{"id":86322,"date":"2026-04-07T09:00:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T13:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=86322"},"modified":"2026-04-05T22:33:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T02:33:59","slug":"2026-kentucky-spring-preview-cornerbacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2026\/04\/07\/2026-kentucky-spring-preview-cornerbacks\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 Kentucky Spring Preview: Cornerbacks"},"content":{"rendered":"
Hello everyone, and welcome back to our ongoing position-by-position look at Will Stein’s first Wildcat squad. Recently, our focus has been on the defense. First, we started <\/span>with the big guys up front.\u00a0<\/a><\/span>Then, our focus turned to <\/span>the edge rushers.\u00a0<\/a><\/span>Finally, our last installment looked <\/span>at the linebackers.\u00a0<\/a><\/span>Pretty much every group has a common thread: tons of talent but short on experience. Our focus today continues that trend. Let’s begin our 2026 Kentucky Spring Preview: Cornerbacks with a look at the man in charge.<\/span><\/div>\n

Another Talented But Inexperienced Group<\/span><\/h2>\n

Leader Of The Pack<\/span><\/h3>\n
Allen Brown comes to Kentucky after a stay on the West Coast. Last season, he was the defensive backs coach at California. His group ranked 16th in the nation in touchdown passes allowed with 14. Before coaching in Berkley, Brown coached the cornerbacks at Washington State. He has SEC experience, having served as a quality control coach for Florida in 2023. In fact, he’s reuniting with new defensive coordinator Jay Bateman, who was also on that staff.<\/span><\/div>\n
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As we mentioned, Brown has many talented players in the room. However, they are short on reps. Let’s introduce you to them as we continue with the 2026 Kentucky Spring Preview: Cornerbacks.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Poised For A Big Season?<\/span><\/h3>\n
Coming out of Cincinnati Withrow High School, <\/span>Terhyon Nichols\u00a0<\/a><\/span>was a huge recruiting win for the former staff. He was a Top 100 player nationally. Nichols played in 15 games over two years in Lexington. However, injuries have been an issue.<\/span><\/div>\n
He appeared in eight games as a freshman and had a team-high five pass breakups. Last season, he played in the first seven games before missing the rest of the year. He tied for the team lead with another five pass breakups. The Cats need him healthy on defense in 2026.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Grant Grayton\u00a0<\/a><\/span>wasn’t expected to have a major role as a freshman last year. However, due to all the injuries, he was pressed into action. Appearing in nine games, Grayton made 16 tackles, had three pass breakups, and an interception. He needs to take a step forward this year and is definitely in the mix for seeing a ton of snaps.<\/span><\/div>\n

Help Through The Portal<\/span><\/h3>\n
One of Kentucky’s bigger wins this winter was the addition of Hasaan Sykes. The Wildcats beat out Illinois for the Western Carolina transfer. In two years with the Catamounts, Sykes appeared in 20 games. He recorded 54 tackles with five pass breakups, three interceptions, and a forced fumble. Sykes got a nomination for National Defensive Player of the Week following a 52-7 win over Furman in which he recorded six solo stops, including a sack, forced a fumble, and intercepted a pass. Sykes is a favorite to start in Week One.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Junior college commit Braxton Urquhart came to Kentucky from Butler Community College in Kansas under the Mark Stoops regime. When Stein and his staff took over, he remained committed to the Cats.<\/span><\/div>\n
Urquhart recorded 26 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, and nine pass breakups in nine games. 247 Sports lists him as the 10th-best JUCO cornerback in the country.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Let’s wrap up our 2026 Kentucky Spring Preview: Cornerbacks with a look at some guys who are looking to carve out roles on the defense.<\/span><\/div>\n

Pushing For Playing Time<\/span><\/h3>\n
Redshirt junior <\/span>Nassir Addison\u00a0<\/a><\/span>played in only four games last season but recorded 13 tackles. He entered the portal when Stoops was fired but returned to Lexington. Senior Kevis Thomas played in all 12 games last season, making four tackles. However, the Maryland transfer struggled at times.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Up next are three redshirt freshmen. Demarcus Gardner appeared in three contests during his freshman year, making two tackles. Mark Manfred III comes to Lexington after spending one year at Missouri. The Georgia native was the 63rd-best player in the Peachtree State coming out of high school. Andre Purcell was Kentucky’s highest-rated <\/span>player in the 2025 class.\u00a0<\/a><\/span>He made two tackles in two games in 2025.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Finally, the Cats have incoming freshman Isaiah McMillan from Katy, Texas. He’s an early enrollee who’s the 141st-best <\/span>player in the Lone Star State.\u00a0<\/a><\/span>Look for several of these guys to be in the mix for reps this season.<\/span><\/div>\n

Final Thoughts<\/span><\/h3>\n
The Kentucky defense was hit hard by injuries, and the cornerback spot was hit especially hard. As a result, despite many guys getting some playing time, the group is still inexperienced. Nichols and Sykes look like your starters. After that, it’s wide open.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Thanks for checking out our 2026 Kentucky Spring Preview: Cornerbacks here at Last Word On College Football. Next time, we’ll finish up our position-by-position look at the Cats with the safeties.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Main Photo: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hello everyone, and welcome back to our ongoing position-by-position look at Will Stein’s first Wildcat squad. Recently, our focus has been on the defense. First, we started with the big guys up front.\u00a0Then, our focus turned to the edge rushers.\u00a0Finally, our last installment looked at the linebackers.\u00a0Pretty much every group has a common thread: tons […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":877,"featured_media":86498,"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":[2,35579,17,3],"tags":[36014,36020,36029,36017,36023,36026],"class_list":["post-86322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-kentucky-wildcats","category-news","category-sec","tag-allen-brown","tag-braxton-urquhart","tag-demarcus-gardner","tag-hasaan-sykes","tag-kevis-thomas","tag-mark-manfred-iii"],"modified_by":"Kate Pearson Halyburton, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86322","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=86322"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86322\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86502,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86322\/revisions\/86502"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}