LaRosa's Kentucky Football Preseason Position Previews: Defensive Line

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The Kentucky football program has been built from the inside out during the Mark Stoops era. Offensive line play gets most of the attention, but the Wildcats have slowly gotten better on the defensive side of the ball. With a pair of former blue-chip recruits now in their senior seasons, second-year assistant coach Anwar Stewart has a group with proven experienced production combined with some young promise throughout the two-deep.

Defensive Line Leadership

One of the biggest storylines for this year’s Kentucky defense is the amount of experience on the roster. The Wildcats have multiple seniors starting at all three levels of the defense and that all begins at the line of scrimmage.

Former blue-chip recruit Josh Paschal is now a redshirt senior, and the DMV product has All-SEC potential and will be an NFL Draft pick after the year. The 278-pound veteran plays the field end spot in Brad White’s scheme and has been the team’s best run stopper over the last two seasons with 18 run stuffs and 21.5 career tackles for loss. Paschal will be a three-time captain this season and is the leader of the team.

Scrimmage Saturday 😤 #ForTheTeam 😼🏈 pic.twitter.com/yqwzkmYkzu

— Kentucky Football (@UKFootball) August 14, 2021

At the point of attack, Quinton Bohanna has moved on to play with the Dallas Cowboys but that opens up an avenue for Marquan McCall to be a full-time starter. The senior out of Detroit was Kentucky’s top-rated recruit in the class of 2018 and has played in 31 games through his first three seasons. Over the last two years, the nose tackle has recorded 43 tackles and five tackles for loss in limited playing time. Kentucky needs “Bully” to be a linchpin in 2021.

Defensive Line Supporting Cast

#8 Octavious Oxendine: A redshirt freshman out of Radcliff (Ky.) North Hardin High, Oxendine is competing for the starting spot at the boundary tackle position. The 318-pound prospect picked Kentucky over Tennessee and Texas in the class of 2020.

#52 Justin Rogers: One of the highest-ranked recruits in program history, Rogers made the move to Lexington from Detroit with much fanfare. A high school teammate of McCall’s, Rogers will back up the fellow Oak Park High alum at nose this season. The sophomore played in seven games last season and recorded nine tackles.

#90 Tre’vonn Rybka: Another member of that ballyhooed 2020 defensive line class, Rybka was a top-500 recruiting win out of Metro Nashville who chose Kentucky over Oregon. The redshirt freshman has a chance to be Paschal’s primary reserve at end.

#91 Sam Anaele: After playing out on the edge last season, Anaele has made the move to the interior. A native of Nigeria who was a four-star recruit in high school, the redshirt freshman will look to develop on the defensive line. This young player did not start playing football until high school so there is still room for growth available.

#92 Kahlil Saunders: The true freshman brings some much-needed length and size to the position room at 6-foot-5 and 270 pounds. The Huntsville (Ala.) Grissom High product picked Kentucky over Indiana, Virginia, and Virginia Tech. After recording 80 tackles and 14 tackles for loss last season the playmaking trait could be there. Saunders is headed to a redshirt season, but could factor down the road at boundary tackle.

#94 Abule Abadi-Fitzgerald: Another redshirt senior, Abadi-Fitzgerald has played in 18 games over the last two seasons, but has not had much box score production. The veteran is another player competing for time at boundary tackle.

#95 Jamarius Dinkins: A true freshman out of Ohio, Dinkins was a high three-star recruiting win over Michigan State for Vince Marrow. With a great frame (6-5, 255), the rookie has potential and showed playmaking ability last year in high school recording 12 tackles for loss and four forced fumbles.

#96 Isaiah Gibson: A redshirt sophomore, Gibson tallied five tackles in 162 snaps last season. The Springfield (Ohio) High product is yet another player competing for time at boundary tackle. At 302 pounds, the third-year player brings good size to the position.

#99 Josaih Hayes: The blue-chip recruiting win in 2020 out of Mississippi, Kentucky was able to flip Hayes from Ole Miss. After playing five games as a true freshman, the sophomore will push for time at nose tackle.

Where is the pass rush on the defensive line?

After consecutive top-25 finishes in sack rate, Kentucky plummeted to 113th nationally in 2020. Creating pressure on the quarterback was a huge weakness for the unit, and the three-down front needs to be better after this group only recorded 3.5 sacks in 11 games last season.

Kentucky is hopeful that a healthy Josh Paschal can be a difference-maker, but the boundary tackle spot is an area where the Wildcats need a pass rusher to emerge. From that position, Calvin Taylor Jr. notched 8.5 sacks in 2019. The Wildcats need someone to step up in 2021.

“We understand that we need to affect the quarterback more often this year,” said defensive coordinator Brad White. “You don’t have to tell me, you don’t have to tell our guys. They understand the issues.”

Something You Didn’t Know

How has Kentucky built a program that is known for line of scrimmage play? Through recruiting.

Heading into the 2021 season, the Wildcats have five former blue-chip recruits on the offensive line out of 17 scholarship players. However, that does not even come close to catching the d-line. Among the 11 scholarship players in Anwar Stewart’s position room, five are former blue-chippers giving this unit a 45.45 percent blue-chip ratio.

The Wildcats have legit star power in this group and three of those premium recruits — Sam Anaele, Josaih Hayes, Justin Rogers — are now entering year two. The defense will need that 2020 class to begin delivering this season.

Biggest Question Mark

“Can this group create enough havoc?”

Last season, Kentucky’s three-down defensive line combined to collect 20 tackles for loss, 2 interceptions, 3.5 sacks, and 3 pass break-ups in 764 snaps. That ratio is just not good enough.

This was a front that could not make any game-changing plays all season, and that really went out the window after Josh Paschal suffered a knee injury in a week three win against Mississippi State. This was a unit that struggled to make individual plays for the defense and that must improve this fall.

The coaching staff has faith in Paschal, but after that, the production could come from anyone. The class of 2020 could get most of the blame if the production does not come. To take some pressure off the rest of the defense, Kentucky needs their defensive line to make some more negative plays.

Defensive Line Bold Prediction

“Josh Paschal will be an All-SEC performer.”

This group has some big questions to answer and there are some unknowns for the unit entering the year. However, there is one sure thing and all signs point to the redshirt senior having a monster season.

“We’ve got some candidates, obviously we’ve all known what Josh Paschal can do,” said Brad White at media day. “Before the injury, halfway through the Mississippi State game — if you look at the Auburn and Ole Miss and halfway through Mississippi State — he was playing as well as any defensive lineman in the SEC. And right now, he’s playing at a level — his body, his conditioning, his focus — right now is at an elite level, and we need him to perform at that elite level. And we will not shy away with those expectations for him and he won’t shy away from those.”

Those are big words from the defensive coordinator as Kentucky needs Paschal to be a playmaker in the trenches this season. All signs point to him being just that.