Jen Smith on UK football

Coach Mark Stoops has one more full practice before the Blue-White spring game and before he sends off his new team for the summer. What are some of the messages he has for them? How is he feeling about chemistry? Will he be adding any new players for the fall? Here’s what he said.

OPENING STATEMENT: “Good practice. I was very encouraged. We got a lot of good work in. Good, physical day, went a little longer, got some good situational work done, defense responded well, had a good day today. So overall, pleased.”

HAS HE SEEN IT CLICK FOR SOME GUYS? “Yeah, I think that’s the big thing. Rather than individual, I think more as a unit I’m feeling it more and more right now, as a team. I feel more guys getting themselves in a position to be successful, working harder, buying in all the way and understanding concepts. So we’re getting there.”

IS THE ON-FIELD COMMUNICATION IS GOOD RIGHT NOW: “Sometimes. Coaches are still coaching every play, every rep. We want to do things right. It’s still frustrating at times, but some of that’s to be expected. We’re just trying to keep on limiting those errors and mental mistakes and the communication. I think on both sides of the ball we’re getting better, but we’re nowhere near where we need to be.”

ON SENSING THE PLAYERS ARE READY TO SHOW WHAT THEY’VE LEARNED AT THE SPRING GAME: “I think they are. I think they’re excited. I’ve commented on it before, but I think they feel the excitement and the support that they have and they want to go out there and do well.”

ON THE WIDE RECEIVERS: “They’re getting better as a group. The effort’s better, the attitude’s better. Again, we’re not where we need to be. We need to continue to get better. We need more guys to step up, but coach is getting the most out of them.”

WILL NEW TRUE FRESHMEN RECEIVERS PLAY, HELP PUSH RETURNING GUYS IN THE FALL: “Yeah, we definitely think there will be some guys that can come in and get in the fold and hopefully help us.”

ON WHETHER IT’S POSSIBLE UK’S INCOMING CLASS MIGHT STILL ADD A PLAYER OR TWO: “Possibly. We have room for maybe one more, so we may possibly go out and look for a linebacker or wide receiver that can come in and help us.”

WHAT HE’S MOST PLEASED ABOUT THIS SPRING: “I’m pleased with their overall attitude. Again, I keep on saying it: It’s not where we want it to be, but I see the improvement. I see them wanting to do things right. I see their attitude being good, and their effort. That’s what I’m most pleased about. We have good players; they need to be led and they need to be put in position to be successful and we need to improve in all areas, but I see them wanting to do that.”

HAS TRUST BETWEEN PLAYERS AND COACHES IMPROVED THIS SPRING? “Yeah, it’s better. Again, it’s not a finished product and probably never will be. We’re always working on those relationships, but it is getting better.”

WILL AT LEAST ONE OF THE QUARTERBACKS BE GOOD ENOUGH TO RUN OFFENSE? “Yeah, yeah, definitely. I’ve said it over and over again and I still feel that way: The all have different strengths and they all can help us win.”

ON THE MESSAGE HE’LL SEND THE PLAYERS OFF INTO SUMMER WITH: “Just to build on what we’ve done. We need to constantly strive to get better each and every day, and control what they can control.”

ON WHAT HE’D LIKE TO SEE IN THE SPRING GAME: “I need to see – I want to see just good football, on either side. I just want to see good competition, good effort, good execution and make good plays. I don’t want one side or the other to be successful because the other side is not playing right or busting plays and playing inept. So I just want to see good ball.”

With two full practices to go before the Blue-White Spring Game, Coach Mark Stoops discussed both lines, Bud Dupree, Avery Williamson and more. Read a full transcript here:

We had a decent practice today. Defense responded a little bit better than we did Saturday. They came out and tried to play with some energy and some enthusiasm and some toughness. Had some good periods. Offense had a good seven-on-seven period, weren’t so good in the blitz drill and things like that. Overall, good work.

WHAT DID YOU SEE FROM DEFENSE AFTER LOOKING AT SCRIMMAGE FILM? “There were some decent things. It was very frustrating. Anyone down the line, any twos or threes on defense was as bad as we thought it was. And the ones, there was some good play. There was some good play on both sides. The offense did extremely well and beat the defense overall, but there were some good things defensively overall, we just need to get some depth.”

