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Joker Phillips stood up for his team after the Florida game, for the most part. But one group did get called out.

"I didn't think the linebackers played well," said the UK head coach.

Linebacker Danny Trevathan leads the team in tackling. It's a long way to second place on that list. So when Trevathan missed the first quarter against the Gators for disciplinary reasons, it hurt. Trevathan knows that and says he won't let it happen again. But the bigger issue might be, why didn't anyone else step up?

First-year starters Ronnie Sneed and Jacob Dufrene have heard the talk.

"Especially when you have it come from a head coach," said Sneed.

"We obviously know by watching film that we have some things to work on and improve upon, but we're in the film room and out on the field every day doing our best to get better and that's something we're focusing on."

"A lot of people don't understand that whenever you're just one step behind, that big play can happen," said Dufrene.

"We just came in as a team and talked as linebackers and we got to come out and play a better game Saturday at Ole Miss."

Defensive coordinator Steve Brown isn't ready to count his guys out. He says his young linebacker corps has performed well at times. But so far, the loss of Micah Johnson and Sam Maxwell has been apparent, especially when looking for a leader on the defense.

"I think a lot has to do with just trusting themselves. We're going in to game five now. They should be ready, I mean they've seen enough practice," said Brown.

Against Ole Miss, with a quarterback that can run it as well as he can throw it, those linebackers better be ready.