Vito Tisdale (UK Athletics Photo)
A season-ending knee injury to defensive back Vito Tisdale obviously is going to have Kentucky looking at the transfer portal even harder for help.
“There’s always certain spots where you feel like you have the ability to bring somebody in, and I think that’s certainly a spot where we need to keep our eyes open,” said Stoops after Thursday’s practice.
Tisdale was being moved from an all-purpose defensive back to cornerback to help a huge need UK has for the 2022 season. He’s a former four-star recruit who missed time last season after he was one of the UK players involved in an offseason altercation at a fraternity house on campus.
“It’s definitely a big loss for our team and especially for Vito, because he’s a very good, a very active, versatile football player,” Stoops said.
Tisdale is probably the biggest, most explosive hitter in the Kentucky secondary and a player capable of big plays that can win games in the Southeastern Conference. Stoops understands that better than anyone.
“I don’t know if anyone had that type of versatility: play nickel, play safety or play corner. We don’t have anybody that can do that. Vito was very active and he was very sudden. He had a lot of pop in everything that he did,” Stoops said.
“But the instincts are in there as well. We just gotta have other guys step up.”
There’s never a good time to have a key player injured but defensive coordinator Brad White says it is not “fourth and one” for the Cats five months before the season starts.
“If you have to put a guy for a rep or two out of position, it’s good for him and he gets to feel, ‘Oh wow. The guy that actually plays here, this is a tough job if the guy in front of me doesn’t do it right,'” White said.
“They gain an awareness of the entire structure and how it all pieces together. That’s why you do it. It’s no different than the bowl game.”
