Cats Leaning on Veteran Defenders in Fall Camp
The Kentucky defense will be breaking in some new faces this fall, and defensive coordinator Brad White is leaning on his veterans to help that process along.
Following Thursday’s practice, White noted that the Cats have a handful of players who have been at UK and in this system for a while, and he needs those players to lead.
“There’s probably about five guys in that room who have been in the defense for three or more years in terms of getting good quality game reps,” White said. “They understand the speed, they understand the issues. They’ve been part of really good wins and they’ve been a part of really tough losses. Those guys are going to be vital.”
One of those players, junior defensive back Ty Bryant, showed the type of leadership White is looking for during Thursday’s practice.
“Ty, just today in practice, you heard him, you felt him,” White said. “It wasn’t a miscommunication, it was just a soft communication between guys. You can’t be soft. It’s got to be loud, it’s got to be demonstrative and he was very firm both on the field and when we came to the sidelines and that’s what you need from a leader.”
White has also been showing this year’s group some film of great UK defenses from seasons past. He hopes that seeing how it’s supposed to look on film will be a helpful teaching tool.
“The reality is that they’re going to have to learn from older teams that we’ve had here,” White said. “When we watch film and it’s of the ‘21 team or the ‘18 team, guys that grew up in the system. They’ve got to get their scars and their scabs from guys that grew up in the system. Because if we take those lumps, we’re probably taking them on Saturdays and we don’t have time to scar in and fix it. Those things are going to cost us.”
It’s still early in camp, but White is hoping that this unit can develop consistency by being intentional about getting there.
“We’ve had some from period to period. Consistency is a week in and week out thing,” White said. “I’m not going to say they have been a consistent group yet. We’re really stressing it hard, trying to get them to work together not only on the field but off the field. It can’t just be that you build that consistency for an hour or two on the football field or an hour in the locker room, it’s got to be all the time. We’ve been stressing that.”
The veterans on the defense, the ones who already have their scars, will help bring along newer players. White hopes that formula will produce another outstanding Kentucky defense in 2025.