JOHN CALIPARI HAS BEEN TWEETING OUT LINKS, URGING FANS TO SUPPORT SPRING GAME. WHAT HAS YOUR RELATIONSHIP BEEN LIKE? “He’s fantastic. He’s been really good and very supportive since the minute I got here. As I’ve said before, with recruits in December and January, inviting us into their locker room, into their facility and talking to our prospects before their games, making time for us. He’s been extremely supportive of us and I’m extremely appreciative of that. It means a lot to us and it means a lot to our recruits and our players.”

ON MARKETING THE SPRING GAME … “I don’t know if it’s intentional by our staff to do any marketing, we’re just doing our job, doing what we do and hopefully creating some excitement and working extremely hard to get this football team better. Outside of that, we’re not doing anything other than social media, working our recruits. I feel like the marketing people have done a good job and just the overall support — I’ve said that since I’ve been here — has been overwhelming at times. It’s greatly appreciated and really we’re very encouraged by that support and we’re working extremely hard to put a good product out there on that field.”

ADVANCED TICKET SALES ALONE SAY THIS WILL BE BEST ATTENDED SPRING GAME IN HISTORY. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT? “I feel great. I feel great. I feel like it’s a tribute to our coaching staff and how hard they’re working and to our players. We know we have a long way to go, but we’re working extremely hard to get there.”

ON THE SECONDARY: “I think Ashely (Lowery) has shown some flashes to be a (inaudible). We need to improve at the free safety position and at corners. Overall, we need to get better. I see us making some strides; we improved today. There were times today we competed hard and that’s a start.”

HOW’S THE OFFENSIVE LINE? “The offensive line has been a pleasant surprise. Part of that is what we do offensively and how Coach Brown calls plays and protects those guys here and there and the tempo and certain things. He mixed it up very well on Saturday. Overall I’ve been very pleased with the O-line.”

IS OFFENSE STRUGGLING WITH BLITZ? ARE SMITH, DUPREE THAT GOOD? “It’s something that takes some time for them to work through. Defense is doing a lot of different things, working on some pressures and all that. I think it’s a combination of the two.”

ANY NEWS ON QUARTERBACKS? “Again, I know it’s a broken record for us, but they’ve all shown flashes and they’re very good at times and they’ve all struggled at times. A big part of that is who’s around them and how we’re executing with the other 10 guys on the same page with the quarterbacks. There’s not much news on those guys (laughs). Nice try.”

WHO IS THE QUARTERBACK ON THE FIELD FOR THIS DEFENSE? IS THERE A POINT MAN BACK THERE? “Avery (Williamson) is the guy who needs to step up and he is. He’s a guy who has shown some leadership and we need him to continue to do that. He played well on Saturday.”

HOW HAS DEFENSIVE LINE LOOKED, ESPECIALLY WITHOUT DONTE RUMPH? “Defensive line, with Donte being out of there, we’re starting to thin out a little bit. Mister (Cobble) tweaked an ankle today or something. We’re getting a little bit thinner, but overall I think we’ll be solid there. We need to continue to bring the depth along with the twos, but been encouraged with way D-line’s playing.”

ANY UPDATES ON FORMAT FOR BLUE-WHITE? “I’m still working through that. I’m really gauging to see how we’re playing. There was a thought of putting all the ones on one team and all the twos and threes on the other or going one defense and two offense. It kind of depends on how Wednesday goes. I’m going to play it by ear. We’ll make that decision sometime this week.”

IS BUD DUPREE SETTLED IN ONE SPOT? “He is. But within our package, we’re versatile enough to do some things with him standing up as well. He’ll be at home with his hand in the dirt. He’s playing defensive end and playing it very well, doing a good job. He is versatile enough and some of the things we do with three down, he will be standing up as well.”

DOES IT HELP THAT HE’S DONE THAT BEFORE? “It does and he’s a good, instinctual player.”

If there is a frontrunner at quarterback, Kentucky coaches aren’t giving any hints.

The three sophomores Maxwell Smith, Patrick Towles and Jalen Whitlow all have gotten nearly identical repetitions in spring drills and scrimmages. Coaches were providing zero details about which of them were leading the offense’s biggest drives or making the scrimmages’ biggest plays.

