Expectations for Kentucky's two new JUCO commitments

All offseason long Cats Illustrated will be breaking down Kentucky’s rosters moves as players leave and others come into the program.

The next big event on the calendar is the early signing period, which runs from Dec. 3-5, and after that it’s the portal wave which lasts from Jan. 2-16.

In anticipation of that early signing period Kentucky has added a couple of JUCO commitments who should also cut into the amount of portal work the Wildcats have to do. The thinking is that Kentucky may be able to save some money by allotting some scholarships for JUCO players who don’t cost as much money as those in the portal.

In the coming weeks and months Kentucky fans will be introduced to a lot of future Wildcats who they probably don’t know much about. Our task is to introduce these players with as much accuracy and actionable intelligence as it required to accurately set expectations for next year’s team.

So without further ado, what should we expect from Kentucky’s two new JUCO defensive back commitments, Braxton Urquhart and now Da’Mare Williams? That’s our task here.

They make Kentucky a lot longer on the back end

Both Urquhart and Williams are in the ballpark of 6’3 and 190-200 pounds. While Urquhart is a corner and Williams is a safety, both players could be around 6’3, 200 by the time they’re ready to step foot on the field for the Wildcats. We know that length like that is a major asset for Kentucky’s defense because of the way the Wildcats play. They want to keep everything in front so they like physical, long, attacking downhill safeties who can get to the ball quickly, and they prioritize wingspans across the board for gap control and to shorten space on the field. Urquhart and Williams both fit into this strategy well based on their builds.

Kentucky does have some of that size in the secondary right now. DJ Waller is 6’3, 203, JQ Hardaway is 6’3, 193, Cam Dooley is 6’2, 208, Jaden Smith is 6’3, 208, and Jordan Lovett is 6’2, 208.

Both Hardaway and Lovett are expected to move on after this season. What these two additions ensure is that Kentucky will still have the kind of size on the back end that Mark Stoops, Brad White, Chris Collins, and Frank Buffano typically prefer.

The coverage piece is TBD

Fans will have to trust the evaluation eyes of the coaches on Kentucky’s staff when it comes to trying to forecast how Urquhart and Williams will fare in deep coverage situations. There’s a lot more tape that features these players breaking off blocks to make open field tackles or exploding to make tackles at the line of scrimmage than there is of making competitive plays on the ball in the air or tracking well-thrown balls against the kind of talent they’ll see in the SEC.

These players clearly pass the measurable and testing tests and that’s why they were late JUCO additions for Kentucky. They’re older, presumably a bit more mature than some high schoolers, and have more experience under their belts. But simply by virtue of the fact that they are coming from JUCO they have not been tested in coverage in a way that will be an accurate simulation for what lies ahead in the SEC.

They should have fixed positions

Sometimes in the past Kentucky has made a habit of starting out all their defensive backs at corner and then eventually cross-training them or developing them for safety. This works on the player’s coverage skills and filters guys out as the staff tries to find the best pure coverage traits to put its best corners on the field. The requirements for corner and safety are certainly different and sometimes it’s not obvious where a player is going to end up.

However, Urquhart has a pretty extension track record of playing press man coverage and seems to flip his hips well for a bigger, physical cornerback. It seems likely that Kentucky will keep him with the corners. And when it comes to Williams it seems like safety is where he’s bound to end up. Given the traits that are spotlighted on Williams’ film he is a definite candidate to play free or strong safety where he can creep up closer to the line of scrimmage and make his best impact as almost a hybrid outside linebacker.

Expectations are everything

Fans are going to immediately draw their own conclusions and set their own expectations when they see a new player has been added to the fold. But it’s important to remember that football teams are filled with 85 scholarship players in the SEC. When a junior college player is recruited he could be expectation – importantly, by the coaching staff – to fill a particular role.

To determine what the staff’s expectations are for the player there are a few things we can take into consideration. First of all, we know that UK has been targeting JUCOs as a way of offsetting portal overspending. That would seem to indicate that these are roster spots for players who are not expected to come in as starters right away. At the same time, these players were added instead of high school players because the staff probably feels there’s at least the potential for these players to learn the defense and have a chance to play in Year 1 or 2. They do have limited eligibility, after all.

Thus, we can probably say that Da’Mare Williams was not recruited for the express purpose of taking Jordan Lovett’s starting role on the field in 2026. That will probably fall to Cam Dooley, who is coming up from an established backup role. The plan could be for Williams to come in and compete for a backup spot to make sure the roster has adequate depth across all position groups.

Williams may not be quite as coveted as was UK decommit Jordan Crutchfield, who is now with Florida State, but in replacing Crutchfield with Williams before the early signing period Kentucky could have a piece that is more likely to be ready to play in 2026 than they would have if Crutchfield had stayed on board. It’s likely the starting safeties next year will be Dooley and Ty Bryant, so it’s possible UK doesn’t target any obvious starters at safety from the JUCO level or the portal.

We know that Kentucky is on track to lose on defensive back at every position in the secondary this offseason. Safety Jordan Lovett, nickel Jantzen Dunn, and cornerback JQ Hardaway are all slated to move on. That’s a starting safety and a starting corner.

It’s unlikely that Urquhart was recruited for the purpose of replacing Hardaway as a starter at corner going into next season. However, there are more questions at corner than at safety going into next season. The Cats should be okay at nickel where they return Jaden Smith and Quay’sheed Scott.

At cornerback the Cats will have Waller, Terhyon Nichols, and some others, but the situation seems more wide open in the short term and the long term. It will be interesting to see what the coaching staff’s strategy is for building up the cornerback room before next year. Urquhart looks like someone, with his size and traits, who could realistically compete for playing time at corner next year but the staff probably won’t really know how likely that is until he has been working in the program for a while.

Eligibility remaining

Urquhart is listed as a redshirt sophomore on the Butler CC official football roster, which indicates he has two seasons of eligibility remaining. The Kentucky coaching staff knew this when they brought him on board. Assuming he’s a scholarship worthy player who isn’t just recruited as a practice body then the expectation is he can make some rotation impact in 2026 or 2027. But that will obviously depend on who else Kentucky brings in from the portal.

Williams used a redshirt year right out of high school and then saw extensive game action this season. That means he has three seasons of eligibility but no remaining redshirt year. So purely in terms of eligibility, there’s more of need for Urquhart to make an immediate impact. That matches up with the greater need at cornerback for next year.

Kentucky’s track record with JUCO DBs

It’s worth mentioning Kentucky’s track record of evaluating and developing JUCO defensive backs considering two have jumped on board in the last few days. The staff’s track record of hits or misses on JUCOs at that position is a worthwhile consideration.

Kentucky has signed a number of portal defensive backs in recent memory, though on Kevis Thomas from Maryland last year. You have to go back a good number of years to find Kentucky taking JUCO defensive backs but the Wildcats did find success with safety Zion Childress and cornerback Brandin Echols.

Going back farter than that Kentucky also had success with A.J. Stamps and even more success with Lonnie Johnson.

Thus, UK has sent two former JUCO defensive backs to the NFL under Stoops and two others turned into regular rotation players or starters in the SEC.

Of course, that’s no guarantee of success at Kentucky but the overall hit rate on JUCO defensive backs has been much higher than for players at other positions from high school or JUCO.