Stoops Happy with 'Clean' Scrimmage on Saturday

After last week’s Kentucky football scrimmage, UK head coach Mark Stoops was pleased with the offense. This week, it was the defense that impressed the UK head man.

“Defensively, I thought some guys really stepped up and made some plays, stalled a few drives when we had some promising things going. Defense really stepped up.”

Stoops did not cite any individual player. Instead, he liked what the defense did as a whole.

“It wasn’t anything like an interception or anything like that, but the group stepped up and shut it down,” Stoops said.

Last week, the UK head coach mentioned that tackling needed to get better. How was the tackling on Saturday?

“It was better,” Stoops said.

Defensive lineman David Gusta agreed with his head coach.

“One hundred percent,” Gusta said. “Our first scrimmage, there was quite a few missed and this one, I could probably count on one hand. So, it’s definitely better than the last time.”

Gusta also thought the UK defense improved on Saturday.

“I would definitely say it was our communication and tackling,” Gusta said. “I feel like everything was just there.”

Stoops continues to like what he sees from his secondary.

“I like that group,” Stoops said. “Obviously, the guys that are backups need to continue to get reps. We need to stay healthy. I like what I see.”

Speaking of the team in general, Stoops liked what he saw on Saturday from his team with 14 days until the home opener against Toledo.

“Overall, we were clean, we’re getting better,” Stoops said. “We have two weeks to continue to work really hard and push and try to get things detailed. I’m happy with where we’re at.”

The Cats were able to get two very important things accomplished on Saturday.

“At this point of camp, you’re glad to walk off that practice field with getting a bunch of work done and keeping people healthy, and we did that,” Stoops said. “I don’t think there was any major injury out there. We got quite a few situations done again today.”

Stoops knows that there are items to be tightened up, but he likes where the Cats are at this point in fall camp.