What we learned about Kentucky's defense after second spring practice

Spring football is off and running over at the Joe Craft Football Training Facility. Phase two has arrived and there is a lot of new with Will Stein‘s program. After hearing from the offense on Tuesday, defense day arrived on Thursday.

Defensive coordinator Jay Bateman spoke with the media before the team gets next week off for spring break. This is what we learned.

Autonomy and staff build led Jay Bateman to Kentucky

Jay Bateman was a defensive coordinator in the SEC over the last two seasons. Kentucky’s new play caller was on a College Football Playoff team in 2025. The Aggies were a win versus Texas away from reaching the SEC Championship Game in each of the last two seasons. Yet, their defensive coordinator decided to leave College Station for Texas.

Why? For autonomy and to build a staff that he had a huge part in building.

“I was looking for a little bit more, like, autonomy on the defensive side. You know, Mike (Elko) was great, you know, Mike was very involved,” Bateman told KSR on Friday. “And I think talking to Will, it just felt like it was the right thing. It was the right time and it’s been awesome. So, I’m really happy. I think things are going great.”

Elko served as A&M primary play caller. Bateman did not have that responsibility. That will change in 2026 at Kentucky. The former Elon, Army, North Carolina, and Texas A&M defensive coordinator will have full control of the defense in the Bluegrass. However, unlike previous gigs, Bateman gotten to help build the staff. Allen Brown (cornerbacks), Josh Christian-Young (safeties), James Gibson (stars), Ty Holder (assistant cornerbacks), Trey Odom (assistant safeties), and Chad Wilt (inside linebackers) have all worked with Bateman before. Getting to build a staff played a huge role in Bateman making this move.

“That was a really big part of it,” Bateman explained. “Really big part of it…The last couple times I’ve been able to do this, I haven’t had that opportunity. And I felt like when I had have that opportunity, we’ve been pretty good on defense. So that was a pretty important piece for me.”

After a good run at Elon and Army, things did not go well for Bateman at North Carolina. That led to Mack Brown making a change after three seasons. The defensive coordinator did not get to build a staff in Chapel Hill. That is not the situation in Lexington.

Autonomy and hiring power ultimately led to Bateman moving to Kentucky.

Kentucky’s defense will have pieces of North Carolina, Florida, and Texas A&M

We know that Kentucky is going to play a more aggressive brand of football in 2026. That is known. Will Stein has discussed this. What does that mean for the defensive operation in Lexington? Jay Bateman refused to get into specifics but it is likely that UK will utilize more even front, will almost always play with a true nickel, and will major in simulated pressures with an emphasis of heating up the quarterback on third down. The days of sitting in heavy-zone coverage and trying to keep everything in front is probably done.

Bateman plans on bringing pieces from all of this previous stops to UK.

“I don’t really want to give a whole lot away, but obviously we had a lot of success at Texas A&M…I think we’re going to take something from there,” Bateman explained.

“I coached with Patrick Toney and Austin Armstrong at Florida, two really good coordinators. So there’ll be pieces of that and there’ll be pieces of what I did when I was at North Carolina and Army. So I think there’s going to be pieces of all of it that we’ll try to get together.”

Armstrong is the defensive coordinator at Houston. That is where Josh Christian-Young came from. Toney is staying in the NFL as the Atlanta Falcons defensive pass game coordinator after originally taking a job as the Ole Miss defensive coordinator this offseason.

Kentucky isn’t getting into specifics but a lot more 4-2-5 will be played in Lexington.

Jay Bateman is a big fan of Sam Greene

After spending two seasons at USC, Sam Greene transferred to Kentucky following the 2023 season. The outside linebacker carved out a role in year two in the Big Ten and became a productive run defender. This former top-500 recruit started nine games for the Cats and finished the season with 25 tackles, three tackles for loss, and 18 pressures in 338 snaps.

Greene suffered an ACL injury in November and was forced to miss Kentucky’s final three games. The outside linebacker will miss spring and likely will not be available to start the season. That hasn’t stopped the DMV native from making an impact this offseason at the Joe Craft Football Training Facility.

“I’ll be really excited to get Sam back,” Bateman said. “I think Sam’s just a tremendous kid and a really good player…I don’t ever remember ever, like, coming into a situation like this with a kid that I didn’t really know who, like, as a leader, is doing such a good job even though he can’t really practice right now.”

Bateman explained that he is really excited about Kentucky’s front pieces and “that was pretty appealing” in the job evaluation process. The defensive specifically mentioned that Lorenzo Cowan and C.J. Works have a chance to be really good players but jumped at the chance to praise Greene.

The redshirt junior is emerging as a leader on this football team.

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Hasaan Sykes will play big role at cornerback

Cornerback was a position of need for the Kentucky defense entering this year’s transfer portal. The only win at the position with playing experience was Western Carolina transfer Hasaan Sykes. This FCS player is leveling up but he has a lot of fans inside the program.

“We had kind of identified Sykes as a guy, you know, from a little bit lower level. I just think, man, the lower level guys when you find the guys that like their hunger and their ability to come in and really impact…I coached a kid last year names Cashius Howell who came from Bowling Green who’s SEC Player of the Year. One of the best football players I’ve ever been around,” Bateman said. “So, I just watched Sykes’ film and then I think we kind of got the story about where like how he got to Western Carolina.”

Could the cornerback have a similar impact? That is to be determined but Bateman belives that Sykes will “surprise some people this fall”. The defensive coordinator is also a big fan of returnee Terhyon Nichols and likes what he’s seen from both Grant Grayton and Demarcus Garnder. This was a position of concern but UK likes where they sit early in spring ball.

“I was worried about that position, but man, through three practices, I feel pretty good about those guys,” Bateman said.

Kentucky went young at linebacker out of necessity

Cornerback was a position that had to be addressed. So was linebacker. Kentucky needed to find a plug-and-play starter in the transfer portal. Instead of landing a known commodity with experience, UK ended up with former blue-chip recruits Bo Barnes and Tavion Wallace who have not played much college football. Why was that?

Jay Bateman explained on Friday.

“To be honest with you, we wanted to try and find a veteran guy that had played more. And I just didn’t think there were any that were good enough,” Kentucky’s defensive coordinator explained. “Ultimately, you know, this isn’t Little League. This is the SEC and there’s a certain height, weight, speed, physicality requirement a kid has to have.”

Bateman was familiar with both players. The play caller recruited each. Now Kentucky must get each playing to their potential quickly. Bateman says that UK made a bet on coaching development at this position when the market wasn’t what they were looking for. Both players will be expected to play big roles while returnees Grant Godfrey and Antwan Smith are also competing for starting spots.