Experience normally proves invaluable for Southeastern Conference football players at any school. Kentucky certainly is no exception.

Just ask junior cornerback Derrick Baity, originally a three-star prospect from Florida. He played all 12 games as a true freshman in 2015 and started four. Last season, he started all 13 games and had three interceptions, seven pass breakups and 42 tackles.

“From my freshman year to sophomore year I didn’t really understand what was going on. So my sophomore year I got a grip of what is going on – who is valuable, what is everyone’s role,” Baity said. “From sophomore to junior season, everybody wants the team to be good rather than I am going to make this selfish play for myself and stuff like that. We all want to be good. It’s really scary what that can do for us.”

Baity feels he’s got “smarter” and is now able to help younger players with their understanding of the game.

He also understands why UK coach Mark Stoops felt his secondary underperformed last year when it was regarded as the strength of the defense going into last season. Safety Mike Edwards was the best player, but Baity and cornerback Chris Westry didn’t match the lofty expectations Stoops and others had for them.

“I feel like at the beginning of the season last year it (the secondary) was not good. We were embarrassing him (Stoops) because he is a great DB coach. He holds us to a high standard, and we didn’t meet that standard,” Baity said. “But we have the potential to be a good DB group and I think we are going to prove that this season.

“We could have had more interceptions last year. We could have had more takeaways rather than like batted balls. Just making plays on the ball. We should have done that a lot more.”

Baity has extra motivation to do even more now.

“The only motivation I have is that I want to be a great player in the SEC. But my biggest motivation is my son. He is 5 months old,” Baity said Sunday at UK’s Media Day. “That has changed my life in a big way. I was one of the leaders on the team who played around a lot. But now since he has been here, I feel like I have matured in a sense of wanting to get better and I have someone to do it for.”

He says he gets photos sent to him almost daily of his son, who is in Tampa, Fla., and also watches him on FaceTime.

“He can’t talk obviously, so I am just like watching him sleep. Sometimes I feel like he is here,” Baity said.

Maybe that’s part of the reason Baity is so optimistic about this season. Kentucky went 7-6 after an 0-2 start last year and played in the TaxSlayer Bowl. Baity sees an even better season coming.

“I think we can get nine games just on our talent alone. As far as us working hard and like getting in games where it is close and we have to grind out and win, that can give us 10 or 11 wins,” he said.

Being a Florida native, he would love to see UK end a 30-year/game losing streak to Florida in September at Kroger Field. He says players do talk about games and make predictions, but they also have to focus daily and not look ahead.

However, he knows a win over Florida likely would lead to UK fans storming the field no matter what the SEC fine might be for the crowd violation.

“I would love to be part of it. If we were in Lexington last year and beat Louisville, they would have went crazy on us after the game,” Baity said. “We still got a little taste of it in Louisville. I want to be part of one of those victories that no one thought we could win and we pull it out. It would be a great feeling, and we could do it this year.”

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Rivals.com basketball recruiting writer Krysten Peek predicted months ago that 2018 forward Zion Williamson would pick Kentucky and she still feels the same way.

“I like his fit for Kentucky. The atmosphere is perfect for him. He’s a showtime player and would be perfect there,” Peek said. “He says he wants to play with Immanuel Quickley, and Quickly is a point guard target for Kentucky.

“But Duke is still very much in the mix. Kansas is in the mix. But I like where Kentucky is sitting. He told me (John) Calipari texts him every other day.”

Williamson, who is from Spartanburg, S.C., is ranked No. 2 in the 2018 recruiting class behind Marvin Bagley, and is a player Peek believes you have to see in person to fully appreciate.

“You think he is a defensive end in the NFL and there’s no way he would be good enough to get up and down the court as quickly as he does and and no way he can jump as high as he does,” Peek said. “He’s a freak of an athlete. They just don’t come along like him.”

Peek also noted the increased interest Kentucky has in 2019 point guard Ashton Hagans of Oak Hill (Va.) Academy. He’s from the Atlanta area.

“A few places (recruiting sites) have him as the top point guard in the 2019 class,” Peek said. “He’s quick, aggressive, good defender. I asked him what schools are making him a priority and he told me Kentucky and North Carolina have been at most of his games (this summer).”

Hagans said former UK point guard Rajon Rondo was one of his favorite players. He was at UK’s Big Blue Madness last year and admits Calipari’s success with one and done players is a big attraction for him.