UK’s defense lost a lot from 10-win team. Deep linebacker room should ease the pain.
A season-ending injury suffered by Vito Tisdale thinned a Kentucky secondary that already had several questions to address before the Wildcats’ first game in September. Graduations on the defensive line have left that unit void of leadership forged through dozens of Southeastern Conference showdowns.
But, for the first time in several seasons — *knock on wood* — UK should exit spring practice feeling extremely confident about its situation at linebacker. It has been able to improve its depth on the outside through the spring session in part due to an offseason surgery that sidelined one of its best players (Jordan Wright). Things are even rosier on the inside.
Jacquez Jones and DeAndre Square, both back for fifth seasons under the NCAA COVID-19 waiver, have combined for more than 100 college football games and nearly 70 starts already. The former led the Wildcats in tackles last season after doing the same thing for Ole Miss in 2020. The latter has spent his entire career at Kentucky, where he has played significant snaps since he was a true freshman in 2018. Along with safety Ty Ajian — another “super senior” — they’ll look to again make UK’s defense one of the best in the country; the Cats finished 25th in total defense a year ago (fourth in the SEC behind Georgia, Alabama and Texas A&M) and 26th in points allowed (fourth in the SEC behind the same three teams).
Ensuring that they reach their potential, in some ways, has more to do with the guys under them on the depth chart. D’Eryk Jackson and Trevin Wallace are in line to inherit starting jobs in 2023 — and could probably start elsewhere in the SEC — but will continue to get plenty of snaps as underclassmen. “D-Jack” missed most of last season due to a spring Achilles injury but looked spry upon his return late last year, and he played a lot in place of an injured Jones in the Citrus Bowl. Wallace, a late and marquee addition to the Cats’ 2021 recruiting class, was named to the All-SEC Freshman Team and played in 12 games, making one start.
“They played meaningful minutes last year, so they’re in that process of becoming a leader and stepping up in different roles,” Square said following UK’s first intrasquad scrimmage on Saturday.
Earlier in the week, defensive coordinator Brad White noted that Wallace last year was able to make an impression mostly on the merit of his athleticism. A multi-sport standout out of Jesup, Ga., Wallace came to Kentucky ranked as the second-best inside linebacker in the 2021 class but played just about every position for his high school team.
In year two, UK needs him to better parlay his gifts with the knowledge acquired through the course of a few camps and a full college season. That’ll translate into sharper play between the lines, and perhaps a lot more in time.
“Don’t be a robot,” Square told Wallace last week. “Use (your athleticism) but don’t always lean on that. If you combine football knowledge and athleticism? Then he’d remind me of Jamin.”
White while speaking about Wallace earlier in the week also evoked the name of Jamin Davis, whose meteoric rise up scouting charts ended with him getting selected 19th overall in the 2020 NFL Draft. Davis wasn’t as highly touted a recruit as Wallace — his high school ranking was closer to Jackson, a top-50 player at the position — but he carved out a spot in UK’s linebacker rotation and became a starter his junior season, after which he declared for the NFL.
Davis’ physical transformation while at UK was crucial in him becoming a first-rounder, but so was his ability to demonstrate better understanding of a pro-like defense over the course of four years. White sees a desire from Jackson and Wallace to be ready to carry the torch whenever their numbers are called this season and beyond.
“That whole room is following Square and Jacquez in terms of how they go about their business,” White said. “That’s one of the rooms we’re going to lean on heavily in the fall.”
This story was originally published April 5, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
