Brad White’s focus for Kentucky football’s 2024 defense is all about the ‘money down’

The last time we saw Brad White after a game, Kentucky football’s defensive coordinator was not a happy camper.

The scene was the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl in Jacksonville. The Clemson Tigers had driven 68 yards in 11 plays to score a touchdown with 17 seconds left to defeat the Wildcats 38-35. Worse, Clemson had gained 16 yards on a third-and-18 at midfield, which led to a fourth-and-2 conversion that ultimately led to the Tigers rallying from a 35-30 deficit to carry the trophy back to South Carolina.

“Hard to stomach,” White said through gritted teeth outside the UK locker room.

Little wonder that during the Cats’ annual media day at Kroger Field on Friday, when the subject turned to defense, the objective hit the rewind button.

“We have to get better at third down,” head coach Mark Stoops said.

“We’ve got to be better on third down,” White echoed.

These numbers don’t lie. In 2022, Kentucky ranked 21st nationally in third-down defense (33.33 conversion rate), 12th in total defense (311.4 yards per game) and 11th in scoring defense (19.2 points per game). In 2023, the Wildcats were 107th in third-down defense (43.24), 45th in total defense (353.5) and 61st in scoring defense (25.8).

“There’s a correlation,” White said Friday.

What was particularly frustrating were the backbreaking failures on third-and-long situations, especially over the last half of the season.

Examples:

▪ Tennessee converted a third-and-10 and a third-and-7 in the fourth quarter of the Volunteers’ 33-27 win over the Cats at Kroger Field.

▪ Alabama converted a third-and-12 into a 40-yard touchdown; a third-and-17 into a 30-yard gain and a third-and-12 into a 51-yard gain in the visiting Crimson Tide’s 49-21 victory.

▪ South Carolina converted two third-and-11s, plus a third-and-15 for 28 yards and a third-and-9 for a 17-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter of the Gamecocks’ 17-14 win over the Cats in Columbia.

▪ Clemson completed third-down passes of 10, 18, 11 and 16 yards in the second half as Kentucky watched its 21-10 early third quarter lead melt away in the Florida sun.

“When we have opportunities to get off the field, we have to do that,” Stoops said Friday.

“Third-and-long situations, especially extra long, was an area that historically we have been really good, and we were not,” White said. “Not anywhere close to the standard that we need to be at, and it cost us. When you give up third downs, you extend drives and extended drives leads to points, it leads to less opportunities for the offense. So obviously, that is going to be a primary focus.“

Last year’s failures led to rare griping about White’s job performance. After all, Kentucky did give up 18 fourth-quarter points in a 38-21 loss to Missouri. It allowed 23 first-half points to Tennessee and 28 first-half points to Alabama. It failed to hold a 14-10 fourth-quarter lead at South Carolina and it gave up 28 points to Clemson in the final frame.

The good news is UK returns 10 starters from a season ago. “Defensively we have returned a lot of guys that have played a lot of football for us and I think that is important,” Stoops said.

Kentucky has also added linebacker transfer Jalen “Pop” Dumas-Johnson, an All-SEC performer at Georgia. The Cats also have one of the nation’s best defensive linemen in Deone Walker.

Moreover, you could classify last season’s downturn off as an aberration. In White’s five seasons as defensive coordinator, Kentucky has finished 26th or better in scoring defense three times; finished 20th or better in rushing defense twice; finished 16th or better in pass efficiency defense twice and finished in the top 25 in total defense three times.

Still, the potential success of the 2024 defense all comes back to that money down — third down.

“Again, the year before (2022) was sort of our best year ever in third-down defense and there is a correlation to how well we played as a defense,” White said. “We need to get back there.”

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