One thing is clear as spring practice winds down, the quarterback query will continue well into fall camp.

“It will definitely go into the fall,” offensive coordinator Neal Brown said. “In fall camp, you’ve got four weeks. I like to have two weeks — and I’m not setting a deadline, this is just kind of my thought process — I like having two weeks to kind of see who you’re going to play with and two weeks to get prepared to play. It’s definitely go into those two weeks and maybe longer. I’d love for a guy to jump up and take it.”

Collectively, he said he was pleased with their progress.

“They had more command,” Brown said without offering any individual specifics. “Their body language was better, their energy was better. They were actively cheering for each other.”

As a group, he saw them forgetting the previous play (both the pretty and the ugly) and focusing on the next play, something that’s going to be key.

Coaches aren’t allowed to mandate or even watch workouts in the summer, but both Brown and Stoops said that likely will be the time when some separation occurs.

“Those guys are going to have to work, to be leaders this summer and get the receivers out here,” Coach Mark Stoops said. “These guys have to work on their own. We expect them to do that and we’ll see the results when we get back out there in the fall.”

Stoops acknowledged this week that there are drawbacks to not having a starter now.

“Again, we’re telling the truth there,” he said on Friday. “We feel like we have three guys and that’s great in a lot of ways, but that hurts in some ways because they’re not getting reps with the ones and the consistency that we need.”

As of late Friday, the Kentucky ticket office is reporting that more than 42,000 tickets have been distributed for the spring game. If that figure holds, it will be more fans in Commonwealth Stadium than at any home game last season other than Western Kentucky (53,980 announced, 43,174 actual as scanned by TicketMaster).

In fact, the actual attendance total for the Cats’ final two home games last season combined was only 39,815.

Kentucky officials are trying to make Saturday’s contest have the feel of an actual home game, including having the Wildcat Refuge (inflatable rides and games for kids outside of Gate 9), as well as a Catwalk and for the first time in the spring, a partial marching band.

“We’re going to try to make it feel like a game experience as much as we possibly can,” said Nathan Schwake, of UK’s marketing department.

“We’re trying to really capitalize on the excitement of everything that’s happened. We’re just trying to keep that rolling. … This is obviously a very public display of that excitement.”

Special giveaways on Saturday will include a poster celebrating the upcoming season.

A website has been created to answer questions about the spring game and can be found at www.ukathletics.com/fbgameday.

Free tickets for the 7 p.m. kickoff are available by calling the UK ticket office at (859) 257-1818 or online at www.ticketmaster.com, but will include a service fee. Walkup tickets on game day are available starting at 4 p.m. at the Will Call booth outside of Gate 4 and at a ticketing tent between gates 10 and 11.

There are many questions about how Kentucky’s team will look on Saturday for the first spring game under Stoops, but the new head coach did offer a schematic this week for how the scrimmage itself will look.

There will be an actual competitive game format, with a true Blue team playing a true White team. There are some drawbacks to doing that, though, the coach said.

“What you worry about is the (lack of) depth and being a little bit sloppy,” he said. “You know, you want to put on a good performance. You want to look good for our fans and all of the excitement out there. So you want to make sure you go out there and execute.”

Is there any chance the coaches will give away their quarterback pecking order with who starts on Saturday?

Nope.

“We figured everybody would put some attention on who starts with the first group and all that,” Stoops said. “We’re probably going to flip a coin, probably right in front of them.”

It’s likely that Maxwell Smith, Patrick Towles and Jalen Whitlow all will see time with the first and second teams.

One part of the game that will not get much special attention for the spring game is special teams. It’s likely there will be one or two kick returns and some punting, but no returns.

“There’s no point getting anybody hurt going live on the special teams,” Stoops said. “So it will be toned down.”

OPENING STATEMENT: “I think for the first time since I’ve been here I had one side really take over and make some plays and dominate a practice or a scrimmage. Really did a nice job offensively today, really disappointed defensively.”

HOW MUCH BETTER WAS OFFENSE THAN DEFENSE? “Much better, much better. It wasn’t even close today. Part of that is I thought that the offense did a nice job — and it happens like this sometimes in spring — offensively yesterday didn’t have a great in blitz period, certain periods, defense really had some good periods. So the offense just had a mentality today. That’s what I was most proud of today: they bounced back, they had a mentality, they had a toughness and went out there and executed and really played well.”

