Spent a lot of my time breaking down the offense in the couple of days after the game but wanted to post some thoughts on the defense. Posting here for the sake of discussion rather than in a content piece.
- Josh Paschal is going to be a monster. It's not hyperbole. He is so developed but also so explosive. On top of that, you can already tell he has a high football IQ the way he defends the read option and reacts so quickly, as quickly as anybody on the defense. He lined up alternately as a defensive end and as a Jack. With his hand in the dirt he had more success rushing from the right defensive end spot than the i nside or left. On one play he stayed so low it was impossible for the LT to get his hands on him. It looked like he was going to fall on the ground but he stayed almost parallel to the ground for 3 or 4 steps and chased Keon Howard out of the pocket, letting other guys chase him out of bounds before the sticks (was third down).
- Paschal was a third down beast. Doesn't show on the stat sheet but he was super aggressive up front. When it's 3rd and medium/long and UK shows Allen, Ware, Paschal and Middleton up front that's a pretty ferocious group.
- Impressed by the way the defensive linemen and linebackers all use their hands this year so credit LeBlanc and Hood. Josh Allen seems to have really refined his in particular. Super nice rip on the OT's right elbow on his sack/forced fumble and he went to that time and again. Will have to expand his repertoire but looks good right now. Also started drawing a double team after that first half occasionally, and that freed Ware up for a big play.
- Quinton Bohanna looked good, didn't do anything spectacular but was right around the action and played his assignment. Made his debut when Kentucky was up 14-3. An aside, but Stoops/LeBlanc went from their 1's to their 2's when UK went up 7-0, then from their 2's to their 3's when UK built a 14-3 lead. But I noticed Bohanna came out as the nose late in the third quarter when it was 17-10 so in a high pressure, critical situation he was playing well enough for the coaches to leave him in. That spoke volumes.
- On Calvin Taylor, really like the way he moves laterally for someone his size. Really long arms, can stretch into the running lanes and he is an awkward guy to block because of his build. Not great burst or as much ability to get upfield but a nice change of pace and tough to your hands on good if you're an OT.
- On Kordell Looney, he will push for a starting job sooner rather than later. Explodes into the OT with his hands, quick off the ball, powerful. UK has a lot of SEC caliber defensive linemen right now. The line is much better than I expected but of course I think they will still face some issues against the SEC's better O-Lines because so many of them are young.
- Middleton played with great awareness, really quick and played a couple of screens well. Just because I'm not writing a lot about Elam doesn't mean he didn't play well.
- Kengera Daniel had a nice sequence of plays at one point. After Courtney Love's horsecollar he got upfield, the QB stepped up and he disengaged and forced an incompletion, almost gathering the sack. On the very next play he fought off a block and dragged down Griggs.
- Darius West played an outstanding game. Super quick to the ball. He, the safeties and linebackers benefited from the DE's/LB's doing a nice job of setting the edge. Really forced action back to the middle of the field. Saw Jordan Jones and others selling out to force the play back inside, better than I noticed last year. His only miscue was covering the crossing pattern rather than helping Griffin on the long touchdown pass that made it 14-10.
- Lonnie Johnson had an okay day. Definitely belongs out there. Contested throws. Did break on one or two balls a little slowly for the cushion he was giving.
- Eli Brown does some things really good and has some clear limitations. No surprise. He is so fast and reacts well to get in front of blocks when he's outside the box covering the flat but there were a couple of times when he was just taken completely out of the play when he was in the box and didn't take a block on quickly enough. He's not going to fight off many good blocks so he's definitely a situational guy although they gave him quite a bit of time.
- Here is my big takeaway on the 1st/2nd half splits, re: "Why did they let up a bit?" Kwadra Griggs is just better than Keon Howard. One quarterback played timid, not quite sure of what he wanted to do, definitely bothered by Kentucky's speed up front. The other, Griggs, was not intimidated by Kentucky's speed and committed to whatever he was going to do. He just played a lot more confidently. I don't know that Kentucky stopped playing well defensively. The tackling did deteriorate some in the 2nd half but I thought, on second glance, that's because Griggs was just spreading the field out and attacking more of the field than Howard did, so credit to him.
