Kentucky wants to play a physical style of football and tends to structure their practices to make that a strength. However, it’s hard to simulate everything. There is a fine line that programs need to walk to make sure their football team stays as healthy as possible. That ultimately leads to very little tackling to […]
Kentucky wants to play a physical style of football and tends to structure their practices to make that a strength. However, it’s hard to simulate everything. There is a fine line that programs need to walk to make sure their football team stays as healthy as possible. That ultimately leads to very little tackling to the ground. Many times, defenses do not know just how good of a tackling unit they have until you play real 11-on-11 football in a game setting.
In Kentucky’s first scrimmage, Mark Stoops said that Kentucky’s run defense was a bit leaky. That was likely due to some tackling inefficiency. The Cats did not tackle well in the first scrimmage. Luckily, that appeared to change in the second scrimmage at Kroger Field.
“A hundred percent,” Kentucky defensive tackle David Gusta said when asked about tackling. “Our first scrimmage there was quite a few missed and this one I could probably count on like one hand. So it was definitely better than our last time.”
“Our communication and our tackling. Because our last scrimmage it just wasn’t okay because we missed way too many but this one I’m definitely happy with.”
Run defense enters the year as a concern after the Cats struggled down the stretch. Kentucky must get more consistent and sturdy at the point of attack. That means good gap control and getting the ballcarrier to the ground when contact is made. After struggling to make tackles and stops in the first scrimmage, Stoops saw progress in the second scrimmage of fall camp.
“Defensively, I thought some guys really stepped up and made some plays, and stalled a few drives where we had some very promising things going,” Stoops said. “Defensively, stepped up. Just clean. Just good ball.”
Kentucky simply has more stability on the defensive side of the football while the offense breaks in 7-8 first-year transfer starters. The Wildcats need the defense to be good and dependable from the jump. That can’t happen if there is tackling inefficiency.
“It was. It was. It was better,” Stoops said about Kentucky’s tackling.
Category: General Sports