WHAT DIDN’T HE SEE FROM DEFENSE? “Just those same things. I didn’t see great execution. I didn’t see great toughness. I saw poor leverage. I saw a lot of bad football on the defensive side of the ball. I saw bad body language and a lot of things I was disappointed in.”

DID OFFENSE CLEAN UP PENALTIES, TURNOVERS: “They did. I don’t think we had a turnover. We may have had one that was a questionable call to start the scrimmage, but I gave it to the offense to get them going a little bit. They got going.”

DID RECEIVERS CATCH THE BALL: “They did. They caught the ball better, made some big plays. Just the whole efficiency of the offense was much better today.”

QUARTERBACKS? “Yeah. All three quarterbacks did a nice job.”

INDIVIDUAL STANDOUTS? “It will be hard for me to tell until I watch the tape. The offense in general, just again. Played very well, really brought it to the defense today.”

LONG PLAYS OR SUSTAINED DRIVES? “A little bit of everything. They had some very long drives. I think, if I’m not mistaken — well, I’m not sure because sometimes we reloaded, we made sure to (inaudible). But, yes, there were some long drive and there were some quick strikes as well.”

IS HE STARTING TO SEE LEADERS EMERGE? “I saw a toughness from the offense today. I saw them really accept the challenge and step out here and compete, so I was pleased with that.”

WAS HE SURPRISED BY HOW POORLY DEFENSE PLAYED? “Yeah. It surprised me that we didn’t have more guys step or more toughness about us. There’s no magical…They’re going to make the calls good on offense and on defense. Players got to play. It was disappointing today.”

WAS TEMPO OF OFFENSE THE PROBLEM FOR DEFENSE? “Yeah. There was times where the defense had some issues with the tempo, yeah.”

DOES HE AGREE WITH NEAL BROWN’S COMMENTS THAT FANS ARE GOING TO NEED TO BE PATIENT? “Well, yeah. I’ve said that before it’s not my job to lower expectations. We expect to come out to compete to win each and every week, and we know it’s a process. We’ve got a long way to go, but we made a step forward today offensively.”

IS HE READY TO SHOW THIS TEAM TO THE PUBLIC? “Yeah. We’re ready. Yeah. We’re ready. We’ll put the best product we can out there next Saturday. We’ll prepare hard this week. We’ve got a lot to get better at. We’ve got to make each practice count and each rep count to get better today, this week. And we’ll do that.”

WHAT PARTS OF DEFENSE STRUGGLED SPECIFICALLY? “All of it. I still feel like there were some guys up front that did some nice things, but overall it was a struggle.”

ANY INJURIES? “Seems clean.”

Here is what Kentucky Coach Mark Stoops had to say following the Cats’ 10th practice and before UK’s second scrimmage on Saturday at Commonwealth Stadium:

OPENING STATEMENT: “We had a good practice, got some good work in. Good situations in, worked some third down, worked some red zone, a decent day. We’ll tee it up tomorrow and see where we’re at with the second scrimmage.”

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO GET OUT OF TOMORROW’S SCRIMMAGE? “I want to see where we’re at, see how much we’ve improved in this week. So I expect some improvement; I expect some guys to step up and make some plays and just see where we’re at on both sides of the ball.”

RECEIVERS BETTER THAN THEY WERE A WEEK AGO? “You know, they’re working hard. They are. The coaches are coaching them up, working them hard. The receivers are working, doing a good job. They’ve made some improvement, I guess. They’ve caught the ball decent at times. We’re not as consistent as we need to be.”

HOW MUCH WILL FINAL WEEK OF PRACTICE BE DICTATED BY SCRIMMAGE? “There are certain situations we will continue to work and some of that will be based on the scrimmage, see how physical we are, just see the efficiency on both sides of the ball.”

HOW MUCH SPECIAL TEAMS WORK ARE YOU GETTING IN? “Quite a bit. We worked 30 minutes today.”

BASIC PHILOSOPHIES ON SPECIAL TEAMS? DO YOU WANT STARTERS IN THERE? “Oh, yeah. We’ll have the best players available. You have to be a little bit conscious of not having them on every one of them, but certainly our starters will be on there. We need them. We don’t have enough depth at this point.”

