Does Kentucky’s defense have a new star in the making? ‘We’re excited about him.’
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UK vs. Eastern Michigan preview
Check below all week for coverage of the University of Kentucky football team leading up to its game against Eastern Michigan on Saturday.
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No play in Kentucky’s win over Toledo on Saturday elicited as many “oohs” and “aahs” in the press box as DeAndre Square’s pass deflection-turned-interception about midway through the fourth quarter.
That sequence — from breakup to the 3-yard return — lasted only about 3 seconds, but it was indicative of Square’s activity level any time he was on the field throughout the entire 60 minutes. If the Heisman Trophy were awarded after the first week, Square’s name would at least be in the conversation: he finished the game with 11 tackles (seven solo), 1.5 tackles for loss and half a sack.
It wasn’t necessarily surprising to see Square show up ready to perform — the former three-star recruit out of Detroit played in every game as a true freshman last year and started against Penn State in the Citrus Bowl — but that he was so frequently able to make his presence felt suggests that UK’s linebacker crew might just be able to get along fine without Josh Allen wreaking havoc on the edge.
“We’re going to put some weight on their shoulders to go win those one-on-ones,” Mark Stoops said of his inside linebackers earlier this month. “Then we’ll see who elevates.”
Square did so Saturday. He was one of two linebackers named to Pro Football Focus’ National Team Defense for the first week of the season. PFF analyst Cam Mellor described Square as a “missile” and noted that in 29 snaps in coverage, he didn’t allow a throw his way to be caught.
UK’s first interception of the season was, of course, the highlight.
“I was looking and I couldn’t see the quarterback no more, so I was just trying to match my coverage and he threw the ball,” Square said of his approach on that play. “I tried to bat the ball down but it ended up going up and I just tried to catch it, and I caught it.”
Stoops during his Monday media availability confirmed that Chris Oats, Square’s backup, will be suspended for the first half of the Cats’ next game against Eastern Michigan due to his ejection for a targeting penalty in the second half against Toledo. The head coach didn’t seem overly-worried about not having him available for the first 30 minutes.
“DeAndre, we’ll play him, and we’re excited about him, and so we’ll make due,” Stoops said. “We’ll be okay.”
Kash Daniel, UK’s other starter at inside linebacker, is more of the rah-rah guy for the unit. Square communicates on the field, he said, but he keeps to himself most of the time vocally.
He cut straight to the point on Saturday when asked if he felt that opposing offenses will need to be more cognizant of where he is going forward.
“Yeah, yeah,” Square said with a grin.
Notes
▪ Stoops was asked Monday about losses that fellow Southeastern Conference East Division members Missouri, South Carolina and Tennessee suffered against teams that had losing records in 2018.
“You know, it can happen to any of us, so I’m not going to sit up here and throw any stones, that’s for sure,” Stoops said. “You heard me say it, you get an opportunity to be humbled every seven days sitting up here. So I’m not going to get out in front of my skis.”
▪ Redshirt freshman Jamari Brown was the subject of some criticism online Saturday after getting burned in the secondary. One early play, a 39-yard completion that set up Toledo’s first touchdown, was particularly abhorrent.
Stoops said Brown had “bad eyes” and misjudged that throw, but that was because of an error on the defensive front.
“We had a guy up front at outside backer that could have rerouted that guy,” Stoop said. “He sat there and watched him run right past him. So our jack, Josh Paschal; I like Josh’s chances of rerouting that young man if he just plays big. And Josh didn’t play big there, he let the guy run right up the seam. Jamari’s eyes got lost and started looking in there. … people don’t always see the front problem with that. That problem could be fixed easily if we all just do our job.”
▪ Kentucky opened as 14.5-point favorite over Eastern Michigan on Sunday. It is the fourth time in the last five games that UK has opened as a double-digit favorite. The Cats are 3-0 against the spread in their last three outings.
Next game
Eastern Michigan at Kentucky
7:30 p.m. Saturday (SEC Alternate)
This story was originally published September 3, 2019 at 5:51 AM.
