Rich Scangarello praises Brad White’s defense

While the Kentucky Wildcats were unable to keep offensive coordinator Liam Coen in Lexington for a second season, they were able to keep defensive coordinator Brad White which might be the biggest win of the offseason.

White is considered one of the best defensive coordinators in the country and since he took over as DC, the Cats have had a top-40 defense four consecutive years, according to Bill Connelly’s efficiency rankings.

Adam Luckett of Kentucky Sports Radio added that White has helped transform Kentucky’s pass rush after spending seven seasons working under Chuck Pagano with the Indianapolis Colts. Prior to White taking over, the Cats hadn’t produced a top-40 defense since 2008.

On Tuesday, new offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello spoke with reporters, and he had high praise for White’s defense.

“I love his defense,” Scangarello said. “We’ve been talking about it quite a bit. Actually, it reminds me of kind of the trend in the NFL right now. We’ve had some discussions. Not everyone understands it, not everyone can teach it. It has a lot of intricacies, very detailed. It’s pro-driven. Kind of the en vogue defense in the NFL is the 3-4 style of defense or odd defense that plays a certain type of backend coverage that’s very multiple.”

He then noted that it is the same type of defense that the defending Super Bowl champions Los Angeles Rams have started running.

“The Rams have gone to it. Vic Fangio’s defense — I coached against it every day — it’s kind of that mode. It’s Brandon Staley [Los Angeles Chargers]. To me, it has that same feel to it. And I love it. It’s a challenge. He throws a lot at you, and it has a lot of versatility.”

It is important that White knows his players and knows how to have success with them. Kentucky now has the NFL blueprint on both sides of the ball and White is doing a great job with this unit.

“He’s got smart players, he knows how to use them, and he does a really good job putting them in those positions.”

You can check out Scangarello’s full media appearance below.