Josaih Hayes says Kentucky defense is on 'the right path to success'

Since Kentucky started making trips to bowl games under Mark Stoops, they’ve generally done so on the back of excellent defense. While last year was a massive disappointment in many regards, especially on the offensive side of the ball, the defense remained of the nation’s best units in the country and helped a deeply flawed offense go 7-5 in the SEC. Nothing to write home about considering the expectations, but if not for the UK defense, the 2022 season would likely have been an outright catastrophe.

The ‘Cats lost some pieces but returned enough to make a case they ought to be just as good on D next season. But here’s the thing: they didn’t have a star last year. In UK’s 10-win seasons in ’21 and ’18, they had a dominant pass rusher in Josh Allen or Josh Paschal. They didn’t have that last year, yet still put up better defensive numbers than the ’21 team and was right on par with the ’18 unit.

According to one of the defenses senior leaders this spring, Josaih Hayes, it’s a team effort that makes the Wildcats great on defense, not just one guy. He explained that mindset at recent media availability when he was asked how the Kentucky defense is coming along with some of the new pieces.

“We still got to work at it, you know, work at what we’re doing right now and take it day by day,” said Hayes. “And in the fall we got to continue to build and continue to, you know, put faith in each other and trust each other on the field. So right now, I think that we’re doing good, we’re on the right path to success.”

Hayes continued:

“You know, it’s not just one guy, the team is all of us, all of us contribute to winning, everybody in the D-line room, we train and practice so we can play in the game and have fun with our brothers. Like Coach Stoops said, you know, you train Monday through Friday, then on Saturday, you have fun with your brother. So I wouldn’t look at it or say that it’s a one-man team. Everybody is all in it to win.”

That mindset certainly bore itself out last season. Kentucky may end up with zero defenders picked in the top three or four rounds despite having one of the best units in the nation. But that’s just a testament to the balance of the unit. They didn’t rely on one or two studs, but simply had above average players at practically every position on defense. Seems like a similar type of season could be in order next fall.

Although, sophomore defensive tackle Deone Walker has the makings of a truly dominant DL — and if he’s able to become that next Allen or Paschal type of talent, coupled with what the ‘Cats already have in the other phases of the defense…whew. All signs point to this being a nasty group come September.