{"id":656237,"date":"2026-03-15T00:34:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T00:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/656237\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T00:34:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T00:34:10","slug":"what-we-learned-about-kentuckys-defense-after-second-spring-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/656237\/","title":{"rendered":"What we learned about Kentucky’s defense after second spring practice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spring football is off and running over at the Joe Craft Football Training Facility. Phase two has arrived and there is a lot of new with Will Stein<\/a><\/strong>\u2018s program. After hearing from the offense on Tuesday, defense day arrived on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Defensive coordinator Jay Bateman<\/a><\/strong> spoke with the media before the team gets next week off for spring break. This is what we learned.<\/p>\n

Autonomy and staff build led Jay Bateman to Kentucky<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jay Bateman was a defensive coordinator in the SEC over the last two seasons. Kentucky\u2019s new play caller was on a College Football Playoff team in 2025. The Aggies were a win versus Texas away from reaching the SEC Championship Game in each of the last two seasons. Yet, their defensive coordinator decided to leave College Station for Texas.<\/p>\n

Why? For autonomy and to build a staff that he had a huge part in building.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was looking for a little bit more, like, autonomy on the defensive side. You know, Mike (Elko)<\/a><\/strong> was great, you know, Mike was very involved,\u201d Bateman told KSR on Friday. \u201cAnd I think talking to Will, it just felt like it was the right thing. It was the right time and it\u2019s been awesome. So, I\u2019m really happy. I think things are going great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elko served as A&M primary play caller. Bateman did not have that responsibility. That will change in 2026 at Kentucky. The former Elon, Army, North Carolina, and Texas A&M defensive coordinator will have full control of the defense in the Bluegrass. However, unlike previous gigs, Bateman gotten to help build the staff. Allen Brown<\/a><\/strong> (cornerbacks), Josh Christian-Young<\/a><\/strong> (safeties), James Gibson<\/strong> (stars), Ty Holder<\/strong> (assistant cornerbacks), Trey Odom<\/strong> (assistant safeties), and Chad Wilt<\/a><\/strong> (inside linebackers) have all worked with Bateman before. Getting to build a staff played a huge role in Bateman making this move.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a really big part of it,\u201d Bateman explained. \u201cReally big part of it\u2026The last couple times I\u2019ve been able to do this, I haven\u2019t had that opportunity. And I felt like when I had have that opportunity, we\u2019ve been pretty good on defense. So that was a pretty important piece for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a good run at Elon and Army, things did not go well for Bateman at North Carolina. That led to Mack Brown<\/a><\/strong> making a change after three seasons. The defensive coordinator did not get to build a staff in Chapel Hill. That is not the situation in Lexington.<\/p>\n

Autonomy and hiring power ultimately led to Bateman moving to Kentucky.<\/p>\n

Kentucky\u2019s defense will have pieces of North Carolina, Florida, and Texas A&M<\/strong><\/p>\n

We know that Kentucky is going to play a more aggressive brand of football in 2026. That is known. Will Stein has discussed this. What does that mean for the defensive operation in Lexington? Jay Bateman refused to get into specifics but it is likely that UK will utilize more even front, will almost always play with a true nickel, and will major in simulated pressures with an emphasis of heating up the quarterback on third down. The days of sitting in heavy-zone coverage and trying to keep everything in front is probably done.<\/p>\n

Bateman plans on bringing pieces from all of this previous stops to UK.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really want to give a whole lot away, but obviously we had a lot of success at Texas A&M\u2026I think we\u2019re going to take something from there,\u201d Bateman explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cI coached with Patrick Toney<\/a><\/strong> and Austin Armstrong<\/a><\/strong> at Florida, two really good coordinators. So there\u2019ll be pieces of that and there\u2019ll be pieces of what I did when I was at North Carolina and Army. So I think there\u2019s going to be pieces of all of it that we\u2019ll try to get together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Armstrong is the defensive coordinator at Houston. That is where Josh Christian-Young came from. Toney is staying in the NFL as the Atlanta Falcons defensive pass game coordinator after originally taking a job as the Ole Miss defensive coordinator this offseason. <\/p>\n

Kentucky isn\u2019t getting into specifics but a lot more 4-2-5 will be played in Lexington.<\/p>\n

