Jordan Lovett Poised for Success Following Extended Snaps Against Florida
Jordan Lovett is already battle tested after less than three quarters of football in a Kentucky jersey this season.
After starting free safety Jalen Geiger was hit by an illegal blindside block in the second quarter of Kentucky's 26-16 win over Florida, which resulted in the junior being carted off the field, Lovett's number was called, as he stepped in for the remainder of the game.
The Radcliff, Ky native made an immediate impact for the Wildcats against the Gators, as he finished tied for second on the team in tackles with seven. It wasn't a flawless performance by any means, but the redshirt freshman played his part in what was a stellar second half by the UK defense, holding Florida scoreless.
Defensive coordinator Brad White was critical of how the safety played, though overall he was happy with the performance:
"He tried to play hard, he tried to play fast," White said of Lovett. "There's things that we need to get cleaned up from an assignment standpoint, but we always talk about...you're better off playing fast and being wrong than trying to play slow and right. He ran around, he made some plays, which was good."
Opportunity comes at you fast, especially when it happens in the middle of a road game in front of almost 90,000 fans screaming down at you. It doesn't make things any easier when you have to fill in for a teammate that just got carted off the field with a potentially serious injury.
The nerves ran through Lovett when that opportunity arose, but once he got a few reps on the field, all of those instincts he developed as a football player came rushing back.
"When I first heard about (Geiger's injury), everybody was just saying 'stay focused, be ready,' and when I got out there, I feel like everything was natural," Lovett said. "On the field, when you get in you're kinda nervous a little bit , but once you get out there everything flows...preparation."
It's never easy to see a teammate hit the turf and not come straight back up, but it makes matters worse when that teammate is someone you call a brother, like Lovett does Geiger.
"People just think he's my teammate, but that's really my brother," Lovett said. "Through the offseason, we put in so much work together, so much blood, sweat and tears."
Now with his brother on the shelf, Lovett is looking back on what he's learned from Geiger throughout his time at Kentucky, in order to properly prepare him for those starting reps that fell to his lap, all because of one illegal block.
"When Jalen was here, he was going, then I was going behind him. Usually I just see everything that Jalen does, if he messes up, then I see what to do right. Now, like I said I just have to stay on point because everything comes to me first," Lovett said. "You practice how you play. When you train and you handle yourself in the weight room, it's going to correlate to the field."
While his free safety-mate is no longer taking reps with him, there's still a bulk of experience for the redshirt freshman to take in on the defense. The second that it became clear that it was Lovett's time to make an impact on defense, the veterans were in his ear, getting his mind right for what was to come.
"It was really just getting the calls to me, making sure I know where to go. I had Ty(rell Aijan), DeAndre Square and a whole lot of other people just helping me out," he said.
Junior cornerback Carrington Valentine gave him all the positive reinforcement one could ask for, even if it came in an atmosphere as big as the one that Lovett was about to enter:
"I found him and I basically told him, 'You're here, this is your moment. I'm gonna be there for you, you know, you prepared for this," Valentine said. "So you know, I said 'I'm gonna help you, but at the end of the day, like, you're in the fire now.' But I trust him. Like I trust him with everything. I mean, I knew what it was gonna be. I know he was nervous, he had a little bit of the jitters but I just looked at him and was like, 'You're good, like you wouldn't be here in this position if we didn't trust you."
Lovett has had a smooth, seamless transition into the starting lineup throughout practice ahead of Saturday's matchup against Youngstown State. It's never fun to take opportunity when it comes to you the way it did Lovett, but it's still an opportunity nonetheless.
Things won't come easy on the field, however. Lovett, though he may want them to, understands that. Coach White understands that as well, but has made sure to remind the young safety that he isn't the only one out there on the defense, and even if things aren't going his way, he's still a part of a 11-man machine thats job is to stop offenses by any means.
"He's gonna be a guy that we've gotta rely on, so he's gotta make sure that he knows exactly what to do," White said. "He understands that there's 10 other guys on the defense and team relying that he knows what to do, he's putting in the work, it's not just gonna be perfect from here on out, he's gonna make mistakes, we're gonna have to learn to grow from them."
Lovett's first start on Saturday will come in a much more friendly environment than what he was tossed into in Gainesville. Those two and a half quarters in The Swamp, however, will likely be what he and Kentucky look back on as a turning point to his progression as a football player through his time in Lexington.
