Rich Brooks has a front-row seat for an upcoming horror flick.
Kentucky's coach won't see any headless horsemen or any blood spilled. Instead, he's going to have to bear watching a two-headed running back monster in Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps.
"It's like going to a fright movie, for crying out loud," Brooks said. "It's just scary."
So, for Brooks' sake, thank goodness he has the best defensive line he has ever coached in his five-year tenure.
One year after the Wildcats were known for long passes and bigger offensive stat sheets, Kentucky has a defensive identity.
The Wildcats' defense leads the Southeastern Conference with just under 12 points per game allowed.
"It's a good a front four we've had since I've been here," Brooks said. "It stacks up well with the front fours in the conference. Defensively, clearly, we've made some major strides."
And Urban Meyer has certainly noticed. When asked what impressed him about Kentucky, UF's coach responded quickly.
"Their defensive front," Meyer said. "And they don't play a lot of coverages, but they're excellent when they do."
It's not going to be easy this week, though, as the Wildcats will be without 6-foot-1, 310-pound defensive tackle Myron Pryor. Leading tackler and senior linebacker Braxton Kelley is also "doubtful to questionable" with a shoulder injury, Brooks said.
Even without Pryor, there's still no doubt this more experienced line is improved from a year ago.
"You know what the guy next to you is going to be doing," junior tackle Corey Peters said. "You read each other better. Communication is a big thing for us. Sometimes I can look over and see what (defensive end) Jeremy Jarmon is thinking just by the way he looks. You kind of understand where another person's head is."
Basically, it's much harder to score on this team than it was a year ago. Last year's team would have to keep marching downfield continuously with long offensive drives to have a chance to win. Now, they keep teams from doing that.
"It's amazing how much that experience plays into hand because I actually coached against a lot of those defensive players a couple years ago when they were really young," Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino said of Kentucky during Wednesday's teleconference. "They took their lumps a little bit. They're very physical. Their linebackers are big and can run. That's been their strength, and they've been playing to their strength. They're more conservative than they used to be offensively. (They're putting) most of it in their defensive hands."
Those hands are certainly going to be busy trying to get hits on Rainey, Demps and Tim Tebow this weekend. And they know it's not going to be easy.
"Our first-team guys aren't as fast as those guys," Peters said. "You do the best you can with the scout team. You have to get it in your head it's going to be faster in the game. … I don't think we'll be surprised by their speed. In our minds, we'll be prepared. We know it's probably going to be faster than anyone we've seen this year."
Maybe the Gators haven't seen anyone with their type of skill, either.
