With a starter sidelined for the year, where will Kentucky look for a lift?

The number of absentees from the Kentucky football team’s secondary grew from five to six on Thursday with the announcement that Davonte Robinson would miss the 2019 season due to a torn right quadriceps muscle.

Five of the missing defenders — four starters in Derrick Baity, Mike Edwards, Lonnie Johnson and Darius West, along with reserve Chris Westry — left for the NFL Draft in April. The injury to Robinson, who started three games, leaves UK with just one defensive back (safety Jordan Griffin) who’s started at the FBS level.

Where can the Wildcats look to replace Robinson’s experience and production this fall?

Jordan Griffin

Griffin (6-foot, 194 pounds) started in four of UK’s first five games last season and has played in 25 of its last 26 games. He also got early run as a freshman, appearing eight games his first year on campus. Formerly a top-200 recruit and four-star prospect, Griffin will be asked to live up to that billing in a big way as a senior and the only guy resembling a “known quantity” among the safeties.

Tyrell Ajian

Ajian could start in place of Robinson. He played in every game as a redshirt freshman, coming up with 10 tackles, three pass break-ups and an interception (recorded during UK’s victory over Mississippi State last season). He too is a former four-star recruit and was considered the No. 10 prospect in Ohio in the class of 2017. His frame is identical to Griffin’s — 6-foot, 194 pounds — but he’ll have to grow up in a hurry.

Yusuf Corker

Corker’s the other guy who’s most likely to push to succeed Robinson as a starter. He too is a former four-star defensive back who played in every game as a redshirt freshman, recording eight tackles along the way. The 6-foot sophomore is a shade lighter at 192 pounds.

Depth

The above three will vie for two starting spots. In the spring, former walk-on Zach Johnson moved to safety from running back and walk-on Zac Berezowitz switched to the position from wide receiver. Johnson made special-teams appearances in all 13 games last year and made eight tackles, so perhaps he’ll have an opportunity to break the rotation. Berezowitz has never played in a game. The program added another walk-on, Jaylen Scott, in the offseason.

Moses Douglass, a 6-2, 205-pound freshman who enrolled in the spring, could make a name for himself early on. He was a four-star prospect according to 247Sports, which had him pegged as the 13th best player in Ohio and the 30th best safety in the 2019 class. Douglass committed to UK over reported offers from Alabama, Louisville, Michigan and Tennessee.

Douglass is the son of Maurice Douglass, who starred at cornerback for Kentucky in the 1980s.

More about Robinson

Robinson last season started in three of UK’s final five games, including its victory over Penn State on New Year’s Day. As a sophomore he recorded 42 tackles, broke up four passes and recovered two fumbles, including a 30-yard TD return that sealed the Cats’ streak-snapping victory over Florida. Robinson, a soft-spoken individual who was a football and track-and-field star at Henry Clay High School, worked on becoming more of a vocal leader throughout the spring.

He suffered the injury on Tuesday. No timetable for his recovery was announced.

Important upcoming UK dates

Saturday: Women’s Clinic

Aug. 2: Media Day and first practice

Aug. 3: Fan Day

Aug. 31: Season opener vs. Toledo at Kroger Field

This story was originally published July 25, 2019 at 12:56 PM.