There are a bunch of new faces in the Kentucky EDGE room. The outside linebackers have a new coach, Nate Fuqua, who’s technically serving in an analyst role. Of the six players who could be in the rotation, there’s only one with experience at Kentucky, and Steven Soles was a freshman in 2024.
The Jack linebacker position is where Josh Hines-Allen became a star, and the one JJ Weaver held down for what felt like a decade. Now it’s up for grabs between a pair of transfers.
Sam Greene arrives from USC wearing No. 2. Kam Olds is a Kent State product wearing No. 1. It should make things easy for Kentucky fans, because at this point, it feels like they’re going to split most of the reps 50/50, unless one turns into a dominant havoc machine.
The fine folks at UK Sports TV mic’d up Olds to give Kentucky fans an inside look at the competition between the pass-rushers. It was delightful, in part because of Olds’ charisma, and it gave us some actual insight about the level of play in the trenches.
In one winning rep, Olds used an outside-inside move on Malachi Wood to get to the quarterback in what would’ve been a sack. He didn’t win every rep. You’ll see the offensive guards provide stout pass protection when the call sends Olds inside.
Those are the highlights for Football Nerds. There’s one other part that will stand out more to most members of Big Blue Nation. Following one play, Olds called over to Cutter Boley.
“You throw a beautiful ball on the run,” he said. “That was beautiful.”
It’s a compliment, one that could be construed as passive-aggressive. Olds’ job is to make sure Boley is throwing from the run throughout fall camp.
[READ: Adam Luckett dives into the EDGEs in KSR’s Position Preview Series]
