Kentucky's new offense has commanded most of the buzz surrounding the program during the off-season, but could the Wildcats also have a different look on defense in 2021?

Mark Stoops hinted Tuesday during his Q&A session at SEC Media Days in Birmingham, Ala., that UK is looking for ways to take advantage of its depth and talent in the secondary.

The Cats have typically played a 3-4 base under Stoops and have emerged as one of the best units in the SEC in recent years, but this year's roster features 16 returning defensive backs -- eight who have played significant snaps during their time in Lexington -- and a thinner group of linebackers.

That led to some experimentation this spring with 3-3-5 alignments, and apparently, Stoops liked what he saw.

"I do feel like there are some things we can do to play with some smaller personnel with the experience that we have," he said. "We try to play to our strengths, and this year some of that strength may be to play smaller, to play with five defensive backs more than we have in the past, to give us some more versatility.

"So we will see. That's something that we definitely did experiment with quite a bit in the spring. We'll see where that goes here through camp."

Making a shift to a five-man secondary could benefit the Cats in several ways. The first would be getting the best 11 players on the field. Safety may be one of the deepest spots on the roster for 2021 as Yusuf Corker, Tyrell Ajian, Davonte Robinson, and Vito Tisdale all have significant experience. Finding a way to use a couple of those players as hybrid safety/linebackers could get more of them on the field.

The other benefit would be as a counter to the proliferation of spread offenses in the SEC and the college game in general. An additional defensive back would give the Cats more options in defending the pass after the departure of corners Kelvin Joseph and Brandin Echols to the NFL.

Kentucky ranked No. 1 in the SEC in passing defense (224.6 ypg), No. 4 in total defense (380.7 ypg), and No. 5 in scoring defense (25.9 ppg) during the 2020 season. The Cats ranked third nationally and led the league in interceptions with 16.