First Week after Break ‘Solid’ for UK
Kentucky’s schedule for spring ball this year is unique.
The Wildcats, after an opening week of practice, stepped away for spring break before returning for a four-week homestretch leading up to the Blue-White Spring Game on April 13.
With his team back together to start that homestretch this week, Mark Stoops challenged the Cats. So far they’re responding.
“I talked to them Monday morning about having a solid four weeks after the spring break and coming back,” Stoops said. “This was week one of the last four (after) spring break. They were really attentive, really worked hard, were up early every morning. They’ve been on point at weightlifting sessions, meetings, good practices. So I appreciate them and I appreciate their effort there.”
Their effort this week culminated in what should have been a full scrimmage on Saturday. Instead – with a wintry mix falling in Lexington – the Cats stayed inside and limited the scrimmaging to one tackle-free period.
“Overall, good work,” Stoops said. “We have a long way to go. I think both quarterbacks and all three of the quarterbacks really did a good job at times. There’s work to be done of course. It certainly wasn’t very smooth today, that’s for sure. So you could see we need as many live reps as we can get.”
UK, of course, is trying to find its next quarterback after Stephen Johnson completed his career by leading the Cats to their second straight bowl trip. The contenders are sophomore Gunnar Hoak, junior-college transfer Terry Wilson and redshirt freshman Danny Clark. Not surprisingly, each aspiring starter – none of whom has played a Division-I snap – had his share of good and bad moments.
“You would expect that,” Stoops said. “You have some experience coming back on defense, some good guys. We were sloppy offensively and that was the first time we were in a game-like situation and we were sloppy. We need to get that cleaned up.”
On the flipside, that speaks well of UK’s veteran defense. After the defense allowed a long touchdown on a missed assignment early the scrimmage portion, Chris Westry – who Stoops said continues to work to develop his ability to track the ball in the air – came up with an interception to close it out.
“I think it went good,” linebacker Kash Daniel said. “Overall, I think it went good. You can tell that spring ball’s just starting. There’s some mistakes that guys make, including myself. It’s early, but overall I was really pleased with our first scrimmage. Well, technically it wasn’t even a scrimmage, but I was impressed.”
E.J. Price practicing
Offensive tackle E.J. Price, who sat out last season as a redshirt following his transfer from USC, has been in the news this week. On Thursday morning, Price left practice and subsequently posted a number of tweets, including one that said he was stepping away from the program.
After Price apologized publicly to his teammates and coaches, Stoops confirmed on Saturday that Price has returned to the team and practice.
“It’s my job to help each and every one of these guys,” Stoops said. “It’s about them, it’s about this team. Unless it ever gets to a point where it affects the team in the locker room, I’m going to try to help guys. I think E.J. had something brought in (Thursday) from outside and didn’t handle it exactly the way he should. I think he knows that.”
