Now that spring drills are over, did Kentucky football gets its edge back?
Before Kentucky football’s spring drills began, head coach Mark Stoops talked about getting back to some things he felt like his program got away from last season.
One example: Playing with an edge. Not just some of the time. Not just a majority of the time. All of the time.
So when the UK coach held his end-of-the-spring press conference Wednesday at the Joe Craft Football Training Facility, I asked him if he felt like he accomplished what he wanted to accomplish in that regard during spring drills.
“That’s a pretty broad statement there,” Stoops answered before pausing.
“Yes,” he continued, then stopped.
Laughter ensued from the media types in attendance.
“You can’t pin me down into a corner too much on that,” said the coach with a bit of a grin.
“I can try,” I said.
All kidding aside, the answer is yes, Stoops felt like that for the most part it was message delivered as far as setting a tone, of stressing a mindset, of charting a path that will bring the Cats back to its identity of being a physical football team that plays with a chip on its shoulder.
“I was open about it,” Stoops said. “I just think overall, mentality, whatever you want to call it, however you define that, the hunger, the way you go about your business with an attitude, with an edge, with a chip on your shoulder. This game is meant to be played that way.”
At times, the Cats fell short in some of those areas last season. They lost at home to South Carolina. They lost at home to Vanderbilt. They finished 3-5 in the SEC. Injuries obviously played a role in the team’s 7-6 overall record. Still, the head coach couldn’t shake the feeling that things were not quite right.
So this season the trick will be maximizing the contributions from the new faces while getting back to the old attitude.
Devin Leary is certainly the most important new face. He’s the quarterback, after all. Kentucky caught a break in that Leary was able to recover in time from an injury suffered last year to participate in spring drills this year. He performed the way UK thought he would.
“Just watching the film you could see his ability and how good he is,” Stoops said Wednesday when asked if anything about Leary had surprised him. “I’ve been impressed. I don’t know about surprised. We have to be better around him.”
Ah, the offensive line. A sore spot a year ago, the line has undergone changes in the spring. Northern Illinois transfer Marques Cox is the new left tackle. Kenneth Horsey moved from left tackle back to left guard. Eli Cox moved from center back to right guard. Jager Burton moved from right guard to center.
“That’ll move forward,” Stoops said. “We really like the way Jager progressed.”
Judging by the post-practice updates, the goal on defense was to make players more comfortable in uncomfortable situations. Defensive coordinator Brad White talked often about challenging his players, of getting them out of their comfort zone.
“There’s no magical calls,” Stoops said Wednesday. “The players have to play relentless and beat people and win one-and-ones. At times, we weren’t real pleased with that a year ago. That’s the same point I was making about that edge and mentality, effort.”
Stoops said he thought the secondary played well as a unit and that he “feels pretty good” about the development of the defensive line.
“You’ve got to be really good up front and I feel like we’ve helped ourselves there,” he said.
Let’s be real here, most of the focus next season, especially early in the season, will be on the offense. Liam Coen is back as coordinator. Leary is the new quarterback. Vandy transfer Ray Davis is the new running back. There is depth at wide receiver and tight end. There’s the shuffling on the offensive line.
Remember, this was an offense that ranked 107th in yards per game a season ago.
“We’re gonna improve,” Stoops said. “I feel very confident that we’ll improve.”