- Josh Paschal is going to be a monster. It's not hyperbole. He is so developed but also so explosive. On top of that, you can already tell he has a high football IQ the way he defends the read option and reacts so quickly, as quickly as anybody on the defense. He lined up alternately as a defensive end and as a Jack. With his hand in the dirt he had more success rushing from the right defensive end spot than the i nside or left. On one play he stayed so low it was impossible for the LT to get his hands on him. It looked like he was going to fall on the ground but he stayed almost parallel to the ground for 3 or 4 steps and chased Keon Howard out of the pocket, letting other guys chase him out of bounds before the sticks (was third down).
- Paschal was a third down beast. Doesn't show on the stat sheet but he was super aggressive up front. When it's 3rd and medium/long and UK shows Allen, Ware, Paschal and Middleton up front that's a pretty ferocious group.
- Impressed by the way the defensive linemen and linebackers all use their hands this year so credit LeBlanc and Hood. Josh Allen seems to have really refined his in particular. Super nice rip on the OT's right elbow on his sack/forced fumble and he went to that time and again. Will have to expand his repertoire but looks good right now. Also started drawing a double team after that first half occasionally, and that freed Ware up for a big play.
- Quinton Bohanna looked good, didn't do anything spectacular but was right around the action and played his assignment. Made his debut when Kentucky was up 14-3. An aside, but Stoops/LeBlanc went from their 1's to their 2's when UK went up 7-0, then from their 2's to their 3's when UK built a 14-3 lead. But I noticed Bohanna came out as the nose late in the third quarter when it was 17-10 so in a high pressure, critical situation he was playing well enough for the coaches to leave him in. That spoke volumes.
- On Calvin Taylor, really like the way he moves laterally for someone his size. Really long arms, can stretch into the running lanes and he is an awkward guy to block because of his build. Not great burst or as much ability to get upfield but a nice change of pace and tough to your hands on good if you're an OT.
- On Kordell Looney, he will push for a starting job sooner rather than later. Explodes into the OT with his hands, quick off the ball, powerful. UK has a lot of SEC caliber defensive linemen right now. The line is much better than I expected but of course I think they will still face some issues against the SEC's better O-Lines because so many of them are young.
- Middleton played with great awareness, really quick and played a couple of screens well. Just because I'm not writing a lot about Elam doesn't mean he didn't play well.
- Kengera Daniel had a nice sequence of plays at one point. After Courtney Love's horsecollar he got upfield, the QB stepped up and he disengaged and forced an incompletion, almost gathering the sack. On the very next play he fought off a block and dragged down Griggs.
- Darius West played an outstanding game. Super quick to the ball. He, the safeties and linebackers benefited from the DE's/LB's doing a nice job of setting the edge. Really forced action back to the middle of the field. Saw Jordan Jones and others selling out to force the play back inside, better than I noticed last year. His only miscue was covering the crossing pattern rather than helping Griffin on the long touchdown pass that made it 14-10.
- Lonnie Johnson had an okay day. Definitely belongs out there. Contested throws. Did break on one or two balls a little slowly for the cushion he was giving.
- Eli Brown does some things really good and has some clear limitations. No surprise. He is so fast and reacts well to get in front of blocks when he's outside the box covering the flat but there were a couple of times when he was just taken completely out of the play when he was in the box and didn't take a block on quickly enough. He's not going to fight off many good blocks so he's definitely a situational guy although they gave him quite a bit of time.
- Here is my big takeaway on the 1st/2nd half splits, re: "Why did they let up a bit?" Kwadra Griggs is just better than Keon Howard. One quarterback played timid, not quite sure of what he wanted to do, definitely bothered by Kentucky's speed up front. The other, Griggs, was not intimidated by Kentucky's speed and committed to whatever he was going to do. He just played a lot more confidently. I don't know that Kentucky stopped playing well defensively. The tackling did deteriorate some in the 2nd half but I thought, on second glance, that's because Griggs was just spreading the field out and attacking more of the field than Howard did, so credit to him.
