Collins: the team is being more 'intentional' about preparing, developing, improving

[gamecockcat]

Short article on KSR. 'Intentional' was mentioned multiple times. Can we interpret that to mean last year (years?), the team wasn't focused, wasn't fully engaged, mailed it in? Some games, it sure looked like it, didn't it? If true, isn't that at least partially the coaching staff's failure, also? Yes, the players have to want it. But, the coaches have some influence on whether they are motivated, required, disciplined to do so, yes? Would you rather play let's say a WR who has revealed himself to be lazy on route running, doesn't know the playbook, won't block effectively, doesn't run crisp routes when not the #1 target or a less talented player who does all of those things and constantly wants to improve? Certainly the more talented player would see some snaps but the other WR who was better prepared and a better teammate would take snaps away if I was the coach.

I hope a 'fix' in the team culture results in more wins this year. I'm skeptical. I would certainly be happy about a team that played smart, hard, disciplined football. If we lose, we lose. But, to lose because you aren't prepared, in shape, head in the right frame, etc. is inexcusable.

 

[Rembrandt90]

Short article on KSR. 'Intentional' was mentioned multiple times. Can we interpret that to mean last year (years?), the team wasn't focused, wasn't fully engaged, mailed it in? Some games, it sure looked like it, didn't it? If true, isn't that at least partially the coaching staff's failure, also? Yes, the players have to want it. But, the coaches have some influence on whether they are motivated, required, disciplined to do so, yes? Would you rather play let's say a WR who has revealed himself to be lazy on route running, doesn't know the playbook, won't block effectively, doesn't run crisp routes when not the #1 target or a less talented player who does all of those things and constantly wants to improve? Certainly the more talented player would see some snaps but the other WR who was better prepared and a better teammate would take snaps away if I was the coach.

I hope a 'fix' in the team culture results in more wins this year. I'm skeptical. I would certainly be happy about a team that played smart, hard, disciplined football. If we lose, we lose. But, to lose because you aren't prepared, in shape, head in the right frame, etc. is excusable.

Speculation on our 2024 team centers around a narrative of several key players taking plays off, losing focus, and contributing to a divided locker room. It has been rumored that seniors Pop Dumas Johnson, D'Eryk Jackson, Octavious Oxendine, and Zion Childress were leading at a high level but may have po'ed some other players who developed poor attitudes. Vandagriff and Wimsatt never connected with veterans inside UK's locker room. Lack of QB leadership hurt the offense. When your OL doesn't block, your offense can't move the football. When your offense doesn't move the football, naturally your defense gets frustrated. They are human, and it was a perfect storm. After a while, it rubs everyone the wrong way. Usually I don't like naming names but Gerald Mincey, Courtland Ford, Barion Brown, Keeshawn Silver, and a few other departed players are known to have caused problems within the team. The group mindset wasn't conducive to success.

In the SEC, there isn't room for error. A team that beat Ole MS on the road couldn't win home games. Talent wasn't the issue.

These things can happen on any football team. Some years, key injuries are avoided and senior leadership is strong. But not always. In the best case, problems get tamped down by the coaches. In our case last year, Coaches Hamlan, Wolford, and Shorts had just arrived and weren't in optimal positions to police these things although they tried. Shorts had one foot out the door all year, and took two UK WRs with him to NE. So UK's coaches were more than happy to take transfer Dante Dowdell from NE and the UK-NE feud is hot now even though Stoops, Marrow, and Dana Tolgorsen are long time friends. It's a tough business.

Mark Stoops has acknowledged that he was stretched too thin by fundraising and other activities. As far as that goes, it is being addressed. This hasn't been discussed much, but Stoops is still getting his life straightened out after losing his wife and his late mother. People can say that shouldn't interfere, but life is complicated.

Stoops is saying the right things now. The coaching staff is more stable. Problem players are gone. UK's transfer portal class is strong even by SEC standards and I expect true freshmen Martels Carter, Quintin Simmons, Cam Miller, and Dejerrian Miller to contribute early. Unlike Vandagriff, new QB Zach Calzada is a proven, experienced performer. It is an open question whether Stoops can translate words to deeds, and I think Coach Hamdan has something left to prove. I still like our roster, but every SEC football team has good players. I am an optimist by nature, and I expect a significantly better season. People grouse about the schedule, but we hear that every spring. In the SEC, the schedule is always formidable. Stoops has proven he can win SEC games by controlling the line of scrimmage. But now he will have to prove it again. The pieces are in place. It's a matter of execution and stamina.

