D.J. Eliot Talks Georgia, Marcus McWilson Defensive Attitude, and more

Saturday’s showdown between Kentucky and Georgia will be a matchup of teams seeking to end losing skids.

Despite the Bulldogs lack of a steady quarterback and star runner Nick Chubb, UK defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot knows that his unit will be facing a tremendous team.

"They have a very talented team, very talented offense. Running backs that can run and that are big, and wideouts that are fast and that can run, and tight ends and offensive line – they're a very talented team", he said.

Eliot sees only one way for the Cats defense to come out on top.

"I think the bottom line is we're gonna have to go in and play our game, you know? It's about us. So we're going to have to go in and play fundamentally sound and play with effort and play with focus and play smart. Take it one play at a time."

Based on Eliot’s assessment of the defense’s attitude this week in practice it seems that they will be up to the task.

"They have been very focused. I think that the leaders have done a good job of keeping the team on track, and the players and the defense have been very focused and have the right attitude."

On Monday during his weekly news conference, Kentucky Head Coach Mark Stoops said he was pleased with the play of safety Marcus McWilson, who was played a much different role against UT than he is accustomed to.

Coach Eliot echoed Stoops’ sentiments.

"I thought he played well. Did some good things. Made a lot of plays on the perimeter, which who we would have expected one of our linebackers to do, and that's what he was playing. So he made a lot of tackles and got his hands on a couple balls, too."

He also remarked that McWilson has the potential to be an effective hybrid player.

"I think Marcus has that body where he could be a hybrid. He's in between a backer and a DB, and we kind of used him in that position on Saturday. He has that ability."