Kentucky's secondary depth is being tested

For the second week in a row, Kentucky seemingly lost a major contributor to a leg injury in the first half. After Ramon Jefferson was knocked out for the year with a torn ACL against Miami (Ohio), it appears that Jalen Geiger is also going to be out for an extended amount of time after an injury suffered against Florida.

Add on season-ending injuries to offensive tackle Josh Jones and defensive back Vito Tisdale, and personnel losses are beginning to stack up for Kentucky. Specifically, the secondary has been hit hard.

Both Geiger and Tisdale entered spring football as heavy favorites to win starting positions at safety and nickel. Former four-star recruit Joel Williams would then transfer to Memphis shortly after the start of fall camp. Kentucky currently only has five scholarship safeties currently available.

Yet, there is plenty of depth.

That showed up in The Swamp when redshirt freshman Jordan Lovett filled in admirably for Geiger in Kentucky’s 26-16 win.

The Radcliff (Ky.) North Hardin product was a mid three-star recruit in the class of 2021 who picked Kentucky over Cincinnati, Louisville, Missouri, and West Virginia. Lovett did not play safety until his junior year of high school and immediately provided playmaking with 15 interceptions.

After a redshirt season, the second-year defensive back started to emerge during spring practice and then performed well filling for Geiger flashing very strong closing speed at 6-foot-2 and 200-plus pounds.

Lovett logged seven tackles against the Gators and showed a willingness to play with physicality. That should go a long way when combined with his quick twitch and long speed. However, he’s not the only quality option available.

Redshirt junior Taj Dodson has only played special teams for Kentucky up to this point in 2022. The Metro Atlanta native has battled injuries throughout his career in Lexington, but is a player the coaching staff has spoken fondly of in the past. As long as he’s healthy, Dodson should be a quality depth piece.

Before the season started, Kentucky also decided to address the safety position in the transfer portal. The Cats landed Zion Childress beating out TCU and Washington in the recruitment. The versatile defensive back played multiple positions in two years at Texas State and is currently Tyrell Ajian‘s top backup at strong safety. Childress could be a quality candidate to play some snaps at free safety as well.

Alex Afari is a true freshman who appears to be a player that Mark Stoops wants at cornerback long-term, but this is having to wait so the four-star rookie can get on the field now. Afari shined in the Miami (Ohio) win playing a bunch of snaps at Kentucky’s hybrid Sam linebacker position with Jordan Wright unavailable. Playing time shrunk for Afari when Wright returned, but Kentucky could decide to do some cross-training to get the talented young player on the field more often.

In other seasons, two season-ending injuries in the secondary could have been catastrophic for the Kentucky defense. Thanks to some good roster building through high school recruiting and the transfer portal that does not appear to be the case right now.

Jalen Geiger’s loss stings, but Kentucky has some bonafide options available to fill his shoes in the secondary. The Wildcats are being tested, but Jordan Lovett looked the part early, and there are other quality options available for defensive coordinator Brad White to utilize.