 

[gamecockcat]

Vandagriff and Wimsatt didn't connect with the veterans? That's interesting. Had not heard that at all. From all public reports, BV was well-liked. Guess you have to dig a little to find the real story. Was the lack of QB leadership the reason behind the seemingly random rotation of BV and GM? Or, was it more performance/situational than it appeared? Was Bush trying to please everyone and ended up pleasing no one?

Gerald Mincey, Courtland Ford, Barion Brown, Keeshawn Silver plus others - not a surprise, esp. Brown and Silver. Why Mincey and Ford (especially Ford who was a complete nonfactor the entire season) felt like they were above working their butts off and getting along with teammates is way beyond my ability to reason. If BB gets his head on straight, he has the physical tools to be an NFL receiver. But, he still has a LOT of work to do - needs to get stronger/bigger, improve ball protection, better route discipline, blocking, learning how/when to use his straight-ahead speed and when to be more of a technician, catching the ball, fighting for those 50/50 balls, etc.

 

[Boz]

If he can get the secondary lined up correctly and not blow coverages it would a huge improvement. The secondary has been terrible the past 2 seasons especially the safeties.

 

[Rembrandt90]

Vandagriff and Wimsatt didn't connect with the veterans? That's interesting. Had not heard that at all. From all public reports, BV was well-liked.

Vandagriff was liked, but not respected as a leader of the offense by the time our SEC season was well underway. To earn respect, you have to produce. Vandagriff never complained but never produced consistently. I still believe in Vandagriff's physical talent. But when you have no playing experience and your OL is inept, that's difficult in the SEC. Meanwhile, Wimsatt was never popular except among a small faction of disgruntled players.

Guess you have to dig a little to find the real story. Was the lack of QB leadership the reason behind the seemingly random rotation of BV and GM? Or, was it more performance/situational that it appeared?

Performance. It wasn't random at all. There is a reason why Boley was starting by season's end. If Boley had posted a solid game against UL, some believe Calzada might not have been signed. We will never know. It must necessarily boil down to performance. Otherwise coaches lose their jobs.

And if UK's offense doesn't produce next fall, watch what happens. It can't go on like this, and critics of Barnhart and the BOT on this board have them 180 degrees wrong. One way or another, it will get fixed because UK is investing $hundreds of millions in the athletic department's cash cow.

Was Bush trying to please everyone and ended up pleasing no one?

No. Coach Hamdan was trying to do his job. I have never seen an OC who could be successful with an inept OL that didn't do anything well. Remember, Hamdan did not recruit his 2024 OL. He just tried to cope and adapt to the hand he was dealt.

Gerald Mincey, Courtland Ford, Barion Brown, Keeshawn Silver plus others - not a surprise, esp. Brown and Silver. Why Mincey and Ford (especially Ford who was a complete nonfactor the entire season) felt like they were above working their butts off and getting along with teammates is way beyond my ability to reason.

Let's keep in mind, when you take a transfer, you get a player who didn't fit in another program for whatever reasons. It isn't the same as recruiting and developing your players in your own developmental program. When UK took Gerald Mincey, he had already failed to fit at two other SEC programs (FL, TN). UK's coaches had tried unsuccessfully to recruit Mincey out of Cardinal Gibbons hs, a program with which Coach Mike has a longstanding recruiting relationship. So there were wider motives for giving Mincey a third SEC opportunity, certainly not the least of which was that UK was literally desperate for SEC caliber OTs at that point (in part because Courtland Ford wasn't getting it done here). Mincey has elite physical tools but does not have the work habits of an SEC player. Mincey is stubborn (some say lazy), and just not a team player. (FWIW, I hear his younger brother Daniel has a different personality.) Back at the time Courtland Ford was accepted by UK, the same situation existed. Jeremy Flax had graduated and there was no obvious internal successor. Ford was a physically gifted player from the state of TX who wanted to leave SCal. UK was desperate. There you have it.

