'Just unacceptable': Brad White, Kentucky not happy with poor perimeter tackling

The Kentucky defense forced two takeaways, gave the offense two short fields, and kept the football team in the game as the offense struggled to get drives started. However, there were also some big problems for this unit. UK was unable to eliminate explosive plays against Ole Miss. Some are unavoidable. Giving up explosive plays because of tackling inefficiency is avoidable.

In the 30-23 win, Ole Miss produced three explosive plays and rolled up nearly 100 yards on hitch throws. When redshirt sophomore quarterback Austin Simmons had to make other throws, the young quarterback struggled.

Ole Miss hitches vs. Kentucky: 6-of-7, 91 yards, 85.7% success rate, 13 yards per play, 3 explosive plays.

Austin Simmons on non-hitch throws vs. Kentucky: 7-of-17, 144 yards, 2 interceptions, 35.3% success rate, 8.5 yards per play, 2 explosive plays.

— Adam Luckett (@AdamLuckettKSR) September 9, 2025

Luckett’s Film Notebook: Kentucky misses opportunity against Ole Miss

The first thing you have to do against Lane Kiffin‘s spread tempo offense is take away explosive plays. Most importantly, you cannot let the Rebels turn a run play or a short pass into a big explosive. Kentucky took those away when they beat the Rebels in 2024. They were unable to do it just one week later. Defensive coordinator Brad White was not happy with the inability to tackle on the perimeter.

“We need to leverage the football better on the perimeter. Hitches are going to happen. That’s OK. That’s football. We need to pin them to the ground,” White said. “They need to be five-yard gains. Four-yard gains. Every once in awhile they can get a little bit loose, you know, 6-7-8. To have two explosive passes on hitches and 100 yards on seven hitches in the first half is just unacceptable.”

Without starting cornerback DJ Waller Jr. in the lineup, JQ Hardaway and Terhyon Nichols had to play exclusively at outside cornerback. The latter was making just his second career start. Each struggled to maintain leverage on hitch routes and that led to some big plays which served as drive starters for Ole Miss. Later in the game, Kentucky had to play with tighter coverage in pre-snap and that led to a big post completion to Harrison Wallace III to begin a scoring drive.

The inability to tackle in space caused massive issues for the Wildcats last week.

Hardaway believes that a lot of the problems were caused during the pre-snap process with more alignment before the snap. That put UK in a tough position once the throws were completed. White believes this group will play better this week but the inability to limit YAC played a big role in the Kentucky loss in Week 2.

“I know we’ll play better out there on the edge this week. I know there were plays that those guys were not happy with, proud of. However you want to say it,” said White. “And they’ve been dialed in this week. So they will respond. I know they will.”