Head coach Mark StoopsBefore a break over Easter weekend, UK took the field for the 11th time this spring.After stringing together a number of good practices, UK’s offense took a small step back. Even so — and particularly with the defense continuing to shine — it was a productive Friday.”Good energy from the defense, again, we need the offense to continue to progress,” Stoops said. “Today was not our sharpest day, but we got a lot of good work in and looking forward to wrapping it up here next week and getting some good practices in next week to finish off spring.”With a handful of drops and some missed opportunities on first down during UK’s team period, the offense found itself behind the chains too often. Some of the blame for that goes to the offense, but the defense also deserves credit.”Defense made some good plays,” Stoops said. “I think it’s a combination, and we’ll go watch the film. But it’s not always, and that’s what I told the defense, we had good energy and they’re playing good, but it’s not always because we’re playing stellar. Maybe the offense is not executing like they can. It’s a little combination of both.”D.J. Eliot, only considering his defense, was pleased.”I wouldn’t say spectacular, but we did some good things today,” Eliot said. “We had good energy in the team period. Guys were flying around in that period, and that’s good. We didn’t execute early and just picked it up throughout practice.”The defense was again without Nate Willis. Stoops announced on Friday the senior cornerback will undergo surgery to address a sports hernia, which will force him to miss the next three-to-four months.”It’s always hard when you have an injury and you got to be out, because you miss all those reps,” Eliot said. “That frustration sets in, but you always got to look at things on a positive note. He knows that he’ll be back in time for the season, so he just has got to get the mental reps until then, and then when he comes back, he’s just got to be clicking on all cylinders.”In Willis’s place, Cody Quinn, Fred Tiller and J.D. Harmon have gotten the majority of the work at corner.”So we’re just kind of rotating them, and different days different guys do different things good and bad,” Eliot said. “It’s a long ways away, so it’s tough to tell who’s gonna be our guys.”Stoops hopes to make progress toward decisions at corner, as well as a number of other positions, over the final week of spring. He cited running back, defensive line and wide receiver, but quarterback is of course the position drawing the most attention.Sorting out remaining contenders Patrick Towles, Reese Phillips and Drew Barker is among Stoops’ foremost priorities heading into next Saturday’s Blue/White Spring Game.”If we can figure it out in the last week, we will,” Stoops said. “If not, we’ll continue to work through it. We have time until our first game, but I like the progress we’ve made overall. We need to pick it up again next week and finish off this spring. Just overall improvement, continue to build depth.”Defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot