Returning Kentucky players say there is one big change in Will Stein’s practices
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kentucky adopts fast‑paced, no‑break practice format modeled on Oregon staff methods.
- Stein splits roster into two mixed teams weekly; periods are position‑specific.
- Staff says fast practices build conditioning and mental toughness for chaotic games.
It is common practice when changing coaches to hire one who presents a radically different approach than the coach who was fired.
For Kentucky football, that meant hiring a hot shot offensive coordinator from a powerhouse program after 13 years under the lead of defensive-minded Mark Stoops. Will Stein was hired specifically to bring a more exciting brand of offense to Lexington.
But fans do not need to wait until the 2026 season to start to see noticeable differences in the program.
“It’s a lot different coaching styles, for sure,” returning linebacker Grant Godfrey said. “Coach Stein is coming from Oregon, so our practices are a lot higher pace, no breaks.
“Unlike the last coaching staff, we have no breaks.”
As Kentucky opened spring practice earlier this month, it was apparent there would be changes to the practice format common during Stoops’ tenure. The change that drew the most attention was Stein’s abandonment of a traditional depth chart, instead choosing to split the roster into two different teams each week with a mix of projected starters and backups on each squad.
But when returning players were made available for interviews for the first time since the coaching change, it was the lack of practice breaks that they said was the most noticeable difference.
“Last year we had like three breaks during practice, and it was like the same length,” Godfrey said. “This year is nonstop. Like, we’re boom, boom, boom, boom, the whole practice. No breaks.
“I feel like we didn’t do a lot of contact last year, maybe due to injuries. I don’t know what the deal was, but this year, it’s a lot more physical.”
Most college football practices look very similar.
Before practice officially starts, players and coaches walk through various plays, then gather for vigorous stretching. The actual practice begins with individual drills for each position group. Special teams drills follow before the team gathers again for 7-on-7 or 11-on-11 team periods.
Stein, using a similar format to the practices Dan Lanning ran at Oregon, instead uses three separate walkthrough periods before stretching. He injects special teams periods into different times of practice depending on the day. Thanks to Stein’s supersized staff with multiple coaches assigned to each position group, two-spot drills where multiple groups run the same drill at the same time are common.
“Our (practice) periods have a true emphasis,” he said. “We don’t just go out and run plays. Every period is specific. Our transitions should look a certain way on and off the field. That’s where you create conditioning.
“We don’t run after practice. … Everything is fast-paced, everything is tempo because the game is chaotic.”
Stoops found great success at Kentucky with a philosophy built around a stingy defense and a physical, ball-control offense. He usually wanted to run the ball, dominate time of possession and keep opponents’ offense off the field for as long as possible.
That strategy resulted in 10-win seasons in 2018 and 2021 and a run of eight straight bowl games, but it also appeared to cap the ceiling of the program. Even Stoops acknowledged in the final years of his tenure the need to find more balance on offense, but a string of offensive coordinator hires was unable to duplicate the success he found in 2021 when now Jacksonville Jaguars coach Liam Coen was calling plays for the Wildcats.
Fans should not expect Kentucky to suddenly turn into Tennessee, which operates at one of the fastest paces in the country. UK actually averaged more plays per game last season than Stein’s Oregon offense thanks to former offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan’s midseason tweak to emphasize quick, short passes for redshirt freshman quarterback Cutter Boley, but even with more plays, Kentucky struggled to score more points.
“We play with tempo, but we don’t play with tempo all the time,” said offensive line coach Cutter Leftwich, who worked with Stein at Oregon last season. “The one thing we’ve done a tremendous job of is being able to change tempos, as well. Like, it’s not fast-paced 24/7. We huddle and we are able to do some different things to be able to dictate the tempo as well.”
That strategy does not sound too dissimilar from the kind of offense Stoops tried — often unsuccessfully — to run over the last five years, but the approach to tempo in practice appears drastically different.
“It’s way more fast-paced,” linebacker Antwan Smith said. “...It is going to be easier playing other teams since you’re so used to fast-paced things. In the game it’ll be slower than what it is in practice.”
Asked about players’ noting the lack of breaks in practice, Stein seemed a little surprised by the focus on the change.
“I have never experienced breaks in spring practice, even when I was a player,” he said.
Stein acknowledged some coaches use practice breaks to simulate halftime of games. He said in fall camp when temperatures are hotter and real games are closer, he will use the type of hydration stations with fruit and tents that were commonplace in Stoops practices.
But for his first spring practice, there will not be any stops.
“You get your water while you’re sitting and waiting to go back in,” said defensive line coach Anwar Stewart, the only returning position coach from Stoops’ final UK staff. “That’s huge. That’s the mental toughness piece of this thing. Teaching the young men mental toughness, physical toughness, being able to go through, continue to push yourself through … over and over again.
“Because when we get out there on Saturdays and it’s third-and-short or fourth-and-short, you’ve got to have been able to go through the pressure cooker, know that you’re not going to jump offsides, that you are going to play disciplined football together. And so, he’s really instilling that in us and in our young men.”