Kentucky's Pass Defense Will Be Tested in First 2 Weeks of Season 

Mark Stoops and Brad White won’t have to wait long to see how the Wildcat pass defense will stack up for the season. The Wildcats open 2023 by hosting Ball State followed by EKU. Starting quarterbacks for the Cardinals and Colonels will bring gaudy numbers to Kroger Field in September. The two have combined to throw for 18,431 career yards and 154 passing touchdowns. Let’s get into it. 

Week 1: Ball State’s Layne Hatcher 

The well-traveled Hatcher started his career at Alabama before transferring to Arkansas State. A move to Texas State followed prior to transferring to Ball State this past December. The grad student has thrown for over 2,000 yards and completed over 61% of his passes in each of his previous four seasons. In fact, Layne Hatcher has enjoyed a historic career on the gridiron. Hatcher ranks second in Sun Belt history with 84 career touchdown passes and is the league’s ninth-ranked career passer after throwing for 10,080 yards. 

Ball State has seen a massive amount of turnover in its offensive two-deep. This especially applies to the skill positions that include quarterback, running back, and receiver. But, First Team All-MAC and Freshman All-American TE Brady Hunt returns for year two in Muncie to ease the transition. Hatcher will get the benefit of surprise. White and Stoops won’t have film on the signal caller in a new scheme and he’ll be surrounded by new teammates. 

Kentucky should win. Heck, the Cats better win this one. But, don’t be surprised to see Hatcher have success in the early portions of the contest. 

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Week 2: EKU Quarterback Parker McKinney 

Parker McKinney announced a return for a sixth year in Richmond. That news must have been well received by Colonel head coach Walt Wells. Much like Hatcher, McKinney has been historic throughout his career. The 2022 Walter Payton Award finalist has thrown for 8,351 yards and 70 touchdowns at EKU. 

Phil Steele named McKinney as the ASUN Offensive Player of the Year after the quarterback went 315/419 for 3,956 yards and 33 TD passes a year ago. He also completed over 68% of his passes. The signal caller also rushed for 8 scores. 

Parker McKinney is EKU’s all-time leader in total offense, touchdown passes, passing yards, passing completions, and passing attempts. He joined UK’s Devin Leary as a counselor at the prestigious Manning Passing Academy earlier this summer. 

Joining McKinney will be running back Braedon Sloan. The Wayne County High School product earned HERO Sports Sophomore All-American honors a year ago. The all-purpose back was also named First Team All ASUN. 

This should be a win; I’m not going to sugarcoat the truth. But, much like in week one, the Colonels might be able to enjoy early, passing game success. McKinney and Sloan are legitimate threats. But, the Cats should apply ample pressure by winning one-on-ones up front in order to make the sixth-year signal caller uncomfortable in the pocket. 

What Does All This Mean? 

Kentucky should win both of these matchups; again, let’s be honest. However, the UK pass and rush defenses will be tested in the season’s first two games. If you think back a year ago, one of Mark Stoops’ most pressing concerns going into the 2022 season was if his offensive line could keep Will Levis healthy and open holes for Chris Rodriguez Jr. in the run game. We found out pretty quickly about both. The answers were an emphatic no. This year’s questions, especially on defense, lie within the secondary and if Kentucky can generate more quarterback sacks. Much like last season, we should get answers fairly quickly. 

Brad White’s defense has plenty of returning starters and contributors in the two-deep. But, the defensive coordinator will have two new starting corners come September. Veteran Andru Phillips seems to have locked down one spot. The other could be manned by committee. A fall camp competition will take place at the spot. Fighting for the job are transfers JQ Hardaway and Jantzen Dunn. Sophomore Maxwell Hairston will also factor. Regardless of the eventual week-one starters, the CBs will have help in the back third. 

The Wildcats’ safety/nickel defenders are experienced and should provide adequate over-watch until the CB issues are solidified. Returning third-level defenders Jordan Lovette, Zion Childress, Alex Afari, and Jalen Geiger have all logged a high number of snaps and starts. That collection of defensive backs is considered to be a team strength. 

The most effective way to slow a pass-happy quarterback is to put him flat on his back. Or, at minimum, chase the QB out of the pocket and make the signal caller uncomfortable from snap to whistle. Kentucky registered 20 QB sacks in 2022. That was a drop-off of nine from the previous season. Wildcat pass rushers were active at times and applied pressure. But, getting the quarterback to the ground was an issue. Kentucky needs to get that sack total up by 10 or more this fall. 

Edge JJ Weaver is expected to be the team’s designated pass rusher. Weaver recorded 3 QB sacks last season. The next highest returning player is linebacker Trevin Wallace with 2.5. True sophomore Keaten Wade is the future. The rookie Edge recorded 1.5 QB sacks a year ago. Freshman All-American defensive tackle Deone Walker added 1. 

UK is not a blitz-heavy team. So, 20 is not an alarming number given the adequate amount of QB pressures and hurries last year. But, Weaver and company need to up the pace by putting the opposing quarterback on the turf at a higher rate in 2023. 

With Liam Coen’s return and the slew of weapons that surrounding quarterback Devin Leary, the scoreboard could see much higher numbers in 2023. Heck, it better. The Cats dropped from 32 points per game to right around 20 in the course of a season. Add in the abovementioned opposing quarterbacks, the first two weeks should be fun to watch.