Mark Stoops Monday Press Conference
2017 Mark Stoops News Conference
Kroger Field – Lexington, Ky.
Sept. 4, 2017
Mark Stoops
Opening Statement
“Like I said after the (Southern Miss) game, very good victory. Very proud of our team. A very tough, hard-fought game. With that being said, we know there’s a lot of work to do, but it’s a lot better going back to work after a victory. We’re excited to get back to work, fundamentally get better and get some things cleaned up.
“I want to mention EKU. I was very impressed with them (against Western Kentucky). We’re going to have to play much better. They’re an improved football team and were very impressive on both sides of the football. I was very impressed with the way they threw the football against a very good Western team. We’re going to need to improve and play better.
“We all know what happened (in 2015). I’ve got (Coach) Dean (Hood) up there in my office and that’s why he’s here. We were very fortunate to get to overtime and win the game the last time we played them. EKU will be fired up to come in here and play. I’m glad Dean is with me this time. They’re a well-coached team in all areas.”
On freshman Lynn Bowden’s playing time comments…
“No issue. We’ll continue to manage our players. That’s what they pay me to do and we’ll be fine. Lynn is a good kid who works hard. It’s not uncommon in general – I’ve been a lot of places with some very, very, very talented young men – and the competitive nature comes out in kids sometimes. We’ll be fine. There is no issue at all. That’s the good thing about our football team right now and where we’re at, we can manage things like that very easily.”
On the running game in the opener…
“It was a combination. You listened to me all preseason about hitting our guys with basics, just hammering them with fundamentally playing better. You saw that in the defensive line and our run defense and the improvement. Some things are easy fixes and some are not so easy. There are some things (in the running game) that are easily fixed. It’s not natural to the naked eye to see it because things are disrupted but it could be as simple as a guy going the wrong way. It’s pretty important for everyone to go the same way. When one person goes the wrong way it can make a play look very ugly very quickly. That should be an easy fix. There’s things like that that happened.
“There were times our backs were too impatient and I tried to head that off all last week and doing your job but some guys get so amped up they want to make things happen immediately and that’s where the patience of the running backs will get better. Guys are very amped up and that’s why you see strange things in game one. There were plays there. Give (Southern Miss) credit, they are very disruptive, very active, very physical and were playing at home but there are things we will get corrected.
“There are other issues. We’re not as deep as we have been on the offensive line. Certainly, we missed (center) Jon Toth and how steady he was. Our operation just wasn’t real clean early in that game. Talk about throwing you off track, just the snap alone on the second play of the game, things like that really stopped us and hurt us, coming a yard or inch short. First downs are what it’s all about. That’s why a lot of guys didn’t touch the ball, when you only have 55 snaps because you come up short on third down. It hurts in all areas. It’s really good to go back to work and learn and improve in all areas between week one and two and really nice to do it after a victory.”
On the 50/50 balls in pass defense…
“One was a complete missed assignment and that’s an easy fix there. One of the long touchdown passes was a miscommunication and a missed assignment that you just can’t have. There’s no excuse for that. The other one was a very poor play on the ball and very aggravating because if we just tackle on it’s 3rd-and 15 and I’d much rather have that than a touchdown. It’s inexcusable.”
On who stood out in run defense…
“Everybody. It takes team defense to stop the run and it starts up front with being strong and being sound in our technique. I was very pleased in the start of that. I felt like fundamentally that’s the best we’ve played in some time. They understood how to play, our leverage points. Going off past failures, it was point of attack and guys wanting to do too much. Just do your job and trust that your teammate is doing his. That wasn’t always the case. I was very proud of the unit that way. I felt like guys were aggressive, our position on the football was very good for the most part and guys played with passion, energy and quickness. It was very good that way. If we can get the one communication issue and some of the 50-50 balls and you’ve really played a very solid game. There were five or six passes that gave up almost all the yardage in the game.”
On how well the defense played without huge games from Jordan Jones and Mike Edwards…
“It says a lot about our team and the team defense. We’ve hammered them over the head with sledgehammers about doing their job, doing it right, doing it fundamentally. (Southern Miss) scratched out some aggravating first downs and that will be the same this week. (EKU) knows how to move the football. They know how to scratch out and get first downs and make plays. They throw it very, very well. When we have the right play call at the right time we can’t miss those opportunities.”
