Brad White Seeking Consistency From Improved Secondary Ahead of Season-Opener

Brad White Seeking Consistency From Improved Secondary Ahead of Season-Opener

One of the few consistent's in Kentucky's latest rise to relevance in the world of college football has been its defense. 

From Josh Allen to Josh Paschal, head coach Mark Stoops has churned out some remarkable defenders over the course of his nine seasons in Lexington. His bread and butter lies in the secondary, as he was a defensive back during his playing time at Iowa before becoming a DB's coach and eventually a head coach. 

Surprisingly, over the past few seasons, the secondary has been a weaker spot amongst the defense and hasn't been up to the caliber that's required to consistently stay on top of the Southeastern Conference. 

Last season, the Wildcats allowed 218.6 passing yards per game, which was 52nd best in the nation. While this seems average, it ranked 30th amongst all Power Five schools and was eighth in the SEC alone.

Kentucky's opponents converted on third downs over a third of the time (38.6 percent), and the defense compiled just nine interceptions across 13 games, which is tied for 80th in the country. 

To make matters worse, safety Yusuf Corker, who led the secondary in a bulk of statistics—including tackles and pass deflections— is gone, Quandre Mosely and Davonte Robinson have graduated, while cornerback Cedrick Dort Jr has since transferred to Wisconsin. 

Kentucky will also be without junior DB Vito Tisdale this season, as the potential starter will miss the entire 2022 season due to injury. 

Junior Carrington Valentine highlights the returnees, as the Cincinnati native will now be asked to take on a much larger role as both the top corner and a leader in the DB's room. There were high's and low's to his sophomore season, as he finished with 61 tackles and five pass deflections, but zero interceptions. 

Defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach Brad White is entering his fourth year manning the Kentucky defense, and will hope that his secondary will take that leap necessary to get the offense back on the field on a more consistent basis. 

In doing so, Kentucky brought in a pair of transfers to bring experience and depth to the unit. After spending four seasons at Ole Miss, Keidron Smith enters the fray and will likely slot into a starting position from Week 1 onward. Sophomore Zion Childress comes to Lexington from Texas State, where he started 14 times across 24 career games. 

"Individuals has elevated their game from last year and from spring. I think the additions of transfers like Keidron and Zion have been a big boost to our defense and to that back end," White said. 

Across preseason camp, it's become apparent that the linebacker core will be the star of the defense, while the defensive line boasts significant potential from end to end. It is that back end that provides question marks, though White has been high on a majority of players in the room, including the young guys. 

Both redshirt freshman Maxwell Hairston and sophomore Andru Phillips have proven that they've developed enough to the point where seeing more snaps is in the cards, according to White: 

"You can roll guys in and not skip a beat, i've also seen guys like Max Hairston really take a step forward, he's still young, but he's long and he can run," White said. "Andru Phillips has had a good camp, now he needs consistency. There's been a day or two in there where it's maybe not been as clean as it has been. That's a big thing for him is that consistency piece." 

Consistency is often a word that's flung around throughout fall camp and into the first few weeks of a season. It takes time to get into the swing of things, especially when you have to go up against the same offense every single day in practice, then switch to game prep for the upcoming opponent. 

Finding that consistent play in the secondary is going to be a key to White's group showing improvement over the course of 2022. The unit must avoid lull's like last season, where it allowed a combined 910 yards over the span of three straight losses to Georgia, Mississippi State and Tennessee. 

White is aware that performing in camp consistently is one thing, while weekly in-game success is a whole other deal:

"Everybody's got their days where they look really good, some days not quite as good. Overall, they're communicating, talking and they're making plays on footballs. Again, that's gotta show up on Saturdays, not just on practice days," he said. "I think there's good competition, I think you feel really good about a three-to-four man rotation there. Carrington's been a guy that started for us last year and is sort of the leader of that group. Keidron and Andru can play just the same, and again I think Max is a guy that can go in the game and feel comfortable."

Time will tell if the Kentucky secondary will hinder or help Kentucky's quest for that illustrious trip to Atlanta and a go at the SEC Championship. Both Stoops and White appear confident in the group, though it remains to be seen how it will gel as a unit over the course of a rigorous 12-game schedule, including matchups against some of the top offenses in the SEC and the nation.