Breaking Down The Kentucky Defensive Line

The Kentucky defensive line is coached by Rick Petri who has completed his third season as defensive line coach at Kentucky. In 2006, Petri's defensive tackle Myron Pryor was among the nation’s leaders in fumbles caused and among the SEC’s leaders in sacks among defensive tackles.

The 6-1. 300 lb Pryor was not as productive as he was in 2006. In 2007, Pryor who is a Junior had 25 tackles, no sacks, 1 fumble recovery, and 1/2 tackle for a loss.The defensive front line for the Wildcats is anchored by 6-3, 268 lb. defensive end Jeremy Jarmon. Sophomore Jarmon in 2007 had 58 tackles, 9 sacks and had 13 1/2 tackles for a loss. In addition, he had two fumbles caused, a fumble recovery, and two pass breakups. He was second in the SEC in sacks. Along side Jarmon is another Sophomore in 6-3,290 lb defensive tackle Corey Peters. In 2007, Peters had 41 tackles, 2 1/2 sacks and 4 tackles for a loss. The other defensive end for the Wildcats front four is 6-3, 261 lb. Senior defensive end Dominic Lewis. Lewis had 35 tackles, 3 sacks, and 6 1/2 tackles for a loss.

Jarmon was named Kentucky's Most Valuable Defensive Player in 2007. This year when he got off to a slow start in sacks, Jarmon reached out to former Kentucky defensive end Dennis Johnson. he asked him for advice on what to do to be successful and get to the quarterback. Johnson suggested that what Jarmon needed was more film study. He urged the sophomore to study his opponents so that he could be confident early in a play’s development whether it would be a run or a pass. "Instead of coming off the ball and then seeing it’s a pass and then trying to react, he said I needed to be decisive and come off the ball knowing it’s a pass and start working my move,” Jarmon said. Apparently it worked as Jarmon ended up with 9 sacks,3 short of Johnson's record of 12 sacks at kentucky.

Key Stat: Kentucky defensive end Jeremy Jarmon ranked #2 in SEC in sacks.