With the exception of Darian Kinnard, who was actually recruited by the late John Schlarman and Vince Marrow, the OT position has been problematic since Schlarman passed. I believe Coach Wolf is now close to resolving the problem, as Pete, Wollschlaeger, Unamba, Wood, and eventually Strey and Atkins will provide upgrades. FWIW, Wolf's 2026 recruiting list is really nice. In the SEC, recruiting and developing our own OL is the only solution. The transfer portal is for plugging the occasional hole in the roster, not a substitute for player development.

If BB gets his head on straight, he has the physical tools to be an NFL receiver. But, he still has a LOT of work to do - needs to get stronger/bigger, improve ball protection, better route discipline, blocking, learning how/when to use his straight-ahead speed and when to be more of a technician, catching the ball, fighting for those 50/50 balls, etc.

BB is a huge talent with game breaking speed and a decent frame. He got a big head after returning a couple of kickoffs for TDs at UK. But like many physically gifted players (including Gerald Mincey), BB has not developed elite work habits. He didn't add muscle at UK although they tried to work with him. So he drops passes. Otherwise is easy to bump BB off his route because he isn't very strong. He often ran the wrong route (or the right route incorrectly) but complained when he wasn't targeted more here, even though some of his blown routes resulted in interceptions. We all saw that happen. Against Ole MS, you saw what his physical talent alone can do when he turned that game around. But he will have to work harder at LSU. LSU has a deep WR room. You can't teach top end speed, but it isn't that unusual in the NFL. NFL DBs counteract speed by bumping receivers off their routes to disrupt timing. If BB wants to play in the NFL, he will have to get a lot stronger or else NFL DBs will beat the crap out of him and blow him right out of the league.

 

[The-Hack]

The pieces are in place. It's a matter of execution and stamina.

A great post. We simply won’t know until we see it.

If anyone ever doubted the ancient mantra that line play and QB play win football games, plug last season in , and watch it, again.

Against Ole Miss, the stars aligned, our D-line harassed their QB, and we played a line-dominated slugfest, with a beautiful pass on 4th down from Vandergriff to allow the win.

But for most of the season, both lines struggled to display the consistent toughness that were Coach Stoops’ teams’ calling card from 2016-2022. Hence, Vandergriff struggled.

Football is of a lot like auto mechanics; everything must work well for the engine to run.

Our struggles since 2022, even with decent talent, make what Smart and Saban have accomplished look all the more remarkable. Sure, everybody has talent, but it takes strong leadership from
Coaches and players., all with a sense of responsibility for one another, to make a consistently good product.

Stoops had us knocking on the door of excellence from 2016-2021. Whether he and his team can rediscover that mojo and cohesiveness will define his tenure.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

Jmo but we had several guys who felt too good for uk. Some we recruited, some we transferred in. It caused a major culture problem because they took the program hostage and stoops was scared to stand up to them.

Thats why i think you see a completely different type of transfer this time and those divas are gone.

If a poor season was the cost of waking up stoops and fixing our culture, it was a price worth paying.

Again jmo.

 

[Boz]

Other OL and possibly QB (just because Brock was one of worse QB at UK in 25 years) have we really upgraded the roster from last season?

 

[billoliver40]

I guess I'm really just looking for negatives but the words "mire intentional" befuddle me. Are the rumors true that this was such a players first program that it was borderline renegade? You get away with whatever you want cause you know there's no repercussions?

Just odd stuff.

 

[gamecockcat]

I guess I'm really just looking for negatives but the words "mire intentional" befuddle me. Are the rumors true that this was such a players first program that it was borderline renegade? You get away with whatever you want cause you know there's no repercussions?

Just odd stuff.

Good question. Without truly being on the inside, not sure how one could determine that. It did seem like some players got unwarranted touches every game, presumably to keep them happy. Some players underperformed consistently, committed dumb penalties, blew critical assignments yet were out on the field the next series. No coach on the sideline in their grill giving them grief, either. When the ship is running aground in the rocks, fans want to see something change. The presumed laissez faire attitude of the players and staff was very frustrating to watch last year.

New year, hopefully new attitude.

 

[K_TIME]

This is mostly smoke and mirrors….UK has been trending down for the two years before this last season debacle

1. I get some kids didn’t play exceptionally hard ….but that offense scheme and coaching was equally bad….and it’s all back with no change

2. And now we’re being sold Mac level portal kids along with losing Dane Key, Gilmore and 8 defensive starters is going to get us back to where we need?


