Western Kentucky Football: Can offense catch up with the defense?

Defense hopes to maintain consistency despite changes

Losing coordinator Clayton White is a blow to the defense, but staying in house was a logical move for the Hilltoppers and the hope is that Maurice Crum will pick up right where White left off.

DeAngelo Malone was the 2019 defensive player of the year in Conference USA, but suffered a dip in production in 2020, though he was still named to the All-Conference first team.

Malone’s counterpart on the other edge will once again be Juwuan Jones, who also saw his stats go down in 2020. For the Hilltoppers to get back to being a dominant defense, Malone and Jones need to rediscover their dominant form. Jeremy Darvin and Darius Shipp are going to be back on the interior to round out the D-line.

The linebackers are going to be a little light on experience, but they do have talent. Nick Days and Bryson Washington are a pair of young guys, but they are going to need to step up to get this defense back to the elite level that it was at.

Western Kentucky football is going to have to replace most of their secondary, but Antwon Kincade is the one starter that is back and he is going to be the leader on the back end of the defense. Look for AJ Brathwaite Jr to be at one safety spot and Beanie Bishop and Dominique Bradshaw are going to man the outside at corner.

This defense has pieces in place to still be a very good unit, but there are a lot of new faces as well, which could slow down the process.