Can Kentucky's defense stop a reloaded Georgia offense this season? (Photo by Vicky Graff)
By Jordan Abrams, Contributing Writer
We are counting down the days to September 3rd and football season beginning in beautiful Kroger Field.
The polls are out and Kentucky is officially a top-20 preseason football team. Kentucky has opened the year ranked No. 20 in the country according to the AP Poll. With the program being ranked in the pre-season AP poll for just the 4th time in program history, the Cats are going to have a lot of hype to live up to. Kentucky lost a lot of studs on defense after their 10-win season last season, but still managed to return a solid group of starters. So, let’s dig into the defensive side of the ball today.
Josh Paschal -> NFL
This was an easy place to start for key losses on defense. Kentucky is losing a true leader. Paschal is a warrior and a fighter and loved by all his teammates. After overcoming cancer, he became the programs only 3X team captain. During his final campaign with the Wildcats, he tracked down 52 tackles to go along with 5 sacks. He truly set himself apart from the field and was eventually drafted No. 46 overall to the Detroit Lions in the 2nd round of the NFL draft.
Yusuf Corker -> NFL
Yusuf Corker is set to be a defensive star in Ney Work along with Giants teammate and former Cat, Wandale Robinson. Corker was a multi-year starter and tied for team high, 82 tackles for the Wildcats in the 2021 season. Corker was also able to break up 8 passes for the UK defenses and grab 1 sack. Corker was also a second-team All-Sec player his junior year. Corker brought a lot of experience to an inexperienced secondary. I believe Kentucky lost some key players, but I truly believe they were able to hang on to a lot of elite talent and recruit one of their strongest freshmen classes to date. Let’s look at some of the Key defensive players for the defense to take a step forward.
Entire Linebacker Core -> Returned
Yep, the entire linebacker core. I believe this is what will allow Kentucky to have a top-15 defense this season. The Cats returned pretty much every single player in this position. This includes, Leading tackler at Kentucky last season and formerly at Ole Miss, Jaquez Jones. Most people remember Jones for making the game winning defensive play against Florida last season to knock the Gators out of the Top-10. The Cats also return veteran linebacker, Deandre Square, who had the 3rd most tackles on the team last season with 81, one less than Jones and Corker. Finally the cats also are returning Jordan Wright and the 6-finger star, JJ Weaver. Both guys have elite edge rushing speed and I believe one of the two will be top-5 in college football this season for sacks.
Deone Walker -> Freshman
So, to say it as simple as possible, Deone Walker is absolute beast. Walker was just tabbed as a preseason True Freshman All-American by On3 Sports. Walker’s commitment was overshadowed by all of the hype around Kiyaunta Goodwin (well deserved) and many people didn’t realize that Walker was going to be the star he could be. Walker has the same measurements as Jordan Davis, the recent Defensive Tackle superstar from Georgia. The coaching staff has raved about Deone Walker, and many are projecting him to be able to steal the a starting spot on the defensive line. Don’t be shocked if Walker is a massive wrecking ball for the UK defense this fall.
Carrington Valentine -> Freshman
The Junior from Cincinnati, Ohio is primed to have a big year. A big concern for the defense coming into this season is the defensive backs, which most people are now saying should not be an issue at all, mostly because of guys like Valentine who are stepping it up. Valentine is a veteran. He has played in 23 career games as a Cat and has started 13 of those games. We have seen flashes of him being great in the past, but he seems to be playing with a new confidence and the coaches are loving him on defense right now. I believe Valentine is going to be the go-to guy to lockdown the opponents No. 1 and No. 2 receivers. I expect valentine to have a big year. Honestly, he has to have a big year for the Cats to have a big year.
So, let’s sum it all up. Despite losing key talent last season, Kentucky is still going to be loaded on defense. Many “experts” expected Kentucky’s weakest link to be the defense. Coaches and several media members, including myself, are starting to believe the defense is going to be one of the best in college football. Kentucky is returning way more than they lost and added a lot of depth to the defense via the transfer portal and the huge recruiting class, which will probably have 4-5 true freshman in it. Kentucky is returning the vast majority of their defense and the players know that playbook better than their families at this point.
Buckle up, it’s going to be a fun season. September 3rd can’t get here soon enough.
