Yesterday, Head Football Coach, Mark Stoops, met with the media to discuss everything that he and the rest of the coaching staff learned about the 2023 roster in this year's spring practices.
When partaking in spring ball, it is important to work on some of the little things, but the most crucial thing is to stay healthy. "The spring went well. No major injuries, which is always important. Pretty drama free," Stoops said.
One very important area that the team made strides in is the fundamentals. “It’s a fundamental game,” Mark continued with. “We want to get through the spring and be better players. Individually, each player just gets better. Fundamentally, get better.”
Stoops did comment on an area in which he would like to see this team improve at, consistently the every day approach to the work ethic. “I just think overall mentality, the hunger, the way you go about your business with an attitude, with an edge, with a chip on your shoulder,” Stoops began. “This game is meant to be played that way. You can’t just go out there and go through the motions. I expect all of us to be better, we’ve all talked about those things and that starts with me and all the way down.”
He appears to be confident that the offense will continue to improve as they move forward, however, one area of concern is still the offensive line. “We’re going to improve... I feel very confident that we’ll improve. We own the areas where we fell short and we’re addressing those things. Devin is a great addition but we need to improve at offensive line.”
Now with spring practice over, it is all up to the leaders of this team to step up and help get this team on track through the summer months. The head coach is very hopeful in his returning veterans, as well as, incoming veterans such as Devin Leary and Ray Davis who can take the reins and lead the Wildcats through a successful summer and get them prepared for fall camp. “They’re great additions,” Stoops said of Leary and Davis. “Any time you bring people in, with the way things are now, you have to be careful of the guys you bring in. They have to be guys who contribute and add to that locker room and to the mentality you’re looking for. Devin and Ray are great additions.”
Overall it was a successful spring for the Wildcats many would say, and if this group can take what they learned these past few weeks and develop off of that, it will only help them as they go into fall camp. As Stoops mentioned about staying injury free, that is huge because even though this Kentucky team does have some depth, it's not deep at every single position so the Cats need to stay healthy during all of these practices.
I am excited to see how much this team can grow from now until September when they finally get to take the field.