UK football might look more to young receivers as battle of shaky secondaries nears
Kentucky isn’t the only team in the Southeastern Conference trying to bring along a young secondary. South Carolina’s shakiness in that department worsened earlier this week.
The Gamecocks, who so far have only fared better than Vanderbilt among the 14 SEC teams when it comes to their pass defense, lost starting safety Jamyest Williams on Tuesday; not to injury or suspension, but a decision to sit out the team’s remaining eight games, take a redshirt and enter the NCAA transfer portal. The junior was a former four-star recruit who three years ago picked South Carolina over Georgia and Oklahoma.
All of South Carolina’s remaining scholarship defensive backs are sophomores or freshmen outside of J.T. Ibe, a senior graduate transfer who ultimately played in just four games his first year at the school (he suffered a season-ending knee injury against UK). South Carolina might be in a worse spot when it comes to depth but has an edge when it comes to experience. Its sophomores — R.J. Roderick, Israel Mukuamu and Jaycee Horn — combined to play in 37 games last year and all had starts as true freshmen; Horn made 10 starts alone. UK entered the season with just one defensive back — senior Jordan Griffin — who’d seen significant action, and he only had one start under his belt before this year.
Both teams rank in the bottom half of the league in just about every defensive category: Collectively, the Gamecocks have given up 290.5 yards per game through the air, or almost 50 more yards a game than UK’s group has given up each game (245.8, fifth worst in the SEC). UK is third worst in the league against the run (152.3 yards per game) but South Carolina is only 7 yards better (145, fifth worst). South Carolina ha surrendered 86 first downs this season while Kentucky has given up 82. The Cats have allowed 24.5 points to their opponents; Carolina has given up 28.8 each time out.
This weekend game might play out any number of ways — a report earlier this week from The State laid out the unusual nature of how UK’s five-game win streak in the series has materialized — but given those trends it’s fair to assume both offenses could thrive down in Columbia, particularly through the air.
UK co-offensive coordinator Eddie Gran isn’t making any presumptions about what the Cats could achieve in the passing game.
“We’ll have our hands full,” Gran told reporters Tuesday. “They do a great job mixing up coverages. They’re not gonna ever let you feel comfortable, and it’s been like that since we’ve played them. They do a fantastic job.
“I mean, we’re in the SEC now. I don’t think there’s a weak secondary out there.”
UK wants to send more fresh legs onto the field at South Carolina. Lynn Bowden and Ahmad Wagner, the Cats’ leading receivers, played too many snaps at Mississippi State, Gran said.
In addition to Josh Ali — a steady, hard worker who isn’t touted enough, according to Gran — Clevan Thomas and Bryce Oliver, whose only career reception this was a touchdown catch in UK’s season opener, could have their number called more on Saturday.
“They’re gonna get in there, and it’s time for them to prove themselves, too,” Gran said. “That means alignment, assignment, technique. This’ll be a big week for them.”
More stats
South Carolina and UK each boast two of the league’s top receivers in terms of total yards — Bowden (No. 7) and Wagner (No. 17) for the Cats, Bryan Edwards (No. 8) and Shi Smith (No. 20) for the Gamecocks. Both teams will start backup quarterbacks who last weekend had their availability for this week called into question due to injuries sustained in their last outing.
Sawyer Smith threw the ball well in practice Tuesday, Gran said. His shoulder was hurt in the second quarter at Mississippi State.
“He was a little bit sore, expected to be,” Gran said. “Just like everybody else. The linemen are sore, everybody is. It was good to get him out here, get warmed up and get going.”
Opponents this season are completing 63.8 percent of their passes against the Cats, who themselves are connecting on 55.3 percent of their throws. South Carolina has converted 60.3 percent of its passes but is allowing opponents to complete 64 percent of theirs. UK’s gains are typically bigger than the Gamecocks’ — 12.56 per catch to 10.4 — and it’s fared slightly better in gains its given up (11.84 per catch to South Carolina’s 12.8 allowed).
Kentucky last week gave up only 36 yards on four receptions to Osirus Mitchell, Mississippi State’s top threat, and 180 yards total to the Bulldogs, but that was at least in part due to the ease with which State ran the ball. When Garrett Shrader did throw, it worked out more often than not — he was 17 of 22 for the Bulldogs with an interception — but it was his takeoff ability (125 yards on 11 carries) that most ruined UK’s afternoon.
Through three games Ryan Hilinski, a true freshman, hasn’t shown to be much of a runner. He’s officially credited with nine carries for a net loss of 11 yards because of sacks; his longest run this season was for five yards but he has scored a touchdown on the ground. That’s almost exactly what Smith has done in three games for Kentucky, though he’s stayed on the positive side (9 net yards on 15 “rushes”).
Next game
Kentucky at South Carolina
7:30 p.m. Saturday (SEC Network)
