Top 5 Observations for Defense After Spring Practice

Here is my Top 5 list of comments for the Defense by the UK Coaches after Spring Practice this year.

1. Overall, the defense is young and inexperienced, but we do have some depth and talent at several key positions. Our depth on defense is better than it has ever been, and there are several players who will be key backups this year that would have started in previous years.

2. As always, to win, especially in the SEC, you need to stop the run. We feel good in this area, but not great. We have some players especially on the Defensive Line that are going to have the opportunity to step and show that they belong on the field. Defensive Tackle looks to be our weakest position on the line, but we think that the experience gained by some players last year, and the redshirt year in the '09 season for a couple of players may be able to help us out with this weakness.

3. The speed, of our defense has increased dramatically, and we should see that on the field especially in the Defensive Backs. The speed in the defensive backfield will make us more competitive and allow us to make more plays on the ball.

Again, we also have speed on the edges at the DE position, and this will help us get up the field in order to penetrate our opponents backfield and allow us to make plays behind the line of scrimmage.

4. We are also inexperienced in some key areas especially in the Linebacker unit. We have a solid returning starter in Danny Trevathan, but almost no depth behind him at the WILL position.

We have moved Matt Lentz from the safety position to the SAM position which will add a tremendous amount of speed, experience, coverage skills, and playmaking ability to the unit. The backups here are raw, and need some playing time for them to be more effective on the field.

The MLB unit has tremendous talent, but almost no experience. The MLB position is truly an open competition between a couple of players, who look to be extremely talented; this position competition will not be firmed up until fall practice.

5. The Defensive players have gotten much stronger which will help them hold the point of attack and make them more effective on the field of play. They will also be less susceptible to injury and give them a better opportunity to become difference makers on this unit.

Overall, we are still inexperienced in certain areas and there is certainly opportunities for players to step in and become very effective for this team. While we are young and inexperienced, we do feel that we do have the players necessary for this team to be successful and to put this team in the position to be successful for the future.