{"id":76372,"date":"2025-08-16T12:00:05","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T16:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=76372"},"modified":"2025-08-16T11:37:48","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T15:37:48","slug":"2025-kentucky-fall-camp-defensive-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/08\/16\/2025-kentucky-fall-camp-defensive-line\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 Kentucky Fall Camp: Defensive Line"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello everyone, and welcome back to our ongoing series looking at the 2025 Kentucky Football team. It’s hard to believe we are two weeks from the first game against Toledo. A big thank you to everyone who’s checked out our previous installments. In case you missed them, we started on offense with the quarterbacks, <\/a>and from there it was the running backs. <\/a>The new look receiver room <\/a>came next, and lastly, the Big Blue Wall. <\/a>Today, our focus shifts to the defense and specifically the big guys up front. With a roster of nearly 50 new players, transfers will play a huge role in whether the Cats improve from last year’s 4-8 debacle. That definitely includes the defensive line. Let’s look at who’s gone and who’s returning with the 2025 Kentucky Fall Camp: Defensive Line.<\/p>\n

Transfers Look To Lead The Way<\/h2>\n

Who’s Gone From Lexington<\/h3>\n

The Wildcats lost a great deal on the defensive line from 2024. Deone Walker<\/a> went to Buffalo with pick 109 in the fourth round of the NFL Draft. He’s off to a great start as Pro Football Focus<\/em> graded him highest of any rookie defensive tackle. In addition, Tre\u2019Vonn Rybka<\/a> and\u00a0Octavious Oxendine<\/a> graduated, while Keeshawn Silver<\/a> transferred to USC.<\/p>\n

Taking all four into consideration, that\u2019s over 1,600 snaps gone from a season ago. As a result, defensive line coach Anwar Stewart needed players quickly. As is the norm in college football these days, Stoops and his staff looked to the portal for reinforcements.<\/p>\n

Instant Impact Players<\/h3>\n

David Gusta <\/a>was one of the biggest gets in the winter transfer portal. He’s the top incoming player for the Wildcats<\/a> and the second overall defensive lineman in the country. A bit of irony, the only player ahead of him is Silver.<\/p>\n

The Washington State transfer <\/a>recorded 21 tackles, three for loss, one sack, and three pass breakups for the Cougars. In addition, Pro Football Focus also gave him the fourth-best pass rush grade (82.4) by an interior defensive lineman.<\/p>\n

He became a starter in 2023, recording 30 tackles, two for a loss, and a half sack. Overall, Gusta had 62 total tackles, six tackles for loss, one-and-a-half sacks, and four pass deflections with the Cougars..<\/p>\n

Adding An All-American<\/h3>\n

The Cats surprised some by using the FCS rankings to pick up a new player. However, it wasn\u2019t just any player. The Cats landed All-American Mi\u2019Quise Humphrey-Grace.<\/a><\/p>\n

Playing for FCS powerhouse South Dakota, the 6′-4″, 255-pound Grace made 64 tackles, including 18.5 for a loss. In addition, the redshirt sophomore had 9.5 sacks and three passes defended. He also forced two fumbles and had two fumble recoveries, returning one for a touchdown. His numbers tied him for 16th in FCS in sacks and 10th in tackles for loss.<\/p>\n

Redshirt senior Kahlil Saunders<\/a> recorded 20 tackles, two for a loss and a half sack last season. During his career at Kentucky, he’s recorded 48 tackles, nine for a loss, and 2.5 sacks. Saunders is another guy who can play multiple positions on the defensive line.<\/p>\n

Those are your expected starters versus Toledo in two weeks. As we continue with 2025 Kentucky Fall Camp: Defensive Line, let’s look at some guys who should see a lot of playing time.<\/p>\n

Shoring Up The Line<\/h3>\n

First up is Super Senior Josaih Hayes<\/a>. The 6′-3″, 322-pounder missed most of 2024 due to an Achilles injury. However, he returned for the last three games, making nine tackles, including one for a loss. He’s made 57 tackles, eight for a loss, and two-and-a-half sacks for his career.<\/p>\n

The third defensive line transfer is Wyoming\u2019s Jaden Williams. <\/a>A season ago, he made 20 tackles, two for a loss and a half sack. He played over 300 snaps last year and can play both the nose guard and defensive tackle spots.<\/p>\n

Let’s finish up the 2025 Kentucky Fall Camp: Defensive Line with a look at the players making up the rest of the room.<\/p>\n

Pushing For Playing Time<\/h3>\n

Sophomore\u00a0Tavion Gadson <\/a>has six tackles in two years with the Cats. Another sophomore, Austin Ramsey, switched from the offensive line to the defensive line and appeared in five games last season.<\/p>\n

Next up are two big recent recruiting wins for the Cats.\u00a0Jerod Smith II <\/a>played in all twelve games as a freshman, making seven tackles with one for a loss. We’ve been following Brian Robinson ever since he signed with Kentucky in 2023. <\/a>However, he redshirted last year and may need more time before he’s the contributor the staff thinks he can be.<\/p>\n

Frankfort, Kentucky, native Javeon Campbell was the top player in the Bluegrass State in 2024<\/a>. The Western Hills star was a basketball player who didn’t start playing football until two years ago. However, he took to it quickly. In fact, he recorded 14.5 sacks in his first year.<\/p>\n

Last season, he had 64 tackles, including 44 solo, 20 tackles for loss, 16 sacks, three forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, with one for a touchdown. His 16 sacks tied for fourth in the state. Campbell could see playing time as a freshman.<\/p>\n

Two other players looking to crack the rotation are freshmen Kalen Edwards and Nic Smith. Edwards had 35 tackles with 7.5 for a loss as a senior. Smith recorded 40 tackles with 11 for a loss and 16 quarterback hurries. Both may end up redshirting this season.<\/p>\n

Final Thoughts<\/h3>\n

Kentucky hit the transfer portal hard after losing several long-term players. As a result, look for the three transfers to play a lot. Both Gusta and Humphrey-Grace have All-SEC potential. Behind the perceived top five in the rotation, Stewart needs at least a couple of players to take that next step forward. If that happens, the Wildcats could be a surprise team.<\/p>\n

Thanks for checking out the 2025 Kentucky Fall Camp: Defensive Line. Next time around, we’ll look at the edge rushers and linebackers.<\/p>\n

Main Image: Jordan Prather-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hello everyone, and welcome back to our ongoing series looking at the 2025 Kentucky Football team. It’s hard to believe we are two weeks from the first game against Toledo. A big thank you to everyone who’s checked out our previous installments. In case you missed them, we started on offense with the quarterbacks, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":877,"featured_media":76406,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_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":[3,2,17],"tags":[34738,140,35438,34477,21,34765,24586,7850],"class_list":["post-76372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sec","category-featured","category-news","tag-david-gusta","tag-fbs","tag-jaden-williams","tag-javeon-campbell","tag-kentucky-wildcats","tag-miquise-grace","tag-ncaa-2","tag-recruiting-rankings"],"modified_by":"Tony Siracusa, CFB Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76372","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=76372"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76407,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76372\/revisions\/76407"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}