This is a sales job by Ky to keep some tix sales going…but this team roster and staff is a train wreck

 

[gamecockcat]

^I hear you, K. And I tend to agree about the offensive scheme and coaching. While BH didn't have a good OL to work with and, evidently, a few others on the offense who half-assed it last season, the number of predictable, illogical, just plain bad plays called last year cannot, imo, all be laid at the feet of the OL. I never figured out the logic behind the revolving door at QB, especially since Wimsatt ran the same play about 80% of the time. On 2nd and 8, you switch to GW who runs the same RPO play that didn't work the previous 27 times for 1 yard and then bring BV back in for 3rd and long? What was the purpose behind that switch - I never did understand it. Even after it became painfully obvious that the OL was not capable of creating a push in short yardage situations, we continued to line up with everyone in tight so everyone watching knew exactly what we were going to run and way more times than not get stonewalled at or behind the LOS. We did that in the first game and in game #12. Game after game after game. Never seemed to accept the fact that the OL was not any good and make adjustments. Ran a ton of slow developing, deep route trees in the passing game knowing that the QB wouldn't have more than 2.5 seconds to set and throw. I could go on.

To be fair, last year the OL was pretty darn bad. How can MAC level replacements (and, at the MAC level, the transfers were darn good) be any worse? Bless his heart, Burton has been here for a decade it seems like and we're still waiting to see him be adequate, much less good. Mincey evidently was a cancer on the team. Eli as a center was a MUCH better OG - completely missed too many blocks, got bull rushed into the QB's face too often. He was a RS Sr. Honestly, the bar for OL improvement in 2025 is ridiculously low, imo. I mean, don't let 4 guys hit the QB simultaneously on consecutive plays and you've already shown improvement.

I swore I was not going to buy into the hype and get any rosy expectations until we'd played at least 2 SEC games. And I'm going to try my best to keep to that promise. I'm just tired of being let down.

 

[billoliver40]

When your head coach talks of the importance of continuity on the offensive line and the main thing coming back is coach Wolford I don't get warm fuzzies of anticipation. The man had a line that led the SEC is sacks allowed at ALABAMA with all their talent. He is gonna have to improve as much or more than his players IMO.

 

[Rembrandt90]

Jmo but we had several guys who felt too good for uk. Some we recruited, some we transferred in. It caused a major culture problem because they took the program hostage and stoops was scared to stand up to them.

Thats why i think you see a completely different type of transfer this time and those divas are gone.

If a poor season was the cost of waking up stoops and fixing our culture, it was a price worth paying.

Again jmo.

Mostly true, but Stoops is not "scared" of anyone. LOL! Stoops is from Youngstown, OH, and played DB in the B10 for Hayden Fry. Not exactly the profile of a shrinking violet there. Stoops is tougher than nails, and Coach Fry himself said so. But you can stretch any human being to his limits. Stoops screwed the pooch last year but not for a lack of toughness.

 

[Rembrandt90]

When your head coach talks of the importance of continuity on the offensive line and the main thing coming back is coach Wolford I don't get warm fuzzies of anticipation. The man had a line that led the SEC is sacks allowed at ALABAMA with all their talent. He is gonna have to improve as much or more than his players IMO.

While AL surrendered a lot of sacks in 2023, some of that was on their QBs. Anyone who actually watched those games understands that breaking in a new, inexperienced starting QB leads to a spike in sacks all by itself. If you recall, Jalen Milroe was practically inept for the first part of the 2023 season and temporarily lost his starting job. But the Tide were 3rd in the SEC in third down conversions, 3rd in the conference in fourth down conversions, 2nd in red zone conversions, and 4th in scoring offense. So you might be selecting out one factoid to fit a preconceived notion that isn't actually accurate in the larger picture. Nick Saban, a very smart man, hired Wolf for a reason. Wolf is a solid OL coach and a huge upgrade over Zach Yenser. I would rather have John Schlarman back, but that's another conversation.

 

[Father Torque]

Mostly true, but Stoops is not "scared" of anyone. LOL! Stoops is from Youngstown, OH, and played DB in the B10 for Hayden Fry. Not exactly the profile of a shrinking violet there. Stoops is tougher than nails, and Coach Fry himself said so. But you can stretch any human being to his limits. Stoops screwed the pooch last year but not for a lack of toughness.

