What if Kentucky can’t have fans and others in SEC can? Stoops weighs in.
Several schools across the Southeastern Conference have shared intentions of allowing fans in their football stadiums this fall.
As of Saturday, the University of Kentucky was still absent from that group. Director of Athletics Mitch Barnhart has addressed stadium attendance a few times over the last couple months, but so far UK has not shared an explicit target in terms of a percentage. None of the nine schools that have announced stadium capacities — Alabama, Auburn, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi State, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas A&M — are allowing more than 25 percent of fans.
UK is likely to fall in that same 20-25 percent range when it hosts Mississippi for its home opener on Oct. 3, if fans are permitted. That possibility was dealt something of a blow Friday when Churchill Downs announced that no fans would be allowed to attend the Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5 after recently saying it would cap attendance at 23,000.
A lot can change in a month, but what if Kentucky has to visit stadiums with crowds while hosting opponents in an empty Kroger Field?
“I’m confident in the governor and his leadership,” head coach Mark Stoops said of Andy Beshear after Saturday’s practice. “I really hope we do (have fans). That would be a severe disadvantage for us if the SEC’s having fans at 20 percent, 25, 30 percent, whatever it is, and we’re not able to. If you’re asking me if I’d like it, of course not. But I’ll also play by the rules that they tell me to play by.”
The Herald-Leader learned through an open records request that UK’s athletics department, as of Aug. 20, had not shared any proposals to reopen its athletics venues to fans or how it would accommodate fans if they are permitted to attend games this fall.
Scrimmage
Kentucky holds intrasquad scrimmages on Saturdays during fall camp. Every practice looks unlike any since Stoops’ tenure, given the COVID-19 protocols in place, but he and UK’s players don’t believe those limitations are hindering their ability to develop.
Saturday’s practice was UK’s first in helmets and pads. The offense jumped out of the gate quickly.
“The first play the team ran, I wasn’t too pleased, because they ran the ball right down our throat for about 20 yards,” Stoops said. “… I like to see that from an offensive standpoint; I did not like to see it from a defensive standpoint.”
Senior running back A.J Rose was the party responsible for the big burst.
“I say 20, it could have been to the house,” Stoops said. “I need to look at the film, I just walked off the field.”
Stoops hasn’t observed a noticeable difference in players’ physicality despite the virus, whose containment measures focus on keeping distance from other people. Multiple players through the first week of practice echoed that sentiment.
“When we hit the football field, we’re football players and we’re going out there to play football and that’s what’s on our mind, going out there and practicing,” senior center Drake Jackson said. “Of course, when we’re gathered up, yea we’ve our masks up and we’re conscious about it, but when we’re on the field I’m not thinking about nothing but the game and what we’re doing out there.”
Terry Wilson
Having several weeks of additional preparation before the Cats’ first game should be a huge benefit to Wilson, Stoops said, but he has looked a lot like his former self through three practices. His comfort level in the pocket is good.
Stoops is quick to blow his whistle on quarterback runs, but …
“(When) he’s pulling it down, he’s like a bolt again, just like he used to be,” Stoops said. “When he pulls it down, he can really run and hurt some people. He has a good feel for that. … He looks really good early in camp. It’s only been three practices, but he looks really good.”
COVID-19 update
Kentucky tested “a buttload of people” last week, per Stoops, and two players’ tests came back positive for COVID-19. A third player had already been quarantined because of contact tracing procedures.
“Our players have done a good job and they’ve gotta continue to do that,” Stoops said. “… Now that school’s started, there’s people on campus, there’s things going on at night and they’ve gotta continue to make good choices and to sacrifice and be as distant from people as they can, from the big groups. I think that’s gonna say a lot over the next couple of weeks with many teams and with many athletes throughout the country.”
Special teams
Senior punter Max Duffy, who will also hold on place kicks this year, said Stoops has designated him as UK’s special teams coordinator. The program did not hire someone in that role following the departure of Dean Hood, who was hired as the head coach at Murray State University in December.
What does it pay?
“Unfortunately zero,” Duffy said with a grin. “But I got given the holder position so (Coach Stoops) felt that was enough of an increase, to give me a little bit more to do off the field.”
This story was originally published August 22, 2020 at 2:37 PM.
