Kentucky has confidence in bolstered secondary depth

The pass defense ended up becoming a major weakness for the Kentucky defense in 2023. The Wildcats were very inexperienced at cornerback and had some unfortunate injury luck at safety. That creative a tough situation for the secondary. The Wildcats are hopeful that those problems have been solved.

Kentucky addressed both cornerback and secondary with transfer portal additions and returned five players who played at least 250 snaps in the secondary last season. That has created a quiet confidence in the group leaving fall camp.

In the first depth chart of the 2024 season, Kentucky had multiple “Or” marks in the secondary with JQ Hardaway/Jantzen Dunn and Jordan Lovett/Ty Bryant listed as co-starters. Behind Maxwell Hairston, DJ Waller Jr./Nasir Addison were listed as backups. The defense has improved the depth in the back end.

“Just out of confidence in either or,” Mark Stoops told KSR about Kentucky’s depth chart in the secondary.

“Those guys can play. The safeties — those three guys are starters. So we feel very good there. In the backup role at corner, even opposite Maxwell, we gotta continue to evaluate that position.”

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Bryant, Lovett, and Childress give the defensive staff a ton of confidence at safety. Childress has been getting looks at nickel provide Bryant and Lovett with more opportunities. Hairston gives the defense a known commodity at cornerback, while Kentucky still works to figure out the CB2 spot, but there are some experienced options.

Lack of depth caught up to Kentucky in the secondary in 2023. That should not be the case in 2024.

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