Jay Bateman is a big fan of Sam Greene<\/strong><\/p>\n

After spending two seasons at USC, Sam Greene<\/a><\/strong> transferred to Kentucky following the 2023 season. The outside linebacker carved out a role in year two in the Big Ten and became a productive run defender. This former top-500 recruit started nine games for the Cats and finished the season with 25 tackles, three tackles for loss, and 18 pressures in 338 snaps.<\/p>\n

Greene suffered an ACL injury in November and was forced to miss Kentucky\u2019s final three games. The outside linebacker will miss spring and likely will not be available to start the season. That hasn\u2019t stopped the DMV native from making an impact this offseason at the Joe Craft Football Training Facility.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be really excited to get Sam back,\u201d Bateman said. \u201cI think Sam\u2019s just a tremendous kid and a really good player\u2026I don\u2019t ever remember ever, like, coming into a situation like this with a kid that I didn\u2019t really know who, like, as a leader, is doing such a good job even though he can\u2019t really practice right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bateman explained that he is really excited about Kentucky\u2019s front pieces and \u201cthat was pretty appealing\u201d in the job evaluation process. The defensive specifically mentioned that Lorenzo Cowan<\/a><\/strong> and C.J. Works<\/a><\/strong> have a chance to be really good players but jumped at the chance to praise Greene.<\/p>\n

The redshirt junior is emerging as a leader on this football team.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel for press conferences, interviews, original shows, fan features, and exclusive content.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Hasaan Sykes will play big role at cornerback<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cornerback was a position of need for the Kentucky defense entering this year\u2019s transfer portal. The only win at the position with playing experience was Western Carolina transfer Hasaan Sykes<\/a><\/strong>. This FCS player is leveling up but he has a lot of fans inside the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had kind of identified Sykes as a guy, you know, from a little bit lower level. I just think, man, the lower level guys when you find the guys that like their hunger and their ability to come in and really impact\u2026I coached a kid last year names Cashius Howell<\/a><\/strong> who came from Bowling Green who\u2019s SEC Player of the Year. One of the best football players I\u2019ve ever been around,\u201d Bateman said. \u201cSo, I just watched Sykes\u2019 film and then I think we kind of got the story about where like how he got to Western Carolina.\u201d<\/p>\n

Could the cornerback have a similar impact? That is to be determined but Bateman belives that Sykes will \u201csurprise some people this fall\u201d. The defensive coordinator is also a big fan of returnee Terhyon Nichols<\/a><\/strong> and likes what he\u2019s seen from both Grant Grayton<\/a><\/strong> and Demarcus Garnder<\/a><\/strong>. This was a position of concern but UK likes where they sit early in spring ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was worried about that position, but man, through three practices, I feel pretty good about those guys,\u201d Bateman said.<\/p>\n

Kentucky went young at linebacker out of necessity<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cornerback was a position that had to be addressed. So was linebacker. Kentucky needed to find a plug-and-play starter in the transfer portal. Instead of landing a known commodity with experience, UK ended up with former blue-chip recruits Bo Barnes<\/a><\/strong> and Tavion Wallace<\/a><\/strong> who have not played much college football. Why was that?<\/p>\n

Jay Bateman explained on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest with you, we wanted to try and find a veteran guy that had played more. And I just didn\u2019t think there were any that were good enough,\u201d Kentucky\u2019s defensive coordinator explained. \u201cUltimately, you know, this isn\u2019t Little League. This is the SEC and there\u2019s a certain height, weight, speed, physicality requirement a kid has to have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bateman was familiar with both players. The play caller recruited each. Now Kentucky must get each playing to their potential quickly. Bateman says that UK made a bet on coaching development at this position when the market wasn\u2019t what they were looking for. Both players will be expected to play big roles while returnees Grant Godfrey<\/a><\/strong> and Antwan Smith<\/a><\/strong> are also competing for starting spots.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spring football is off and running over at the Joe Craft Football Training Facility. Phase two has arrived…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":656238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[43],"tags":[234088,1318,278094,203294,1317,1315,1316,276033,62,278095,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-656237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-elijah-barnes-25-skyline","tag-football","tag-hasaan-sykes-24-tucker","tag-jay-bateman","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-sam-greene-23-st-frances-academy","tag-sports","tag-tavion-wallace-25-wayne-county","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116230387651574589","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=656237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/656238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}