COACH PEVETO SAID STOOPS’ ATTITUDE ABOUT SPECIAL TEAMS IS WHY HE SIGNED ON AT UK. IS SPECIAL TEAMS THAT IMPORTANT TO YOU? “I just think to win championships, to win at the highest level, you have to be good in all three phases. There’s no getting around that. You need it to be good in this league and all leagues. So we’ve put a lot of importance on it, stress it quite a bit, work it quite a bit. Each and every day this spring, we’ve dedicated quite a bit of time toward special teams.”

DECIDED ON BLUE-WHITE SCRIMMAGE FORMAT? “We’re working it out. We’re thinking about going and splitting up the teams and truly having a blue team and a white team. It will make it a little bit more competitive. What you worry about is the depth and being a little bit sloppy. You know, you want to put on a good performance. You want to look good for our fans and all of the excitement out there. So you want to make sure you go out there and execute.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT LINEBACKER DEPTH? “We’re not deep enough at this point. We’re really not. We’re working hard to get some guys up to speed, possibly looking at moving some guys, developing the guys we’ve got, getting them better, but we need to improve.”

HAVE ENOUGH DEPTH AFTER CLASS COMES IN? “We didn’t sign a linebacker, so that obviously comes to mind right away. We need to address that some how, some way, but you know we have some bodies there, we just need to get them better. The rest of the class, we feel like they’ll add some depth.”

WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH QUARTERBACK ROTATION FOR BLUE-WHITE? “We are going to rotate them equally. So Coach (Neal) Brown and I were talking about that. We’ll continue to work on that. They’ll play on both sides, so those three guys will play on both teams. We figured everybody would put some attention on who starts with the first group and all that. We’re probably going to flip a coin, probably right in front of them. Again, we’re telling the truth there. We feel like we have three guys and that’s great in a lot of ways, but that hurts in some ways because they’re not getting reps with the ones and the consistency that we need. But there’s three guys and they all bring certain things to the table that are good. They’re all looking good at times. We’ll give them all opportunities in that scrimmage, or try to be as equal as we can, depending on the drives and all that.”

SO YOU WILL STICK TO A GAME FORMAT? “We are. We are. It will be abbreviated to some extent just because of depth.”

HOW MUCH WILL SUMMER HELP CREATE SOME SEPARATION WITH QUARTERBACKS, LEADERSHIP, ETC.? “It can’t come into the decision making because that’s all voluntary, but we’ll see the results on the field because those guys are going to have to work, to be leaders this summer and get the receivers out here and the same defensively. These guys have to work on their own. We expect them to do that and we’ll see the results when we get back out there in the fall.”

WILL THERE BE MUCH SPECIAL TEAMS IN THE BLUE-WHITE GAME? “The Blue-White game will be very toned down special teams wise. There’s no point getting anybody hurt going live on the special teams. So it will be toned down. We may do one or two kick returns. We’ll punt, but it will be basically just punting it and wherever they fair catch it, we’ll start the other team going from there.”

OPENING STATEMENT: “Another good practice, decent practice. Doing some better things on both sides of the ball, installed a little bit more defensively. Tweaking some things offensively as far as dressing some things up. Emphasized on third down today, got some good third down work and got some good red zone, goal line work in today. So, overall pretty decent day.”

HAVE THERE BEEN ANY LIGHTBULB MOMENTS FOR PLAYERS? “Just the efficiency, just executing the offense, running the offense, running the defense. Guys playing a little bit more confident. I don’t know if there’s anything that just jumps out at me, but just seeing better plays. We’re not interested in one side winning the drill because the other side is totally inept. You’re seeing some good football, more good football now on both sides.”

ON HOW THE YOUNG CORNERS HAVE LOOKED: “They’re doing OK. We need to improve a little bit. We’ve got to get better in the secondary, but they’re doing some decent things.”

ARE THERE BENEFITS TO PRACTICING INSIDE? “Yeah, the only thing I don’t like about it is the red zone. They didn’t … It’s hard for the players to understand exactly where they’re at on the field, is the only bad thing. So we had to move the end zone up on the field a little bit. Other than that, we’re getting good work in here. It’s been good. Hasn’t bothered me too much. I’d like to be out a little bit more.”

