Before you can build, you need a blueprint. New co-defensive coordinator Rick Minter is using spring practice to install a blueprint for his new hybrid defense.

Minter had two weeks before the BBVA Compass Bowl to deliver the Wildcats a crash course into the new defensive change, but what fans will see next fall will largely be based off the five-week learning course the UK defense is currently undergoing.

There’s different terminology, a new playbook and a ton of innovative formations. The change has been a lot to digest for a Kentucky defense that returns its top 11 tacklers, but the players are grateful they’re going through the implementation process now before the season rolls around.

“It’s just a whole new defensive scheme,” safety Winston Guy said. “It’s a lot of thinking. He’s been putting plays in every week. He’s overloading us with it so we won’t have to install new stuff in the fall. It will just be refreshing our minds.”

But what exactly is the defense? When Minter was hired after the 2010 regular season, there was talk that UK would be switching from a 4-3 defense (four down linemen) to a 3-4. Then, before spring practice started, head coach Joker Phillips said it would still be a 4-3 base with some looks of a 4-2-5.

“It’s whatever we want it to be on a given play and a given game,” Minter said. “When we need to get bigger we have to get bigger and when we need to get faster, we need to be able to get faster. So it will be up to us to put together a scheme. A scheme is overrated to be honest. It’s about making plays and putting the playmakers on the field to make those plays.”

Really, the scheme and its strength, according to Minter, is its versatility. The ability to mix and match with the ever-changing offenses of college football should give UK a better chance to match up athletically.

The defense will feature different alignments, multiple-look fronts and blitzes.

“Offenses today have such a great pizzazz and flavor to them that you must be adjustable on defense,” Minter said. “You find great ‘backs, you find great receivers, quick O-lines, fast-tempo teams and slow-tempo teams. All we are trying to do is put our guys in position to match up no matter what they see. We will have a plan that will be successful against any of those styles of play.”

Of course, with any infrastructure change, there must be adjustments to the individual parts and pieces. On Wednesday, Phillips said 250-pound defensive end Taylor Wyndham has moved inside and is taking reps at defensive tackle.

But the two most intriguing moves have been with Guy and Martavius Neloms.  Guy, a two-year starter at safety, is moving closer to the line of scrimmage and will serve as a hybrid linebacker in nickel packages. Neloms is moving back from his cornerback spot to safety.

Phillips believes both changes will help the team and the individual players in the long run.

“Winston was a guy that in high school was blitzing off the edge and played in the gaps a lot, while Neloms is athletic enough to play over the top,” Phillips said. “Neloms has a little bit better instinct in breaking on the ball and being a middle-of-the-field or half-field safety. And Winston has a better feel than Neloms being in the box. Last year, it was opposite. We are just flip-flopping those guys and it will help us as a football team.”

Guy seems to be a natural fit at the nickel linebacker position. Although he’s undersized at 210 pounds, he was second on the team in tackles last year with 106 stops. Known more for his blitzing and run-stopping ability than his pass coverage, Guy is expected to give UK a physical presence near the line.

“Coach Minter puts a lot of people in situations to make plays,” Guy said. “He feels it’s best for me in the long run and for the team where I’m playing at. He’s just putting more people on the field that have the athletic ability to play and putting more talent on the field. Putting me down close to the line is going to put a lot of pressure on the quarterback and give me a chance to get sacks and a lot of hurries. He’s just trying to utilize everybody the best way he can.”

Guy admitted he was initially skeptical about the change. As someone who flirted with leaving early for the pros, he was understandably worried about the move being the best for his future.

But after a talk with Minter, Guy believes the ability to play four different positions — he’s played cornerback, free safety, strong safety and now linebacker at UK — should help his draft status.

“He changed,” Minter said. “He came over and put the team first but I think he likes it because it gets him closer to the action and we need his skills in space.  That’s what I’m talking about with all these different athletes. We don’t want to have to get caught substituting a nickel every time someone splits a third wide out on the field. We want to put our best nickel on the field and we think that is Winston.”

Now practicing with the linebackers, Guy said he’s constantly studying his playbook. He said he carries it around with him wherever he goes and reads it before he goes to sleep at night and before every practice.

Apparently the work has paid off.

“I don’t really get yelled at as much as other people do,” Guy said grinning.

In the offseason, Guy said he hopes to work with defensive line coach David Turner and see if he can get on the bag drills the defensive and offensive linemen go through. The goal is to get off blocks and use his hands better for some of the blitzes he’ll be running next year.

The change in positions and attitude has all been part of the maturation process for Guy as he enters his fourth and final season.

“I’m a team player,” Guy said. “Whatever I can do to help the team. This is my last year and I want to make the best of what I’m doing. It’s going to take a lot of work and a lot of dedication to my new spot.”

As for Neloms, the coaching staff believes his tackling ability and cover skills are better suited for the strong safety position. Last week, Phillips joked that Neloms already had more interceptions in spring practice than Guy has in his entire career (three).

Although Neloms was turning into a pretty solid corner (55 tackles and two pass breakups last year), moving him to safety opens up more opportunities for corners Cartier Rice, Anthony Mosley and the highly regarded Jerrell Priester, across from Randall Burden.

“(Neloms) is a long strider who plays the ball in the air,” Minter said. “He can go get it.  It’s like having an extra corner out there because that’s what he’s come from.  As long as he can stack in the box at times and bring the heat when he needs to bring it, which I know he will, that will be his adjustment.”

There are a lot of adjustments going on this spring on the defensive side of the ball. It’s going to take time, but don’t try telling that to Minter.

“I don’t even know how to spell patience,” Minter said.