‘A lot of guys can benefit from this.’ Bowl practices help UK build for future.

Prepping for Penn State is pivotal, but the work leading up to the Citrus Bowl has a larger purpose for Kentucky.

The Cats need to get ready for the future, a future where they will be replacing seven starters on defense and four on offense.

It’s a future where some of the players who have had to watch plays being made from the UK sidelines now will have to be the ones making those plays.

Count Kash Daniel among the current Cats starters who is excited for fans to see what has been waiting in the wings.

“There’s a lot of guys that have worked their tails off to get to where they are now,” Daniel said. “I think with these guys, like you said, the seniors kind of moving on, other guys will step up and you’ll get to see them a lot, too.”

Daniel was one of those guys just a couple of years ago, waiting his turn to become a difference-maker. Getting extra practices for the TaxSlayer Bowl in 2016 and then the Music City Bowl last season was huge for his development.

“That’s really key for them because it’s almost like they’re going through an extra spring ball,” the junior linebacker said. “You get 15 of them just like with spring ball.”

Position coaches give players a list of things they’d like to see them work on moving forward and bowl practices offer a chance to get a jump on that.

“The last two bowl practices, I’ve looked at it from a mental standpoint as, ‘What have I been told that I need work on and how can I improve that?’” Daniel said. “A lot of guys can benefit from this.”

This spring, Kentucky’s practice won’t look or feel the same, especially on the defensive side of the ball, where UK loses seven starters in Josh Allen, Adrian Middleton, Jordan Jones and all of its starting secondary in Derrick Baity, Lonnie Johnson, Mike Edwards and Darius West.

In all, UK is losing five of its top seven tacklers, more than 53 percent of its tackles from the regular season, 50 percent of its tackles for a loss, nearly 60 percent of its quarterback sacks and 75 percent of its interceptions.

That’s a lot of productivity to replace.

So Coach Mark Stoops knows this round of bowl preparation is key for the future of the program, especially these early practices where the younger players are featured.

“Definitely very interested in those guys and have been all year, to be honest with you,” Stoops said. “So tried to put a lot of pressure on them when we could in season whenever we had time to just see.

“We knew it would be a big issue because you’re going to have to try and force a lot on them to just get the experience factor, getting them as many realistic looks as you can and for us to see what they can and cannot do. So really working with those guys.”

On offense, Kentucky’s coaches will be replacing at least four starters in Benny Snell, who announced his plans to enter the NFL Draft after the bowl game, tight end C.J. Conrad and the entire right side of the offensive line in guard Bunchy Stallings and tackle George Asafo-Adjei.

Statistically, the Cats are losing 54.2 percent of their regular-season rushing yards and 37.4 percent of their receiving yardage.

“It gets a chance for them to look at the young guys that we’ve got coming up,” Daniel said of the coaching staff, specifically mentioning future running backs Kavosiey Smoke and Chris Rodriguez among two players he’s been excited to watch on the offensive side of the ball. “Those two dudes right there, those are two powerful running backs.”

Daniel had a long list of players on his side of the ball that he was excited to see get a shot in recent weeks, mentioning linebackers including Chris Whittaker, Jamin Davis, Chris Oats and DeAndre Square by name.

“All the young DBs we have, outside linebackers, you name it,” Daniel said.

Kentucky will really dive into Penn State prep work in the coming weeks, but the past couple of weeks since the season ended are a huge time for development of young players.

“A lot of it, too, is you need to get back to technique, get back to form, what makes you a football player basically,” Daniel said. “Refine those things, get tuned up before you go full blast on it again.”

Daniel has told the young players about to get their time to embrace these 15 bowl practices leading up to the Citrus Bowl. He has reminded them that it’s an audition for the future.

The middle linebacker “looked at them as an opportunity, an opportunity that I get 15 more chances in front of my coaches to make a good impression to build that trust with them and my teammates to know that if they choose to put me out there that I can go out there and make plays.”

Citrus Bowl

No. 14 Kentucky vs. No. 12 Penn State

When: 1 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 1

Where: Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Fla.

TV: ABC-36

This story was originally published December 15, 2018 at 3:20 PM.