Hello HOB… After some time off, we begin a busy week here on the House of Blue with Mark Stoops’ weekly press luncheon today at Noon ET. I’ll have all the latest news and notes on Kentucky football as the Cats prepare for a matchup with Bama-slayer Vanderbilt on Saturday at Kroger Field…
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MARK STOOPS Q&A:
* Good to get back to work after some time off to heal up this weekend, get body and minds right for this week. Coming into this press conference, I don’t have to worry about selling Vanderbilt anymore and my respect for Clark Lea and what he’s been building there for some time. Vandy could very easily be 2-0 in the SEC against two Top 10 teams. For us, we try to focus on our preparation regardless of what’s going on with our opponents. We’ve been progressing the last several weeks, and we need to continue to do that.
* Stoops says he’s had conversations with Lea where the Vandy coach said he’s trying to build his program in a similar fashion to how we did at UK.
* Vandy QB Diego Pavia is a tremendous player. Seeing things at a very high level. Vandy is using elements of plays you see a lot these days, and then some stuff you don’t see a whole lot. Unbalanced stuff. Shifts and motions. They do a good job of keeping you unbalanced. “They keep you on your toes.”
* Asked about CB Maxwell Hairston, Stoops says he’ll update us on that situation later in the week.
* On WR Hardley Gilmore practicing again… If he’s good enough to help us, he’ll play.
* Gotta create some turnovers in this one, and that’s going to be hard against a QB who hasn’t thrown a pick this year.
* On what they’ve done to minimize mobile QBs lately and the job they did against Dart at Ole Miss… Pavia is kinda unique. Different than the other guys they’ve seen.
* Asked about the current landscape of CFB… Nothing new to us in this league. We know how difficult it is in this league. It’s ridiculous. A lot of good coaches and players. Nothing surprises us anymore.
* On the record in SEC home games not being as good as the road games lately… Maybe something to do with the opponents. Not really sure. We’ve played good and bad in both situations.
* Eli Stowers, No. 9, a very good player for Vandy. Versatile TE does a lot of things for them. A good, complete player.
* Asked if this is a good time to remind the players that anything can happen in this sport… Stoops says he could talk until he’s blue in the face about it, but players have to get themselves up to play each week. You only get 12 of these chances during the regular season.
* On balancing confidence built with a massive win over Ole Miss vs. the layoff… Saw good work and focus during the open date. Went out and embraced the process, handled their business. Gotta come out today dialed in and ready to get better.
* On young guys in practice last week… Just a good group in general. Need to continue to get them work.
* On Chris Collins and the DBs… Seeing things, anticipation. There’s a lot to it, but seeing things better goes a long way. They are picking up on things a lot better than they did early in the season.
* Eli Cox having a nice season, Stoops said. A terrific leader.
* On Nichols’ play last week… Went back in with a bad shoulder last week and played as well as he could. Open date came at a good time for him. We’ll see if it will help him get back out there this week.
* On special teams play midway thru this season… Very solid. Still have to challenge the guys on protection, don’t want to get exploited there. Coverage has been really good. Kicking really good. Punting could improve.
* On RB Chip Trayanum’s status… Without getting into the weeds on it, we had a setback on what he had originally. We’ll see where that goes.
* Reiterates that he saw this coming with Clark Lea’s Vandy program for years. Not exactly an upset of No. 1 Alabama, but the fact that they play hard and compete. When you put that together with fundamental play and execution, you can beat anyone.
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KENTUCKY DEPTH CHART FOR VANDY WEEK:
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