On Stephen Johnson’s play…
“We know he missed some plays. We all can do better. He’s no different. There were plays that were there. The two plays we can’t miss are the two third down throws when they are there and we miss them. That kills drives. Those were the two big plays. He has to deliver on third down.”
On the moving around of the offensive line…
“It was the same way last year at times. We have versatile guys. We got thin there for a minute when Bunchy (Stallings) went down and we weren’t as deep as we’ve been. Some of the shuffling (against Southern Miss) didn’t help us. We have to learn to be able to do that because we have to be versatile. You go in with a game plan and things happen so you have to be able to adapt, but there are things we will get cleaned up there. We weren’t as clean as we have been. We’ll get that straight and get back to running the ball we way we need to.”
On the offensive line communicating better…
“It is difficult for them because of what they (USM) do and how complex they are with some big guys doing a lot of movements and stunting and penetrating. That, we will get addressed today with our operation as well. Our operation was a little slow with our communication and maybe overdoing it to some extent. Our guys are very bright. John (offensive line coach John Schlarman) does a very good job with those guys and they see things and the way they have to make some adjustments, I trust they’ll get it worked out. It was difficult and give them (USM) credit on that.”
On injuries from the game…
“We’re in relatively good shape. We’ll see how it goes. I got an update this morning. There’s nothing to inform you all on at this point. We’ll see how it goes throughout the week. I anticipate everyone should be able to play.”
On the performance of true freshman defensive linemen Quinton Bohanna and Josh Paschal…
“Really well, really well. I really felt like both Quinton and Josh really played some good football. Very encouraging to see. I think Josh is a guy, he played a couple different positions. You see his versatility for a big guy. He’s very tough to block when he put his hand in the dirt and rushed from a defensive end position in some of what we do on third down. He’s a handful. He can also go inside and be a three-technique (defensive tackle). He moves around and understands things pretty good. Good start. Like I said last week, the load hits them sometimes. Lights come on, they go and play good football. He was very sharp in his assignments.
“Quinton played roughly 15 snaps and did not show up in the negative in any way. It’s not like he got pushed around. He was very active, very strong. He keeps on progressing, then I feel very good where he’s at.
“We had some cramps, couple injuries, (Derrick) Baity went down, (true freshman cornerback) Dort had to go in there, Cedric Dort, held his own for a few plays. Good to see.
“Offensively, we’ll get those guys going. Like I said, everybody’s going to ask questions like you do. When there’s only 55 snaps and you have to do what you have to do to win the game. We’ll get everybody rolling at the right time. You never know when that’s going to be. Everybody said you got the tight end involved early this year. We did last year, we just missed it by half an inch. (laughter) You can’t miss plays. We’d have got the wideouts involved, too, if we’d caught those bombs. You just gotta keep on working and execute the best you can.”
On what he discovered about the team character in the first game…
“Very proud of them. Just like I had been talking about. I felt like the team was very united, very unselfish. Maybe not exactly real pleased with their individual play at time but happy to get the team victory. It’s not so much about how an individual plays, it’s more about how the team plays when you’re in the game. I think our team is starting to have that mentality more. How effective are we when you’re in the game? That was very evident with all the guys we played. I want to say 24 players on our defense showed up with production. 24 different guys produced. I don’t always keep that stat, but that stat jumped out at me as I was looking at things on the plane on the way home. We played eight interior defensive linemen at three spots and all eight produced. All four outside backers produced. I want to say nine guys played in the secondary. That’s encouraging, to see not much dropoff or no dropoff, that’s good to see. Says a lot about the development of our team and our program.”
On how many players had production in the first game last year…
“I don’t. I don’t always look at that, but I knew going into this game … you guys watch TV and you see the cramps, you see the issues. Going into that heat, you knew we were going to have to have depth. I was very proud. I felt like our team was in very good shape. I think Mike went in and got an IV, which you can understand, Mike does a lot. Outside of that our guys were very good. Didn’t have any issues with the heat, no cramp issues. We were conditioned but I a lot of that has to do with trusting playing some guys with some depth. That helped us.”
