Roundtable: How good can Kentucky's defense be?
Before Mark Stoops' arrival at Kentucky it had been a very long time since the Wildcats' football program was known for its play on that side of the ball.
But that has changed, with UK becoming and sustaining its status as one of the more consistent defensive programs in the SEC, dating back to the 2018 season.
How close can this defense be to Kentucky's 2018 unit? How much will the defense be able to carry Kentucky this fall, if needed?
That's the topic of today's roundtable.
Jeff Drummond: The 2018 UK defense will always set the bar for the Wildcats until we see another unit come along and produce the numbers (and the stars) like that one did. On paper, this year's defense has a chance to be really good. It may be the most experienced group that Mark Stoops has enjoyed during his time at UK with 10 players returning who started at one point or another last year. Being "strong up the middle" is a big key in this sport, and the Cats look to be in great hands with All-American defensive tackle Deone Walker up front, veteran linebackers D'Eryk Jackson and Pop Dumas-Johnson on the next level, and safeties like Zion Childress, Jordan Lovett, Kristian Story, and Ty Bryant on the back end. Another potential All-American, Maxwell Hairston, will man one of the corners. The big questions for this unit reaching its potential will be finding a second corner to complement Hairston and getting consistent pressure off the edge from guys like JJ Weaver, Tyrese Fearbry, and Alex Afari. If those guys can bring heat on the quarterback, this defense may have a chance to rival Stoops' best.
Travis Graf: On paper this is Kentucky’s best defensive unit since 2018. They have a few studs scattered throughout each level, but none that absolutely take over the game like Josh Allen did in 2018. That brings me to the biggest question mark of this team — where does the pass rush come from on the outside? JJ Weaver has been solid his whole career but they don’t have an edge rusher that you can trust to get home on a consistent basis. With that being said, Deone Walker is a beast on the front line and I’m bullish on Keshawn Silver’s production this season. Pop Dumas-Johnson is a guy you can expect to bring leadership and consistent production especially in the run game, and teams shouldn’t be able to run up the middle against the trio of Walker, Dumas-Johnson, and D’Eryk Jackson. Maxwell Hairston is garnering a ton of praise mid-season and the staff has talked about playing more man coverage this season, it’ll be interesting to see how that allows Hairston to make plays on the outside on an island. This defense isn’t 2018’s defense, but the expectation should be that they’ll be pretty dang good.
Justin Rowland: On paper, this should be Mark Stoops' second best defense. I can't "predict" it will be the best because that 2018 unit was stellar. No second half first downs allowed against Missouri, what they did over the course of the season, etc. But I see a ton of reasons to be very excited about this group.
They have high impact players and potential All-Americans at every level. They have a potential top-five pick up front and there are a couple of senior starters alongside him. D'Eryk Jackson and Jamon Dumas-Johnson appears to be one of the best ILB duos in college football. Maxwell Hairston could leave early after this season.
The number I need to see come down is completion percentage allowed. The ball has to touch the ground more. I think that's a reasonable ask considering the potential disruptiveness (28 sacks return from last year's team) and the emerging depth on the back end. So I'll call for it to be Stoops' second most impactful defense - all things considered ranging from yards allowed to turnovers, havoc and ability to get off the field - and it's one that gives UK a chance in every game but one this season.
My take is that whether this is a top-two Stoops era unit or maybe the best will hinge on the potential breakouts of players like DJ Waller, Tyreese Fearbry, and some others.