Time and time again in 2010, UK’s defense repeatedly failed to hold up their end of the deal while Mike Hartline, Derrick Locke and Randall Cobb continued to put up big numbers on offense.

In week four last season against a Florida team that finished with a mediocre 7-5 record in 2010, freshman Trey Burton set a school record with six touchdowns on UK’s defense, a startling figure that first brought light to the Cats’ defensive struggles.

Two weeks later against eventual national champion Auburn, UK tied the game at 34 with more than seven minutes remaining, but never saw the ball again as the UK defense was unable to get Cam Newton and the Tigers offense off the field.

Auburn eventually kicked a field goal as time expired  en route to a perfect season and the aforementioned National Championship. Many think with the weapons UK possessed on offense, that defensive shortcoming cost UK a chance at handing Auburn its only loss of the season.

The Cats finished the season 6-7 after a loss to Pittsburgh in the BBVA Compass Bowl, and shortly after the season came to a close, then-defensive coordinator Steve Brown was reassigned to co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach. Brought in to join Brown as co-defensive coordinators on head coach Joker Phillips’ staff was Rick Minter, best known for his days as Lou Holtz’s defensive coordinator at Notre Dame

Despite having the same title, Minter will control the defense as a whole, while Brown will focus more on his job as defensive backs coach. Minter brings an entirely new look to UK’s traditional 4-3 defense, using different sets and lining up players in different places on every play.

“There’s a few bumps in the road, a few freshmen and a few upperclassmen that’s not getting it, but I feel like as time goes on we all will just come together with an understanding of it,” defensive tackle Mister Cobble said.

In a normal defensive set (which Minter rarely lines up in), Minter would have three down linemen, three linebackers, two cornerbacks and three safeties on the field together.

However, sometimes Minter will use a third cornerback in typical passing situations. He will bring a linebacker down to the line of scrimmage, sometimes even lining them up as a fourth defensive lineman.

He will take his unorthodox third safety and bring him into the box as a safety/linebacker hybrid. He will blitz from both sides of the field, overload one side, delay blitzes, hide blitzes within the formation or even drop the entire back seven into coverage.

Senior linebacker Ronnie Sneed will likely be the guy with his hand in the ground when Minter wants to move a linebacker up to the line of scrimmage. Likewise, senior safety Winston Guy, who finished second on the team in tackles in 2010 from the back of the defense, will likely be the third safety to move up to a linebacker spot in certain packages, a position Guy has not played since high school.

“It’s really nothing different for me because I actually played that position (linebacker) before coming out of high school,” Guy said. “There’s really nothing different. The only thing that’s different is just learning the plays more and more. I’m being utilized in different schemes and stuff as far as what package we put on the field, but it’s really nothing new to me. I just try to come out here and bust my butt in practice.”

As Minter has progressively installed his defense in the offseason, the focus has been on confusing the offense, bringing pressure to the line of scrimmage and hopefully creating more turnovers.

In 2010, the Cats tied for 10th in a 12-team SEC (second to last) in both sacks and interceptions. Minter hopes his new defense can improve upon those numbers in 2011.

“The difference from us winning seven, eight, nine games last year was turnovers,” Phillips said. “Let’s be real. It was us creating turnovers and creating takeaways and us giving the ball away. Everybody has to understand how important turnovers are to this football team and this football program. It is the difference for us, it really is.”

Despite playing veteran players at new positions and overwhelming younger players with his complex playbook, Minter hopes that with time his new scheme will turn UK’s defense into a formidable unit.

“This is a good game for us trying to see how much we’ve improved,” Phillips said. “I really think that we’ve improved a lot. But the game will be a barometer to see how much we’ve improved.”