blue-chip prospect flipped from Michigan. Smith played sparingly as a true freshman but projects to be a rotation player for UK at 3-4 defensive end in year two.

Brian Robinson (6-5, 268, Redshirt Freshman)

Robinson was a massive blue-chip recruiting win for Kentucky, but the talented young prospect took a redshirt season in year one. Will the former top-150 recruit make a push for playing time in year two? That’s one of the biggest questions in this defensive line room.

Darrion Henry-Young (6-4, 294, Super Senior)

The former Ohio State transfer missed all of last season as he recovered from a knee injury. Henry-Young gives the defensive line room another veteran player and is expected to have some type of role in the rotation for UK this fall.

Dennious Jackson (6-5, 338, Redshirt Junior)

Jackson was a late addition to the Kentucky roster last summer from junior college and failed to push for playing time. This was a big offseason for the Peach State native and now he will look to find a spot in the nose tackle rotation.

Kalen Edwards (6-4, 320, Freshman)

The former Auburn commit ended up signing with Kentucky and is on campus for spring practice. Edwards gives this room another big body to use at nose tackle.

Top Storyline: How do the transfers fit?

The additions to the offensive line got most of the attention during the winter transfer portal window, but Kentucky was also busy rebuilding in the defensive line room. Deone Walker (540), Tre’vonn Rybka (418), Octavious Oxendine (371), and Keeshawn Silver (312) are no longer on the roster after playing over 300 snaps last season. Defensive line coach Anwar Stewart had a ton of snap volume to fill.

Expect the three transfer additions to fill a ton of it.

Washington State transfer David Gusta played 579 snaps last season and became one of the most productive interior pass rushers in college football. South Dakota transfer Mi’Quise Humphrey-Grace was one of the best defensive players in the FCS and played 730 snaps during a deep playoff run. Jaden Williams was a rotation defensive tackle at Wyoming who played 305 snaps and will fill a similar role at Kentucky.

The Wildcats will ask a ton from this group. Gusta and Humphrey-Grace will be asked to play starter’s snaps. Now the evaluation needs to become a fit for Kentucky. That will all start during spring practice.

What to Watch: Former blue-chip recruiting wins

Josaih Hayes, Jerod Smith II, and Brian Robinson were each big recruiting high school recruiting wins for the Kentucky program. Expectations were high for each player. Hayes is entering his last ride and Smith and Robinson will be looking to secure a role in 2025.

Kentucky needs an impact from all three.

After missing most of last season with an Achilles injury, Hayes will be asked to be a pillar for this Kentucky defense at nose tackle. Smith should become the top backup to Mi’Quise Humphrey-Grace at defensive end. Robinson was a ballyhooed recruit who is still looking for a long-term positional home.

Kentucky needs contributions from all three. The spring is important for this trio.

Bold Prediction: Confidence in the defensive line will be high leaving spring practice

Kentucky’s offensive line was a disaster in 2024, but you could make a case that the defensive line was the most disappointing positional unit on the team. Injuries set this group back early and continued throughout the season. By the end of the year, UK could not stop the run and this group in the trenches was playing extremely below expectations.

That cannot happen in 2025. From a depth perspective, Kentucky is already in a better place with 15 scholarship players in the room. I expect a lot of buzz for this position when spring camps wraps up.

Kentucky enters the year feeling very good about its two-deep and has some young talent waiting in the wings. There is some obvious potential star power with Mi’Quise Humphrey-Grace. Josaih Hayes and Kahlil Saunders are there to provide veteran leadership. The outlook for this unit will be promising as we enter the summer.