Confidence, Capacity, Competition the Hallmarks of Spring

As Kentucky worked to return to the postseason, the prospective benefits of a first bowl trip since 2010 were much talked about.

The extra practices and time spent together as a team. The boost in momentum. The tangible rewards for years of dedication.

Now that UK’s trip to the TaxSlayer Bowl has happened and the Wildcats are back on the field for spring practice, it’s clear why those plusses were so widely discussed.

“We talked about all those advantages, and it’s true,” Mark Stoops said. “You know, we came back in much better shape (in January). We came back with more confidence. We picked up right where we left off as far as physically, and we had a great winter.”

Stoops, his staff and his team have always believed they were headed in the right direction. Seven regular-season wins – including an upset of rival Louisville – and a trip to a bowl game in which UK has never played now serve as proof.

“I think, again, we’re much further along,” Stoops said. “I feel much better about our players just because they’ve seen more. You know, again, you go into year five, you should be further along, and we’re starting to get to that point.”

Don’t mistake that confidence for any sort of sense of arrival though.

Remember last offseason when talk of finishing games through improved conditioning and toughness dominated? Well, the Cats are being asked to do even more now.

“Our fourth-quarter drills, our runs, our change-of-direction runs, we’ve amped that up quite a bit,” Stoops said. “So we pushed them very hard with the change of directions, but we also added some runs, some sprints in there, and some ways to give them gut-checks early and really push them mentally and push them physically.

“Certainly the word I used a lot last year is much the same this year, but capacity. Our guys can handle more, and again, you would expect that.”

To go along with that, UK has the added benefit of continuity. After near-constant change on the offensive coaching staff in recent years, the Cats are now entering their second season under Eddie Gran and Darin Hinshaw’s tutelage.

“As much as I’ve tried to downplay that as much as I can the past three years, it does make a difference,” Stoops said. “It really does. Just with our coaches understanding what our players can and can’t do, I think that was a big piece of it last year.”

Now three practices in to spring ball, UK is reaping the rewards.

“Night and day,” Gran said, comparing last year to this year in spring practice. “We are so far ahead right now. It’s so much fun teaching technique, coaching the fundamentals. It’s a cliche and what everyone talks about, but last year I was coaching to get guys lined up. I was coaching just to get a play off. Right now they know where to go and what to do. Now they’re playing fast and I can coach the little techniques. Every coach can.”

The other carryover from last season is competition. UK might have some proven contributors, but nothing is guaranteed for them. Take Benny Snell for example. Not even the guy who was a 1,000-yard rusher as a freshman is locked in as a starter with Boom Williams off to the NFL.

“It’s a competition,” Gran said. “Everything is a competition. Everything. You have to compete for a job. If we don’t have guys competing then you’ve got no chance. I think that’s where this program is now. I think everybody is having to compete. If you want to play you have to compete.”

That attitude should come as no surprise considering the consistency with which UK has approached the task of building a program under Stoops. Through success and lots of failure, the Cats have never wavered. 

It’s always about the next day of work.

“That’s just the way we go about our business,” Stoops said. “You know, we’ve got a lot to do, and I think our players recognize that and want to accomplish a lot more, and so we are a hungry football team, and we’ll stay that: very, very humbled and very hungry.

“We’re going to prepare to win games, to win every game, and put ourselves in a position to win every game and strive for perfection. We know we’ll probably never achieve that, but we want to become a great football team and a great program, and I think we’re making steps to improve in that area.”