{"id":49701,"date":"2023-08-27T13:00:40","date_gmt":"2023-08-27T17:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=49701"},"modified":"2025-11-07T09:25:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T14:25:11","slug":"2023-kentucky-position-previews-linebackers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2023\/08\/27\/2023-kentucky-position-previews-linebackers\/","title":{"rendered":"2023 Kentucky Position Previews: Linebackers"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Group With Tons Of Experience<\/span><\/h3>\n

It’s hard to believe but the 2023 football season is upon us. For\u00a0<\/span>Mark Stoops<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0and the Kentucky Wildcats, they’re looking to improve on last year’s 7-6 mark. To get you ready for the opener against Ball State we’re taking you position by position through this year’s squad. Last time out it was the\u00a0<\/span>offensive and defensive lines.\u00a0<\/span><\/a>Today we’re looking at one of the strongest groups on the team. Let’s begin the 2023 Kentucky Position Previews: Linebackers with the guys on the inside.<\/span><\/p>\n

Big Shoes to Fill<\/span><\/h3>\n

Kentucky lost both starters from 2o22.\u00a0<\/span>Jacquez Jones<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>DeAndre Square<\/span><\/a>\u00a0were multiple-year starters. Square finished second on the team with 58 tackles and second in sacks with two-and-a-half. Even while suffering through an injury-plagued year Jones made 37 tackles with a sack and interception. Those two missing significant times in 2022 allowed extensive playing time for some younger guys. Stoops hopes this means big things in 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n

D\u2019Eryk Jackson<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Trevin Wallace<\/span><\/a>\u00a0are slotted as starters at inside linebacker. Jackson, a Georgia native, led Kentucky in tackles last season with 67, including four for loss. Wallace, another Georgia native, finished fifth on the team with 54 stops. Furthermore, he was second on the team in sacks (two-and-a-half) and interceptions (two). He starts the year on the\u00a0<\/span>Butkus Award<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0list for the nation’s best linebacker. At times both players have shown All-SEC caliber type play. However, they must be more consistent in 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n

Continuing with our 2023 Kentucky Position Previews: Linebackers we move to the outside where a key return was huge for\u00a0<\/span>Brad White\u2019s<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0group.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEdge\u201d Of A Breakout Season<\/span><\/h3>\n

With one return the Kentucky defense went from being really good to potentially top-tier in the SEC. Even though\u00a0<\/span>J.J. Weaver<\/span><\/a>\u00a0went through \u201cSenior Day\u201d activities last year he decided on one more year in Lexington. Playing at the edge rusher\/outside linebacker spot the Louisville native led the team in sacks with three. In addition, he also led the team with three fumble recoveries and made 47 tackles, despite missing two games due to injury.<\/span><\/p>\n

Weaver\u2019s return makes the loss of\u00a0<\/span>Jordan Wright<\/span><\/a>\u00a0a little less severe. Wright tied for second on the team with 62 tackles, nine for loss, and two interceptions. Weaver starts 2023 on the watch list for the\u00a0<\/span>Chuck<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>Bednarik Award<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0for the nation’s top defensive player. You may remember Josh Allen took home the trophy in 2018. The biggest thing for Weaver is staying healthy as he missed time every season.<\/span><\/p>\n

As you\u2019ve seen Kentucky\u2019s in good shape with its starters at linebacker. However, who backs them up is a big question mark. As we wrap up our 2023 Kentucky Position Previews: Linebackers let\u2019s look at the guys who\u2019ll be needed at some point.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pushing For Playing Time<\/span><\/h3>\n

Behind Jackson and Wallace, the other two inside linebackers with SEC experience are\u00a0<\/span>Luke Fulton<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and<\/span>\u00a0Martez Thrower.<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0Thrower appeared in all 13 games mainly on special teams making five tackles. Fulton, a former Michigan State transfer, played in six games all on special teams.<\/span><\/p>\n

Incoming four-star linebacker\u00a0<\/span>Jayvant Brown<\/span><\/a>\u00a0flipped from Michigan State to Kentucky on signing day and could also push for some playing time. UK also added\u00a0<\/span>Daveren Rayner<\/span><\/a>\u00a0through the transfer portal. In three years at Northern Illinois Rayner made 118 tackles, two interceptions, and two blocked kicks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Over at the edge\/outside linebacker position Kentucky signed three really good players in the 2022 class.\u00a0<\/span>Keaten Wade<\/span><\/a>, brother of backup quarterback\u00a0<\/span>Destin Wade<\/span><\/strong>, played in all 13 games recording 16 tackles and one-and-a-half sacks.\u00a0<\/span>Tyreese Fearby<\/span><\/a>\u00a0played three games making one tackle while\u00a0<\/span>Noah Matthews<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>didn’t see any game action.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another incoming player looking for immediate playing time is\u00a0<\/span>Grant Godfrey<\/strong>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>The four-star player from Georgia\u00a0<\/span><\/a>is the third-highest-ranked player in Kentucky\u2019s 2023 class. Godfrey recorded 69 tackles in 2022 including 11 for a loss. In addition, he had seven sacks, a forced fumble, and an interception.<\/span><\/p>\n

Final Thoughts<\/span><\/h3>\n

Kentucky\u2019s defense ranked 12th in the nation and second in the SEC to Georgia allowing 311 yards a game. Not too many schools can lose three top linebackers and probably not miss a beat in 2023. The team\u2019s starters are All-SEC quality, however, it\u2019s a matter of getting the guys behind them ready. Thanks for checking out our 2023 Kentucky Position Previews: Linebackers here at\u00a0<\/span>Last Word On College Football<\/span><\/strong>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo Credit: Jordan Prather-USA TODAY Sports<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Group With Tons Of Experience It’s hard to believe but the 2023 football season is upon us. For\u00a0Mark Stoops\u00a0and the Kentucky Wildcats, they’re looking to improve on last year’s 7-6 mark. To get you ready for the opener against Ball State we’re taking you position by position through this year’s squad. Last time out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":877,"featured_media":49733,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2],"tags":[35623,493,184,1353,32925,140,21,126,7850,415],"class_list":["post-49701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sec","category-featured","tag-2023-kentucky-wildcats","tag-awards","tag-cfb","tag-chuck-bednarik-award","tag-dick-butkus-award","tag-fbs","tag-kentucky-wildcats","tag-ncaa","tag-recruiting-rankings","tag-sec-east"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/877"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49701"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82230,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49701\/revisions\/82230"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}