Observations from UK’s Media Day: ‘Quality depth,’ a ‘different’ offense, and more.
The University of Kentucky football team kicked off its fall camp with a media frenzy at Kroger Field ahead of the Wildcats’ first practice on Friday. Here are five notable remarks, observations and items of interest about the Cats following a lengthy round of interviews with their coaches and players.
1. A starting quarterback probably won’t be named before week one of the season.
“It’s more important to get it right than to be in a hurry,” head coach Mark Stoops said. “Is there a benefit? Yes, I believe there is. There’s a benefit to getting reps. That’s part of the negative to having a lot of talented players, at any position, but it seems like it’s obviously much easier to rotate guys in throughout practice in preseason at other spots than quarterback.”
Stoops thinks there’s “quality depth” all the way down to the No. 4 and No. 5 spots for the first time at the position since he’s been at UK.
2. Will Levis, Joey Gatewood and Beau Allen — the presumed front-runners for the starting quarterback job — all were asked what trait would separate the eventual winner. Their responses:
Gatewood: “We’ll see, won’t we?”
Allen: “I think having a confidence about themselves but not cockiness. You gotta have the ability to make all types of throws, all the reads as fast as you can, but also keep the team under control if anything gets too hot. If it’s a big moment, you gotta stay cool and collected.”
Levis: “Obviously it comes to execution being able to play the position, but I think you need to be a leader and a guy that guys can turn to and really trust. You gotta win the team over before you can win the coaches over, you know? That’s what really helps that decision get made. A lot of times the decision makes itself, it becomes kind of obvious. At the end of the day you can’t fake leadership.”
3. Came away with the impression that the much ballyhooed receivers signed as part of the 2021 recruiting class will have a chance to make an impact right away if their work ethic in year one matches their talent.
“Expect and hope is a different story, right?” said offensive coordinator Liam Coen. “You hope that the guys will come in and make an impact, because there are some skilled players in that freshman class that have some ability we want to take advantage of. They gotta get lined up and know the basic formations and basic scheme before we can really tell.”
Local product Dekel Crowdus, who starred for Frederick Douglass High School, was among that crop. He was frank about his decision to stay committed to Kentucky following another season that featured little in the way of pass production.
“To be honest, I wasn’t going to make the decision to come here because there wasn’t a lot of passing,” Crowdus said, “but this year Coach Coen has a lot more passing plays. This offense is gonna be different this year.”
4. On defense, the Cats’ revamped middle linebacking corps and how they improve their pass rushing are the two biggest stories to follow through camp. True freshmen Martez Thrower and Trevin Wallace could get onto the field as UK looks to settle its lineup alongside DeAndre Square.
Ole Miss transfer Jacquez Jones adds some juice to the unit, too. He was a starter at Ole Miss but thinks Kentucky is a better spot in terms of his development as a pro prospect.
“When you look at Ole Miss, nothing against them, they haven’t had a (inside) linebacker drafted since Patrick Willis (in 2007),” Jones said. “Here you see guys like Wesley Woodyard, Bud Dupree, all these linebackers that have gotten drafted. That’s something I want to be a part of.”
5. Defensive coordinator Brad White offered high praise for J.J. Weaver, a sophomore outside linebacker who’s coming off ACL surgery.
“What he does, the time that he puts in, the commitment in his rehab, it’s elite-level,” White said. “When the time comes for him to come back from that, he is gonna come back as good, and better, long-term than he was last year. And we all know, when he got hurt (at Florida) he was a dominant force on that football field. Nobody looks at (more than) the score, but if you just look at the film, when J.J. played in that Alabama game and J.J. played in that Florida game, he was as dominant a football player as anybody on that football field.”
It seems likelier than not that we’ll see Weaver back on the field soon, but Stoops isn’t necessarily in a rush.
“You also have to make sure you give that ligament time to heal,” Stoops said. “He has a bright future, and I have a tendency to try to be more cautious with those type of guys than force them back into it.”
COVID-19 update
UK’s football team is making progress in terms of COVID-19 vaccinations.
“We are in a good, strong position,” Stoops said. “I feel like we’ll reach the goal. But that’s a touchy subject. I addressed it with the team. We’re very open and honest and communicate often about a lot of things, and that is an individual choice. We’ll continue to educate them, and everybody will do what’s best for them or what they feel (is) most comfortable. But I do feel like we’ll reach the goal that the league has set.”
During his appearance at the Southeastern Conference’s annual media event two weeks ago, Stoops said UK had “a ways to go” in terms of vaccinations. As of late July, only six of the league’s 14 programs had reached an 80 percent or higher vaccination rate. Teams whose rate is 85 percent or higher do not have to regularly undergo testing for COVID-19.
Chris Rodriguez, UK’s top running back and a preseason All-SEC selection by multiple outlets, this week tweeted that he was getting the COVID-19 vaccine because he wanted to be sure he was available to play every game. Rodriguez missed two games last season due to UK’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols.
Stoops echoed comments Friday from the SEC media appearance, describing COVID-19 vaccinations as a personal, individual choice that the program will continue to educate its players about.
2021 UK football schedule
(Home games in all capital letters)
Sept. 4: LOUISIANA MONROE, Noon
Sept. 11: MISSOURI, 7:30
Sept. 18: CHATTANOOGA, Noon
Sept. 25: At South Carolina
Oct. 2: FLORIDA
Oct. 9: LSU
Oct. 16: At Georgia
Oct. 23: No game
Oct. 30: At Mississippi State
Nov. 6: TENNESSEE
Nov. 13: At Vanderbilt
Nov. 20: NEW MEXICO STATE
Nov. 27: At Louisville
This story was originally published August 6, 2021 at 2:02 PM.
