New to UK Football’s depth chart this week was the addition of freshman nose guard Quinton Bohanna. Bohanna was listed as the teams’ second option at nose guard behind starter Naquez Pringle.

Bohanna has played few snaps in games this year, but saw his most action against Mississippi State, registering three assisted tackles. Bohanna’s climb up the ranks can be attributed to the improvements he’s made since training camp.

“Q (Bohanna) has gotten better every week, and I know that sounds – it’s the same thing I’ve said all season but it’s the truth, he’s improved,” defensive coordinator Matt House said after Wednesday’s practice. 

One thing that has expedited Bohanna’s growth is his ability to listen to his coaches.

“The good thing about Q (Bohanna) is he’s a very good – he’s a coachable kid,” defensive line coach Derrick LeBlanc said after Wednesday’s practice. “He’s a ‘yes sir, no sir, what am I doing wrong,’ he notices his mistakes, so we expect a lot of good things from Q.”

After Bohanna has shown coaches that he can be a valuable member to UK’s defense, the 320-pound freshman seems to have carved out a role for himself in the future.

The Cats will need him more than ever against Tennessee, as UK attempts to rebound from their poor performance against Mississippi State. Even though he’s only been around for half a season, Bohanna knows what it’ll take to beat the Volunteers. 

“We doing what we always do, we just got to go hard, and win our one-on-one battles, that’s really what it is,” Bohanna said.

Defense not undervaluing Tennessee

Tennessee’ offense hasn’t scored a touchdown since the second quarter of their game against Massachusetts, which was on Sept. 23.

Since then the Volunteers’ offense has undergone a lot of scrutiny, including a quarterback change and a recent running back suspension.

Read: Tennessee’s John Kelly suspended

However, UK’s defense isn’t treating their game against Tennessee as an easy one, as they consider the Volunteers’ offense to be a threat.

“They are just good all around, they might seem, record-wise, might not be the best, but they’re still a good team, we still have to play them like a good team, a great team,” linebacker Josh Allen said.

Their quarterback, Jarrett Guarantano, who officially took over the starting job after the 41-0 loss to Georgia, has thrown as many touchdowns as interceptions in his five games played. However, House believes Guarantano is a good quarterback and is capable of doing damage with his legs.

“He’s really talented, he can throw the ball, he’s a better runner than the statistics say, he’s dangerous running the football,” House said.

UK’s defense will likely have the advantage when they matchup against Tennessee’s offense on Saturday night, but they aren’t focused on that, instead they are focused on doing things right after last week’s performance against Mississippi State.

If the Cats do the things they want to do, they believe that they will be happy when they go back in the locker room after the game.

“We have got to win our one-on-ones, execute the play call and run through the ball and just make tackles, and we’ll win this game,” Allen said.