I don't think he meant Stoops was actually scared of them, more like he was scared that they would transfer if he got on them and held them accountable and didn't give them the touches they wanted. After watching last season unfold I'd say that's a pretty spot on observation.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

Mostly true, but Stoops is not "scared" of anyone. LOL! Stoops is from Youngstown, OH, and played DB in the B10 for Hayden Fry. Not exactly the profile of a shrinking violet there. Stoops is tougher than nails, and Coach Fry himself said so. But you can stretch any human being to his limits. Stoops screwed the pooch last year but not for a lack of toughness.

I don't doubt his toughness in general but he was scared to lose key and especially brown. We literally lost a few games forcing the ball to brown on the touch sheet coen would mention.

It caused division in the locker room with ray davis and his dad tweeting things being rightfully upset that ray wasnt getting carries.

Coen touched on it in interviews and off the record comments on him not being happy with lack of discipline. Back then i assumed it was coen babying brown, but when i saw the same thing last year i knew it had to be stoops. Same thing with him forcing winsatt into the game during the middle of good drives just to see us stall out and almost blowing the ole miss game with the fumble.

 

[trueblujr2]

This is mostly smoke and mirrors….UK has been trending down for the two years before this last season debacle

1. I get some kids didn’t play exceptionally hard ….but that offense scheme and coaching was equally bad….and it’s all back with no change

2. And now we’re being sold Mac level portal kids along with losing Dane Key, Gilmore and 8 defensive starters is going to get us back to where we need?


This is a sales job by Ky to keep some tix sales going…but this team roster and staff is a train wreck

How much of this can be attributed to the revolving door of OC's, OL and WR coaches? There were a lot of people calling for Stoops to get rid of Hamden and/or Wolf after last season, and it might have been merited in some instances, however, Stoops basically said no, we need continuity. it's something we've lacked. It's hard for these guys to have to retool to a new coach every year. I know assistants come and go all the time, but when guys are going on 4 OC's or OL coaches in 4 years that's tough to develop under. I count Coen as twice because he wasn't in consecutive years and we still had to bounce back and forth between learning an offensive system.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

How much of this can be attributed to the revolving door of OC's, OL and WR coaches? There were a lot of people calling for Stoops to get rid of Hamden and/or Wolf after last season, and it might have been merited in some instances, however, Stoops basically said no, we need continuity. it's something we've lacked. It's hard for these guys to have to retool to a new coach every year. I know assistants come and go all the time, but when guys are going on 4 OC's or OL coaches in 4 years that's tough to develop under. I count Coen as twice because he wasn't in consecutive years and we still had to bounce back and forth between learning an offensive system.

I definitely agree on need for continuity but disagree it should trump all. If you have a flat tire, you cant keep driving on it for continuity sake.

Hamdan was a lackluster hire, and we overpaid, but was probably the best we could do given coen bolting yet again. No doubt there are much better options out there. I saw nothing from him that suggested top tier scheme or play design.

Jmo but stoops biggest mistake was firing scang solely to bring back coen.

Stoops had to know coen was one year at best and scang was way better than many gave him credit for. His play designs were excellent, just plagued by poor execution due to freshmen all over, makeshift LT, and a qb constantly trying to be a hero. Scangs other fault was following coen who was elite in every aspect and oozed with charisma. He eas 10x better than hamdan even with a much poorer roster.

 

[gamecockcat]

Stoops had to know coen was one year at best and scang was way better than many gave him credit for. His play designs were excellent, just plagued by poor execution

Possibly a lot of truth in that statement. However, Scang has bounced around his whole career and that's got to be due to something about him rather than his system. From what I've read, his technical knowledge is/was top notch. Teaching ability and overall ability to relate to players? Not so much. The guy who analyzes plays on YT (Van Hiles? Van something) showed a lot of plays that were very well designed but Levis wouldn't make the right read or throw on time or whatever. We saw Levis do that under Coen and now in the NFL, too. So, perhaps the system was just fine, but Scang just wasn't able to communicate it very well and that led to poor execution? I'm not excusing him, by any means. Part of his job is communicating/teaching his system and, in that regard, he failed pretty spectacularly.