It’s been a quarter-century since Tennessee linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary suited up as a linebacker at Appalachian State, but Kentucky has the offense Jean-Mary would love to face if he ever gave it one last go.
Why? The Wildcats have an old-school element right now like no other program in the Southeastern Conference.
“If you’re asking me when I played 100 years ago, of course you want to meet people in the phone booth and see who is going to be able to win in the phone booth,” Jean-Mary said this week in a news conference. “Nowadays, you have to be prepared for every offense, and you have to be equally as good versus the pass and the run, but we want to pride ourselves on stopping the run.
“When a team comes in and rolls up their sleeves, and you know they want to run the football, you should get excited as a linebacker. You should get excited as an entire defense.”
While Tennessee was owning college football’s spotlight with its 52-49 win over Alabama on Oct. 15, Kentucky was doing what it does best during a 27-17 defeat of Mississippi State. The Wildcats rushed for 239 yards and threw for 239 yards against the Bulldogs, with fifth-year senior running back Chris Rodriguez pounding out 31 carries for 197 yards and two touchdowns.