ON WHY THEY DIDN’T PRACTICE OUTSIDE TODAY: “The field’s real cold in the morning. We can’t go in there when they’re frosted. So by the time we get out and start our walkthroughs, get it going, the fields are still frozen. That’s one of the negatives I guess about going in the morning. If you went in the afternoon, I guess it would be much easier to get out there, let the fields thaw out a little bit.”

WILL THEY MOVE PRACTICES TO AFTERNOONS IN THE FALL? “We’re practicing in the afternoon in the fall.”

ADVANTAGES OF THAT? “I just think it’s what I’m comfortable with. The benefits would be a little more rest for these players. I think we can all act like they’re going to go to bed at 9 or 10 o’clock like we need them to, but to get them up very early in the morning all season long on that grind, when you’re going every single day for a whole season, I don’t know how much sleep they’re getting.”

ARE THE QUARTERBACKS SHOWING GOOD LEADERSHIP? “Yeah. We’re getting better at the quarterback. I think each guy, as they get more comfortable, get more confident, they’re showing a little bit more leadership. We’re still developing that, but they show their spurts.”

ON SURPRISES, CHALLENGES FOUR MONTHS INTO THE JOB: “Wow, big question. I thought these were practice questions (laughs). It’s just, I guess what keeps you on your toes is just the day-to-day details of everything in the program. Whether it’s how we’re going to handle the spring game, how we’re going to walk over to the spring game, where we’re going to dress. All those things are the things that are probably most uncomfortable for me and the things that are new to me. The process on the field is about how I expected and going about how we thought it would. That part of it has been pretty good.”

ARE PLAYERS USED TO HIM YET? “I think so. I think we’re getting more comfortable with each other, yeah.”

There’s something about putting on the pads that turns a bunch of individuals into a football team and Coach Mark Stoops said he felt better after Friday’s practice — the third of the spring — than he had so far.

“This was the best we’ve looked,” he said in the Nutter Indoor Facility, where UK has practiced for a third straight time because of cold or rain. “I felt a greater sense of urgency out there. We put the pads on; guys were flying around a little bit.”

Specifically, he liked what he was seeing from an improving offense.

“You could see the execution started to get better; I was very encouraged,” he said. “The tempo was not where we want it to be. It’s not where it’s going to be. But I felt like, for the first time, you could just feel the pressure they can put on you.”

D.J. Eliot, the defensive coordinator, said getting the pads on definitely helped him evaluate the players more effectively.

“A big part of playing defense is: How physical are you? And right now, I don’t know who’s physical,” he said. “So we’ll find out when we put full pads on.”

• Players were equipped with GPS devices at practice today to track various things as a part of Erik Korem’s new high performance system. “There’s a long list of things it’ll do, but it tracks a lot of information that we’re going to follow,” Stoops said.
• Stoops said he’s changing the practice schedule around a bit, dropping the practice originally scheduled to clean things up after the spring game and he’s holding one on Saturday instead.

A couple of quick hit, observational notes from the spring media guide.

• Cornerback Shawn Blaylock missed all of last season after injuring his knee. According to the spring media guide, he has had “some tough luck recovering from a knee injury.”
• Also on the injury front, Coach Mark Stoops was asked directly about the knee injury that sidelined running back Josh Clemons. The new coach said only “we are going to be very smart with him.”
• Numbers game: Freshman QB Reese Phillips, who is participating in spring practice, has taken over QB Morgan Newton’s No. 12 jersey. Juco players DE Za’Darius Smith will wear Taylor Wyndham’s old No. 94; and TE Steven Borden will wear Gene McCaskill’s old No. 85. … Senior fullback Cody Jones changed from No. 37 last season to No. 43 in the spring guide.
• Spring rosters aren’t necessarily the picture of accuracy, but there has been plenty of weight gained and lost in the off-season, if the newest roster is to be believed. Of the four key returning defensive lineman (Donte Rumph, Tristian Johnson, Mister Cobble, Farrington Huguenin), there has been a total weight gain of 60 pounds. Rumph has added 22 points and Huguenin has put on 14 pounds. The biggest weight loss was offensive lineman Jordan Swindle (11 pounds) and the largest listed weight gain was offensive tackle T.J. Jones  (30 pounds).