While the early signing period is over there are still a lot of dominoes to fall when it comes to events that will shape the construction of Kentucky's next football roster.

One of those dominoes went down on Wednesday. Senior nose tackle Marquan McCall announced that he will be entering the 2022 NFL Draft.

Before last year seniors typically didn't announce their intentions to enter the draft. It was a foregone conclusion because their eligibility was exhausted. But with COVID-19 and the NCAA allowing players to have an extra season of eligibility if they want it (and the coaches agree), it's one final hoop we have to jump through.

So with McCall announcing he's off to the NFL what does that mean for Kentucky's defense next season?

This year McCall played 270 snaps spread out over nine games in 2021, of which 236 were on the defensive line and the rest came on special teams.

McCall played a lot of snaps in Kentucky's first four games but only seven against Florida. He then missed the next several games against the best teams on Kentucky's schedule before he returned for the game against Vanderbilt.

PFF Grade & Snaps Played by Week ...

UL-Monroe: 73.2 (36 DL snaps)

Missouri: 56.0 (41 DL snaps)

Chattanooga: 64.4 (36 DL snaps)

South Carolina: 78.6 (30 DL snaps)

Florida: 28.7 (6 DL snaps)

LSU: N/A

Georgia: N/A

Mississippi State: N/A

Tennessee: N/A

Vanderbilt: 60.0 (18 DL snaps)

New Mexico State: 57.1 (20 DL snaps)

Louisville: 65.2 (17 DL snaps)

Iowa: 60.5 (32 snaps)

For the season McCall's 65.2 defense grade is the combination of a 65.7 run defense mark, a 33.0 tackling grade, and a 70.1 pass rush score. The tackling grade may be a little misleading. In Kentucky's scheme McCall wasn't able to rack up a lot of tackles so every "missed" tackle affected the score a lot more than it otherwise would have.

Last year (2020) McCall had a higher run defense score (69.3) than pass rush (61.9) score.

Notice that McCall's snaps per game went down significantly over Kentucky's final three contests after he returned. Some of that could have been the level of competition. Some of that could have been the coaching staff taking it easy with McCall returning from an injury as a senior. Some of it could have been they were much more comfortable with the depth situation there once he returned, given the experience gained by Justin Rogers and Josaih Hayes.

Hayes played 241 snaps, McCall played 236 snaps, and Rogers played 209 snaps on the defensive line so the rotation was very equitable.

Hayes scored a 65.6 (64.2 run defense, 78.5 tackling, 66.4 pass rush) and played a high of 40 snaps against Mississippi State with McCall out. Of Hayes' defensive snaps, 127 were at nose.

Rogers scored a season grade of 65.5 (69.4 run defense, 66.1 tackling, 58.9 pass rush). Of his snaps, roughly half (115) were at nose tackle, the position McCall will vacate.

Where McCall was probably the best this year and recently was his ability to get excellent penetration and really be disruptive at the point of attack. Whether that was consistent is another story but he did turn into a very impactful starter and contributor for Kentucky.

For McCall, the issue is going to be whether scouts saw enough this year. He's got a lot of physical ability, no question, but games against LSU, UGA, Mississippi State, and Tennessee would have been arguably his biggest showcase opportunities.

As for Kentucky, the hope had been going into this season that the program's Class of 2020 defensive linemen would take a step forward. As fortune had it, the two to take the biggest step forward in terms of playing time and production were Rogers and Hayes, although Oxendine was right there but for an injury.

Through recruiting and development Kentucky can sustain the loss of a player like McCall and replace him in much the same way he replaced Quinton Bohanna, only the depth situation is even better now with two proven young players ready to take over.

It's worth pointing out that Kentucky's three worst defensive games were when McCall was out of the lineup and the Cats did have trouble stopping the run against both Georgia and Mississippi State.