Kentucky has three football games remaining in the 2024 season, and the Cats are hoping to finish the campaign strong. It starts with a game against Murray State on Saturday at Kroger Field (1:30 ET, SEC Network Plus).

UK defensive coordinator Brad White spoke after Wednesday’s practice, and he discussed the message he has communicated to his unit during last week’s open date and during this week of practice.

“Execution, it’s about execution,” White said. “Football, especially defensively, it’s about tackling. You’ve got to be a great tackling football team, you’ve got to run around, you’ve got to strain. We’ve got to fit our run gaps correctly. Obviously, the explosives this year have been way too high, the number of them. We’ve played well in spurts but we’ve got to play consistent and it starts on Saturday.”

White wants his defense to take pride in how they play this week, and for the rest of the season.

“You’ve got to take pride in performance,” White said. “There are times that we’ve won a ball game that you feel terrible because you didn’t particularly play well. There’s times that, you never feel good after a loss, but there’s times you can take pride in the performance that you put out. Sometimes, the ball doesn’t bounce your way. It’s not moral victories, it’s not that. But there’s a pride in performance level to it. The key focus this week for us is we’ve got to take pride in our performance. Everybody that’s on that field needs to take pride in their performance and the standard that we’ve set. From the first snap to the last, I want to see guys straining, finishing, pinning ball carriers to the ground. I don’t want it sloppy, I want it high energy and execution at a high level.”

Murray State is just 1-9 on the season, but White knows that the Cats can’t just expect to show up and win against the Racers.

“Obviously, we’ve got to go out and we’ve got to perform,” White said. “This is not a deal where you just roll the ball out and you feel great.”

At Tennessee, the Cats were undermanned due to a rash of injuries. Having last week off seems to have helped the healing a bit, but White knows that it’s still ongoing.

“We’re still in the midst of the healing process,” White said. “We’re trying to get gradually back to where it’s as close to full strength as it can be. It’s an ongoing thing.”

On Saturday, the Cats should have more players available on defense than they did at Tennessee. Whoever is on the field on Saturday, White wants them to take a great deal of pride in how they play against Murray State, and for the rest of the season.