Kentucky will be a Collective Defense that Relies on Depth

The 2024 Kentucky defense featured star power at all three levels. A couple of those stars are now in training camp with the Buffalo Bills. It’s a little harder to find stars ahead of the 2025 season. To make a difference and stack up stops, Brad White will lean into the Wildcats’ depth.

The lack of depth clearly cost the Cats a year ago. Mark Stoops isn’t using injuries as an excuse, but they weren’t hard to find. Kentucky consistently had the longest injury report in the SEC. Deone Walker played with a broken back. Maxwell Hairston missed five SEC games. D’Eryk Jackson was the heart and soul of Kentucky’s run defense. It fell apart when he missed the final four games of the season.

Kentucky let go of the rope halfway through the 2024 campaign, but it all started in the spring. Kentucky lost so many defensive linemen, they couldn’t practice.

Mark Stoops’ staff sought to fix those problems during roster-building season. Kentucky added quality depth across the board, particularly in the front seven. They created a deeper roster and they intend to use it this fall.

“We’ve got a whole bunch of pieces that can make a really cool puzzle. But in years past, we would count on 6, 7, 8, guys, and they would play 75% of the snaps, and we’d bleed others in. That’s not what this group is going to be,” defensive coordinator Brad White said recently.

“This group is, you get 30 or 40 snaps, and you go all out in your package. Then we’re going to have somebody else take 30 or 40 more or 15 snaps here. This is going to have to be a collective defense. Twenty-plus guys are gonna have to play on any given day. This isn’t going to be a situation where you’re playing 13, 14, 15 guys.”

Certain transfer portal additions fit that mold, like linebacker Landyn Watson, but most of that depth comes from players who were already on the roster. Brad White believes many of the second-year players, like Quay’Sheed Scott, Cam Dooley, Terhyon Nichols, Jerod Smith, and all of the other Smiths, will play an important role in the future of the Kentucky defense.

“I thought last year’s (recruiting) class has a chance to be one of the most impactful defensive classes that maybe ever come through this program,” said White.

Kentucky is trying to win the war on the gridiron with overwhelming numbers. For that strategy to work, significant strides must be taken by underclassmen during fall camp to ensure they’re ready when the season kicks off against Toledo on Aug. 30.