On Matt Elam…
“He did good. That’s by committee, that position right now is by committee. We played three nose guards and they all did some good things. That’s not always showing up on the stat sheet but there’s things where they need to take care of their responsibility. That’s a very unselfish spot at times. We cannot get movement at that position. That’s where things don’t always show up in the 3-4 when you’re in the nose. We can’t get pushed out of that ‘A’ gap. There’s some things I don’t want to get into but there’s some things structurally where we have to be very stout and very physical in there. We were much better at that in this game.”
On getting the team to buy in that Eastern is not just an FCS team…
“It’s very easy for us to get their attention because it’s always about us. It was about us last week. We said that last week. It’s about us and how way we play. It’s the same this week. It’s always going to be that way. We have great respect for everybody we play. We know we’re not a team that can just go out and beat anybody. We have to be on point, we have to play the game, we have to respect the game. It’s about respect and the way you prepare. It’s always about that. It’s not about showing up on Saturday being ready to play. It’s about showing up in the building right now. They’re in there lifting and getting ready for meetings. It’s about our preparation for the whole week. There’s a lot for us to build on. There’s a lot of good things from this last game and a lot of things we can improve on. That’s what’s so great about it, so exciting to get back to the opportunity to improve.”
On playing lot of young players in the last game vs. Eastern (2015) and if EKU earned their respect…
“I hope it gets their attention. All I have to do is have Dean (ex-EKU head coach Dean Hood, now UK outside linebackers coach Dean Hood) get up in the team meeting today and talk about it. He probably feels robbed because they hey outplayed us and outcoached us. Maybe I’ll have Dean talk to the team today.”
On getting Josh Paschal playing time when Josh Allen and Denzil Ware are playing so well…
“It’s difficult but we have a package where they all play on third down. You saw that quite a bit on Saturday, so it was nice to get him on there. When he played it didn’t always show on the stat sheet. He had one big hit late in the game. His rushes and the things that he does, he’s a big man, he’s very twitchy, he can run, he’s physical. He’s putting it all together. There’s not a lot of dropoff (when he was in the game). I will say this, I was very proud of Denzil and Josh because that position – seems like we talk about it every week, I talk about it — you have to be precise there. But also when it goes to predictable pass and they’re just rushing, they take great pride in getting to the quarterback. And not just unselfishly, there’s lanes, there’s discipline, there’s things you have to do within the rushes as well, it’s not unselfish. They do take great pride in getting to the quarterback and getting after it, and that’s what it takes, you should. Also in the run game, the pass game, everything they have to do, they played a very good game.”
On if the team is better in pass coverage…
“Much better, much better understanding. Playing on their feet, understanding the things we ask them to do, they have to be versatile. It lets us play bigger. When both of them are on the field, we’re bigger. Our edges are bigger. Teams do things, and they started doing it Saturday, when they start spreading you out in 10 personnel, if you’re playing with a backer on a wideout, there’s a lot of room. Shannon (Dawson) does a lot of job of layering you with wheels (wheel routes) and there’s a lot of space on that field that you have to be careful with. The more athletic they are, they more they’re handling things, the better we are. Because when teams get big, we can get bigger with them in there. It’s just a little bit of a chess match at times with formation.”
On how big special team was on Saturday in the win…
“Super important. We all know that. It was very nice to see that special teams made a big difference. The punting in particular made such a big difference. Pinning that ball inside the 20 when you have an opportunity to do that is absolutely critical. Did we do it five times? Twice inside the one (yard line)? Those are ways to win games.”
On Sihiem King’s big kickoff return…
“He started cramping up or we believe he has a touchdown. He has to stay outside. A kick returner has to trust their speed at that moment. He had it, he didn’t trust it, but he was cramping up. Glad it wasn’t a pull. If he hits it outside, it’s most definitely a touchdown.”
On getting A.J. Rose in the playing rotation…
“He’ll get going. He missed a little bit last week or the week before, maybe a couple of days, nothing major. He was just a little bit banged up and missed a few days. With young guys sometimes it sets you back a little bit. He’ll get in there and get going.”
On using Benny Snell as an example of someone who didn’t play a lot early…
“Great example. Wasn’t a factor at all in the first two games (last season) and that’s all anybody talked about by the end of the year. It’s a great example. We’ll continue to preach that. We have a good team. They are unselfish. It’s OK to want more playing time. Like I always tell them, make us play you by your preparation in what you do during the week and how you show up in practice. Don’t give us an opportunity to not play you.”
