When Kentucky opened the Will Stein era with a 45-13 win over Youngstown State at Kroger Field, one of the clearest signs of the day came from a freshman pressed into action.
Isaiah McMillian, a true freshman cornerback from Katy, Texas, stepped into the starting lineup with anticipated starters Hasaan Sykes and Terhyon Nichols both out with injuries, and he handled the assignment like a player who had been waiting for the moment. McMillian tied for the team lead with seven total tackles and led the Wildcats with five solo stops. He also added a tackle for loss and a pass breakup.
He was around the ball all afternoon, showing up in space and making plays that went beyond simply cleaning up tackles. Kentucky’s defense had its uneven moments, but McMillian’s debut was not one of them.
Will Stein said afterward that the performance fit exactly what he had already seen from the rookie in practice.
"When he got his opportunity in practice, he played the exact same way," Stein said. "Our second scrimmage, I think he had an interception, he had two fumble recoveries, he had like seven tackles.
I'm like, 'Dang! Let's play this kid.
He can go.' He's smart, he's tough, dependable, and (I'm) really proud of him stepping up when his number's called."
That kind of showing had been building behind the scenes all summer. Defensive coordinator Jay Bateman praised McMillian after Kentucky’s first scrimmage, pointing to his confidence and his ability to respond when coached hard.
"I think he's had a really good summer," Bateman said after UK's first scrimmage. "He's more confident.
I can kind of get after him a little bit, he responds. I like him, his dad's a college coach, he knows what this is about.
I think he's got a pretty bright future, man."
Bateman also said McMillian had dealt with injuries in his final year at Katy, but credited him with having "legit track speed" and said he had added plenty of weight and size before arriving in Lexington. McMillian’s father, Charles, is a high school coach in Texas and has also coached at Texas A&M, New Mexico and TCU.
Cornerbacks coach Allen Brown echoed that optimism before the season, saying McMillian had made major strides.
"He just grew a ton," Brown said. "He got his mind right and he learned the scheme pretty fast, he's a super smart kid."
Brown brought McMillian up again after Kentucky’s second scrimmage, along with Grant Grayton and Demarcus Gardner, as part of the group that helped create "competitive depth" while Sykes and Nichols were unavailable.
"We were a little dinged up, but now we built competitive depth, which is a huge thing," Brown said. "You don't just got depth, but you got guys that you can rely on because of the amount of reps that they've gotten because of those guys being a little dinged up."
On Saturday, that depth showed up in a big way, and McMillian made the most of his first chance on a college stage.
In Other News...
Kentucky Gets Its First Real Chance To Back Up The Hype
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Now comes the part that will tell the bigger story. Kentucky heads into this matchup as the underdog, facing a Crimson Tide team that brings a different level of talent and depth, and the Wildcats will have to translate the confidence they showed in Week 1 into something sturdier against a far sterner test. The opener featured encouraging performances from key players, but Alabama is the kind of opponent that quickly reveals whether the hype is real or just September noise. [Read more 🡒]
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The timing only sharpened the moment for Kentucky fans, with opening weekend across the SEC delivering the kind of conference-wide backdrop that makes every result feel bigger. While football headlines around the league centered on unbeaten starts and a slate of tight games, Kentucky was making its own statement in a different sport, and the Wildcats are still settling into a new weekly rhythm on the football side after moving press conferences and coach shows to different days. [Read more 🡒]
Alabama Heads Into Kentucky With One Big Problem Fans Will Notice
Kentuckys Week 2 meeting with Alabama comes with a strange kind of uncertainty for both staffs, the sort that only shows up this early in the season. Kalen DeBoer spent part of his press conference Wednesday talking through the usual mix of player evaluation, preparation and the challenges of jumping into an SEC game this quickly, while also acknowledging that the Crimson Tide are still trying to get a clear read on what Kentucky looks like under new head coach Will Stein.
The catch for Alabama is that the film bank is thin, and what is available does not offer much of a clean blueprint. DeBoer said the Tide are leaning heavily on fundamentals as they get ready for an early conference test, which makes this more of a game-plan-for-the-basics week than a deep-dive into tendencies. The matchup is set for ABC and Disney+, and for Kentucky, that kind of uncertainty can be a useful place to be when a heavyweight comes to town. [Read more 🡒]