So, not technically a practice today, but UK entertained some athletes from the Special Olympics, and I went over to talk to folks about that -- and about last night's unscheduled practice under the lights.
Drew Barker, QB
On having all his teammates working with the Special Olympics athletes:
It's definitely awesome. Like Max (Strong) said, it really opens up a door. You can't really force them to do anything, but letting them get this exposure and seeing the pure happiness and joy on everybody's faces, it's really awesome, because sometimes people might take for granted that they're on a D-I full-ride scholarship to Kentucky to play football. Just having these athletes come out here and seeing the happiness on their face playing the game that we play every day is just awesome. I think it puts in perspective how lucky we are and blessed we are as a whole team and everything.
On if this event can help UK get through a long camp:
No doubt. This takes everybody's mind away from football, just going and doing it for the kids, doing it for everybody that's involved in the Special Olympics. It definitely can help the team and it's definitely good team-bonding activity, and I'm glad we got to set it up here and it at our facility. I know the kids were psyched up. They were saying that they had trouble sleeping last night because they were looking forward to it. It's just really awesome to see that passion and energy coming out.
On if he and his teammates slept well after the Saturday night practice:
Yeah, no doubt. It was really fun. We know that the first practice we had didn't cut it. Coach Stoops, I thought it was awesome. He brought us back out here, something like out of 'Remember the Titans.' It was awesome. It was just a great practice and it was great team bonding and team building last night, just coming out here and grinding through another practice. I think we really took a major step forward.
On how the players found out about the other practice:
Coach Stoops after the scrimmage just told us to come back. We had a team meeting at 6. And he just was telling us that's not gonna cut it in the SEC, what we had done the last couple days. He just said, 'We're going out and practicing again. We're gonna do it all over again.' Because there's no leeway in the SEC. You're either gaining every day or you're taking steps back. We took a couple steps back the last couple days, but last night I really thought we gained all those steps back and then some.
On what made the practice so much fun:
Just the energy and the atmosphere, really. We're up here, it's just like floodlights -- it's like a scene out of a movie, really. Every time a big play would happen, the whole offensive side would run out and start jumping up and down, the whole defensive side. It was really just the atmosphere. It was just really fun. It was probably the most fun I've ever had on a football field, really.
On if he likes having a coach who holds them accountable:
Yeah, no doubt. Coach Stoops, that's one of the big things. That's one of our core values, accountability. Him coming out and making us do a second practice really shows that he's holding us to that hire standard, and it's really awesome to play for a coach like that.
Drew Barker, QB
On having all his teammates working with the Special Olympics athletes:
It's definitely awesome. Like Max (Strong) said, it really opens up a door. You can't really force them to do anything, but letting them get this exposure and seeing the pure happiness and joy on everybody's faces, it's really awesome, because sometimes people might take for granted that they're on a D-I full-ride scholarship to Kentucky to play football. Just having these athletes come out here and seeing the happiness on their face playing the game that we play every day is just awesome. I think it puts in perspective how lucky we are and blessed we are as a whole team and everything.
On if this event can help UK get through a long camp:
No doubt. This takes everybody's mind away from football, just going and doing it for the kids, doing it for everybody that's involved in the Special Olympics. It definitely can help the team and it's definitely good team-bonding activity, and I'm glad we got to set it up here and it at our facility. I know the kids were psyched up. They were saying that they had trouble sleeping last night because they were looking forward to it. It's just really awesome to see that passion and energy coming out.
On if he and his teammates slept well after the Saturday night practice:
Yeah, no doubt. It was really fun. We know that the first practice we had didn't cut it. Coach Stoops, I thought it was awesome. He brought us back out here, something like out of 'Remember the Titans.' It was awesome. It was just a great practice and it was great team bonding and team building last night, just coming out here and grinding through another practice. I think we really took a major step forward.
On how the players found out about the other practice:
Coach Stoops after the scrimmage just told us to come back. We had a team meeting at 6. And he just was telling us that's not gonna cut it in the SEC, what we had done the last couple days. He just said, 'We're going out and practicing again. We're gonna do it all over again.' Because there's no leeway in the SEC. You're either gaining every day or you're taking steps back. We took a couple steps back the last couple days, but last night I really thought we gained all those steps back and then some.
On what made the practice so much fun:
Just the energy and the atmosphere, really. We're up here, it's just like floodlights -- it's like a scene out of a movie, really. Every time a big play would happen, the whole offensive side would run out and start jumping up and down, the whole defensive side. It was really just the atmosphere. It was just really fun. It was probably the most fun I've ever had on a football field, really.
On if he likes having a coach who holds them accountable:
Yeah, no doubt. Coach Stoops, that's one of the big things. That's one of our core values, accountability. Him coming out and making us do a second practice really shows that he's holding us to that hire standard, and it's really awesome to play for a coach like that.
