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Kentucky appears to be on the cusp of losing its safety and special teams coordinator Bradley Dale Peveto to Louisiana State University, according to multiple sources. Prior to Peveto's tenure at the University of Kentucky, he was the head coach at Northwestern State University in Louisiana, but before his first head coaching gig he was an assistant at LSU under Les Miles from 2005-2008 when LSU won a national championship. It's believed Peveto will coach special teams at LSU due to LSU's own special teams coordinator leaving for the same position at the New York Giants.
It's been said before, but Kentucky losing assistant coaches to top programs is a good thing, and a sign of an increasingly healthy football program.
Kentucky's special teams acutally worsened under his watch, according to F/+ rankings. In 2013 Kentucky's special teams ended the season ranked 86th, while before his arrival the special teams were ranked 77th. The difference is pretty small (-0.4 in 2012 versus -0.8 in 2013), but the improvements in place-kicking did not outweigh the step back in punting. Coverage seemed slightly better, but I'm working off memory there. Additionally, the secondary still struggled but I thought Kentucky got better play out of the safety position this year compared to 2012. I know that many won't agree.
Peveto was UK's oldest assistant coach and it's third highest paid at $300,000 per year. It has been rumored for some time that Peveto played an underrated role on the recruiting trail during the 2014 recruiting cycle. His departure at this time eliminates any impact on the 2014 signing class, and won't have an insurmountable impact on the 2015 class. Peveto was also good for a funny quip during his time at UK. No doubt the local media will miss him.
It will be interesting to see how Mark Stoops decides to replace Peveto. Stoops may decide to hire strictly a special teams coordinator, and let Derrick Ansley take over full control of the secondary. Or he may hire a coach who has a dual-role like Peveto, and in turn shuffles around the current coaching staffs responsibilities. Pete Roussel is tapped into the coaching turnover market, and he's stated that Vernon Hargreaves and Jeff Hammerschmidt are options based on special teams experience and having previously coached with Stoops.
In any case, I expect the hire to be a coach with special teams experience with ties to the South, or possibly even the mid-Atlantic region since Kentucky appears to be increasing its presence in that area.
