Kentucky PFF grades and snap counts versus Vanderbilt

Kentucky football moved to 4-0 on Saturday after a 45-28 victory that was full of milestones. JuTahn McClain scored the first touchdown of his career, Ray Davis got into the endzone twice against his former team, and Maxwell Hairston made Wildcats history with two pick-sixes in a single game, becoming only the sixth player in SEC history to accomplish that feat.

Now it is time to go beyond the highlights and dive into the analytics with individual player grades provided by PFF. As a quick reminder, these scores reflect each player’s performance on a scale of 1-100 with 60 indicating an average game, anything above 80 being a very good game, and a number in the 40s or below means it wasn’t the best outing.

Included in the charts below are all players who played at least five snaps.

Defense

Despite the record-setting interceptions returned for touchdowns, PFF did not score Maxwell Hariston’s run coverage well. This subcategory came in at 36.6 which dropped Hairston’s overall score down to 69.6.

Deone Walker topped all defensive starters with a steller 81.4 rating and backup Darrion Henry-Young graded out best among all players on either side of the ball, despite only playing 15 snaps, with an overall rating of 82, boosted by a 90.8 pass-rush rating.

Andru Phillips had a great game according to PFF with a grade of 80, which was also the number of snaps he played. Coming into the season, Kentucky had a big question at cornerback but Phillips and Hairston have put those concerns to rest.

Kentucky Defensive PFF Grades and Snap Counts versus Vanderbilt

Defense
Player	Pos	Snaps	Grade
Darrion Henry-Young	DT	15	82
Deone Walker	DT	60	81.4
Andru Phillips	CB	80	80
Jonquis Hardaway	CB	9	78.9
D’Eryk Jackson	LB	50	73.7
Maxwell Hairston	CB	72	69.6
Zion Childress	S	67	69.2
Daveren Rayner	LB	24	67.4
Keaton Wade	LB	42	66.8
Jalen Geiger	S	49	66.7
Octavious Oxendine	DE	38	63.6
Alex Afari	CB	30	62.7
Jamarius Dinkins	DT	8	62.7
Jordan Robinson	CB	48	62.4
JJ Weaver	LB	62	62.3
Josaih Hayes	DL	8	60.8
Trevin Wallace	LB	54	60.8
Martez Thrower	LB	26	59.6
Tre’vonn Rybka	DL	13	57.3
Jordan Lovett	S	45	56
Kahlil Saunders	LB	31	55.9
Keeshawn Silver	DE	16	55.8
Tyreese Fearby	LB	14	54.3
Noah Matthews	LB	19	44.5

Offense

The offense started off strong before coming to a screeching halt in the second quarter. The PFF grades tend to reflect the overall meh performance with a few sprinkles of greatness mixed in. Brenden Bates led all starters with a grade of 73.2, and fellow tight end led all offensive players with a grade of 78.2, even though he only saw the field for seven snaps.

PFF could also reveal one of the reasons Liam Coen plays so many tight ends. Besides them being talented pass-catchers, they might be the best run blockers on the team. In this subcategory, Kentucky had three tight ends, Anderson, Izayah Cummings, and Jordan Dingle who scored better than every other player on the field in his subcategory against Vanderbilt.

Contrast that with the linemen who, other than a nice bounce-back game for Jager Burton, tend to struggle in run blocking according to PFF. Where they excel, though, is in pass blocking. Against Vandy, Eli Cox and Marques Cox both scored in the 80s in this area.

Kentucky Offensive PFF Grades and Snap Counts versus Vanderbilt

Offense
Player	Pos	Snaps	Grade
Khamari Anderson	TE	7	78.3
Brenden Bates	TE	35	73.2
JuTahn McClain	RB	18	71.6
Jager Burton	G	64	70.6
Izayah Cummings	TE	14	69.7
Dane Key	WR	50	67.8
Tayvion Robinson	WR	48	67.7
Devin Leary	QB	65	65.1
Eli Cox	C	65	64
Barion Brown	WR	44	62.7
Ray Davis	RB	39	62.1
Jeremy Flax	T	43	61
Demie Sumo-Karngbaye	RB	13	59
Marques Cox	T	65	58.8
Anthony Brown-Stephens	WR	10	57.6
Dylan Ray	G	64	52.1
Jordan Dingle	TE	42	51
Courtland Ford	T	22	42.8