Stoops Asking for More to Reach Next Level
Mark Stoops and the Kentucky coaching staff face one fewer obstacle on the recruiting trail these days.
The players they are pursuing don’t know UK to be anything other than a program that has reached four straight bowl games.
“The guys we’re recruiting are juniors in high school right now, and sophomores, and freshmen,” Stoops said. “They don’t know anything about Kentucky other than going to the bowl games and winning the last two and playing exciting football, so that helps us.”
Of course, that glosses over the yeoman’s work to build Kentucky football into what it has become. Stoops appreciates all that – and he’s proud of it, no doubt – but he’s taking a cue from the next generation of Wildcats.
He cares little about the past.
“As I’ve mentioned before you know climate is easy to change, culture is different,” Stoops said. “Culture is in our community that goes back 100 years, but I don’t want to hear any of that anymore. We’re going forward and we want to continue to push forward.”
The next step in that push comes Tuesday morning as UK opens spring practice. It will lead up to the annual Blue-White Spring Game, set to kick off at noon on April 11. The Joe Craft Football Training Center will be crowded for the next six weeks, and in the best way possible.
“It’s been a really good winter,” Stoops said. “Really pleased with our players, appreciate the effort of our strength and conditioning coaches. The guys have worked extremely hard. They’re bigger, they’re stronger, faster, mentally more mature. So, really excited to get back and get going starting tomorrow. We’ve got a good group; we’ve got a full group.”
Either limited or out altogether this spring due to injury will be Terry Wilson, Nik Scalzo, Davonte Robinson, Abule Abadi-Fitzgerald, Isaiah Epps, Naasir Watkins, Taj Dodson and D’Eryk Jackson, but UK will have plenty of bodies for a productive 15 practices nonetheless.
“We have 111 guys here going through spring,” Stoops said. “We’ve never had that. … That excites me because sometimes in the spring things get watered down and it’s hard to really compete physically how you want to all the time but we have a lot of good bodies in there and got a lot of guys from experience and as you mentioned, some inexperienced, but that’s every year.”
That full roster will go through two weeks of practice – with three sessions a week – before taking time away for spring break. The Wildcats will follow that up with another two weeks of practice before the spring game.
It’s a crucial period on the practice field as UK seeks to build on its recent success, but Stoops knows a lot more goes into a football program than Xs and Os. He’s known that from the very beginning, but seven seasons at the helm have served to reinforce that knowledge. Now, he knows, it will take all those disparate parts to realize a shared vision.
“I want to see it go to another level,” Stoops said. “I really do. I ask the fans to continue to support us, to continue to buy season tickets, to make that investment. When I say it takes all of us, please don’t take it as a BS cliché. It’s true: It takes a great investment by a lot of people to be consistently successful in the SEC and that’s what we want to do.”
To get there, Stoops is asking more of everyone involved in Kentucky football, from players in spring practice to coaches in preparation to the Big Blue Nation.
“We need the fans, we need the people in the upper decks, we need the stadium full and we’ll continue to take it to another level,” Stoops said. “I promise our coaches and our players are working that way and we’re proud of the work we’ve done. We know that there’s a lot more to do and we’re excited about that challenge but I also challenge other people to continue to invest in it because we need it.
“You want to continue to hold people like Vince Marrow, and the great coaches we have and Brad White, Eddie Gran, and all these guys. It takes a great investment. I appreciate what you do already and ask for more.”
