Kentucky players to watch against Tennessee

Kentucky is two games under .500 entering November and will be without at least 13 scholarship players against No. 7 Tennessee. The Vols are a true SEC contender and are in thick of the College Football Playoff race with five weeks left to play. The Wildcats will likely see an eight-year postseason streak come to an end this month.

One program has momentum and the other one doesn’t entering this rivalry matchup. Can Kentucky get that flipped on Saturday night? The Wildcats will need some special individual performances to pull off a big upset in Neyland Stadium.

Kentucky’s stars will need to be stars. KSR is looking at the players that will need to come up big in the matchup against Tennessee.

Kentucky must find big explosive plays

Tennessee’s defense is the real deal in 2024 and one of the best units in college football. The Vols rank in the top five nationally in points per drive, yards per play, havoc rate, red zone touchdown rate, and third down conversion rate. An argument can be made that this is the best defense in the country.

By design, Tennessee will want to take away the traditional run game first. The Vols rank No. 2 overall in non-sack yards per rush allowed but No. 48 overall in yards per dropback allowed. That is not a coincidence. Tennessee will play downhill, ask their linebackers to get aggressive, and is not afraid to give up completions for the trade-off of creating a bunch of third-and-longs.

Scoring on long, sustained drives will be very difficult for Kentucky in this game. The Wildcats have to find a way to create some big explosive plays. Those will likely have to come in the air.

Barion Brown is Kentucky’s most explosive player and some explosive plays will be needed to score points. Whether in the return game or on a deep throw, Kentucky will need some huge splash plays to create real scoring chances. A big play or two from Brown could help flip this game.

Kentucky’s best player probably needs a dominant performance

Expectations were sky-high for junior defensive tackle Deone Walker entering the season. The potential first-round draft pick is having a good season even if some of the numbers (29 tackles, four tackles for loss, 15 pressures) are down from last season. But against the best teams your stars have to be stars.

Without stalwarts at linebacker (D’Eryk Jackson) and cornerback (Maxwell Hairston), Kentucky enters this matchup short-handed but Tennessee’s offensive line has had some issues this season. The Wildcats will need a dominant performance from Walker.

Facing this spread offense, Tennessee will create numerous light boxes and will give tailback Dylan Sampson a high workload. Kentucky needs to win against the light boxes. A big game from Walker could cause a lot of issues for Tennessee both in run fits and pass protection. That could create some quick stops and frustrate a Tennessee offense that has started SEC games a very slow.

Kentucky needs a bounce-back performance on defense after two disappointing results against Florida and Auburn. If that happens in Knoxville, No. 0 will have a big say.

A QB watch

After replacing Brock Vandagriff with Gavin Wimsatt in the second half in last week’s loss to Auburn, Head coach Mark Stoops and offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan both refused to announce who Kentucky’s starter would be this week. We will have to wait until the game begins at Neyland Stadium to get that answer.

Kentucky has had a bunch of issues on offense this season and last week’s change felt like a desperation move by the offensive staff. Does UK want to give Wimsatt a long look or will the program quickly pivot back to Vandagriff?

Throughout the game, everyone will be locked into Kentucky’s QB situation and how it is managed. If Vandagriff is the starter, do we see more or less usage for Wimsatt’s wildcat formation package? Does the former Rutgers transfer get a full series at any point before going back to Vandagriff?

Kentucky has a lot of issues to figure out on offense, but the program now needs to commit to one player at quarterback entering this final stretch. Saturday could give us a final answer.

Tough first start for a true freshman

Last week saw redshirt freshman Malachi Wood get his first career start against Auburn and the right tackle drew a tough assignment. One week later, true freshman Terhyon Nichols is scheduled to receive his first career start and also draws a tough assignment.

Tennessee’s passing game has not been anything special in power conference games this season, but the Vols do present a unique scheme that can challenge any secondary. The four-star true freshman will find himself in isolation on Saturday and must make some competitive plays.

Expect to see quarterback Nico Iamaleava challenge the young cornerback. Nichols lost some battles against Auburn WR1 KeAndre-Lambert Smith last week and will likely continue to see a high volume of targets moving forward.

Kentucky is dealing with some serious injury issues at cornerback with Hairston, DJ Waller Jr., and Jantzen Dunn all out of the lineup. That has created an opportunity for the former top-250 recruit out of Cincinnati (Ohio) Withrow. Kentucky will need the young cornerback and fellow starter JQ Hardaway to hold up in deep coverage.