Cats Have Quality Depth in Defensive Backfield

Observers will notice that Kentucky seems to have an abundance of depth in the defensive back position. But as defensive coordinator Brad White points out, that’s a good problem to have.

“You can’t have enough (defensive backs),” White said. “You can’t have enough quality DB’s in this league.”

Kentucky returns a group that ranked third in the nation in interceptions last season with 16. Eight of those came from the defensive back group.

Cornerbacks Tyrell Ajian, Cedrick Dort Jr. and Carrington Valentine have each earned starting assignments in their careers. Ajian had 48 total tackles for Kentucky last season, while Dort and Valentine each had 10.

Safties Yusuf Corker and Davonte Robinson return at their respective positions. Corker was second on last year’s team with 77 tackles and third on the team with two interceptions. Robinson had 27 tackles in 2020.

Nickel backs Vito Tisdale and Joel Williams also return.

But it doesn’t stop there. At corner, the Cats will look for production from Quandre Mosely, Andru Phillips, Adrian Huey and Maxwell Hairston. At safety, White and his staff hope to see more from Taj Dodson, Moses Douglass, Jalen Geiger and Ricky Hyatt Jr. True freshman Jordan Lovett could also contribute.

While that seems like a lot of players to get into the mix, White is not worried about lack of opportunities.

“It will naturally sort of take care of itself. We’ve got plenty of reps, so I don’t think any of those guys will complain that they’re not tired at the end of practice,” White said. “They’ll all get work and that way, we can get a clean eval for every single one of them. It will be good to see, in the scrimmage, it cleans it up a little bit. Who can make open field tackles? That’s a huge part of being a safety.”

Robinson is a player who will be counted on to contribute heavily and to lead. White thinks Robinson is starting to return to form.

“D-Rob is starting to look more like himself,” White said. “He looks so much better. You can tell the confidence level he’s playing with right now. He’s going to have to be a big contributor for us.”

White knows there are still fundamentals and specific assignments to be worked out on the defensive side of the ball. But he does like one aspect of what he has seen from his defenders so far.

“I was pleased today with the energy,” White said. “There’s still plenty to clean up but the energy of this group is good and they need to keep it that way.”

The defensive backs will be an important part of the UK defense this season. If depth is one of the keys, then the Cats should be in very good shape moving forward.