WATCH: Brad White, Kentucky defense eager to face Florida Gators

Kentucky Football (4-0) is in the process of preparing for a top 10 matchup against the Florida Gators (3-1). Kroger Field is going to be as packed as it’s ever been as the ‘Cats have a terrific shot at continuing a potentially very special season. It sure won’t come easy, though, and this week’s practices are vitally important to any success on Saturday.

After Wednesday’s practice, defensive coordinator Brad White, along with senior inside linebacker Jacquez Jones and DeAndre Square, spoke with the media to detail some of their thoughts on what to expect this weekend. Here’s what they had to say.

DC Brad White

The engineer behind Kentucky’s top 10 defense in the country, Brad White spent nearly 10 minutes answering questions on Wednesday. The third-year defensive coordinator talked about Florida’s two threats at quarterback, his unit’s focus level, and holding the Gator run-game in check, among other items.

White also briefly touched on the status of the defensive players who had their court charges dropped earlier this week: S Vito Tisdale, DB Andru Phillips, and DB Joel Williams.

“We’ll just see. It’s so early,” White said about any of those three getting reps on Saturday. “We’re about three days away, we’re gonna need every bit of those days to evaluate and see where we are and if any of them are ready to step in. It’s hard for those guys. They’ve been out for a little bit but they’re working hard.”

Jacquez Jones & DeAndre Square

Senior inside linebackers Jacquez Jones and DeAndre Square were the players selected to give some thoughts on their own game and the matchup against Florida. The two veterans have been leaders for Kentucky’s outstanding defense this season–both of them are tied for the team lead in tackles with 24 apiece.

Jones, the transfer from Ole Miss, talked about what he’s added to his game since coming to Lexington and how excited he is to stop the Gators’ rushing attack.

“Oh yeah that’s my favorite,” Jones said about playing physical games. “When Coach Stoops told us on Monday they like to run the ball, me and Marquan (McCall), we were sitting right next to each other, we started clapping because that’s our kind of game. We like to stop the run.”

Among multiple topics, Square talked about how Florida’s quarterback play is going to be a fun challenge, his mindset heading into Saturday, and not coming out uninspired as the team has in recent weeks.

“Being disciplined. Just coming to play,” Square said. “We can’t come out flat like we did some weeks. We can’t be on-and-off, we have to be on from the very start to end, it’s a 60-minute game, so we got to play from minute zero to minute 60.”

Head coach Mark Stoops will close out this week’s media availability before Saturday’s game. He’ll meet with the press after practice on Thursday afternoon, and we’ll have everything he has to say on the site as soon as possible.

Kentucky will kickoff against No. 10 Florida this Saturday on ESPN at 6:00 p.m. EST at Kroger Field.