Hey all. Over at the JCFTC for the second half of today’s UK sports doubleheader. Since there was no Mark Stoops press luncheon on Monday, we’ll have the UK boss speaking to us after today’s practice. It’s scheduled to end at approx 5:30 ET. Stay tuned...
* Good day of practice, Stoops said. He really liked the attitude he saw. “We have a good opportunity this week to really concentrate on ourselves and get a few guys healthy.”
* Staff has looked at a lot of down and distance stuff, tendencies on both sides of the ball, trying to change things up on both sides of the ball.
* Lynn Bowden had the red jersey on today. “He’s in the QB room right now,” Stoops said. He’ll stay in touch with the WR’s work, too, but primarily a QB right now.
* They don’t want to “over-coach” Bowden these next two weeks, Stoops said. He’s a bright guy, but they don’t want his head spinning with a lot of technical stuff/footwork/mechanics that you’d work with most QBs.
* Sawyer will be back, Stoops said. He did not elaborate on that, just to say he’ll be back.
* All the redshirts got some good work today, Stoops said. They’ll do that a little more this week.
* Regarding the criticism that Gran has received, Stoops said “it just goes with the territory.” ... “People are entitled to their opinions, but we can’t let it affect us.” Said his relationship is strong with Eddie. “Just a few months ago, I was fending off some Top 5 programs that wanted him.” Said it’s his job and Gran’s job to find solutions for the issues they are having.
* Inexperience in the secondary “stinks,” Stoops said, “but you know that going in. They have grown, and they are getting better, and I think they’ll keep improving as we go through the season. Missing Jordan Griffin hurt a lot at SC. He was out there today at practice.
* On opponents getting early scores vs. the defense: Stoops said they’ve come out “hot” and gotten things done, but he likes how the D has settled in as the game moves along. “We gotta find a way to start faster... We gotta play better, anticipate the flow.” He added that, if you watched SC-Bama, the Gamecocks did the same thing to the Tide.
* WR Isaiah Epps was running around and making some cuts for the first time today. No timetable on a return, but he is doing more stuff now, testing the foot to see how it responds.
* On the 3rd down issues, sometimes the protection hasn’t been there, sometimes the routes haven’t been there, sometimes there are drops. “I haven’t seen any one area” that has caused them, Stoops said.
* Stoops said he was glad Ruffolo at least got to kick an extra point Saturday to get that feeling of being out there. He’s still the guy at kicker moving forward.
* Stoops was proud of the way OLB Boogie Watson responded with a nice game against SC. Said they had a heart-to-heart before that game, and Boogie responded.
* Asked about the California legislation, Stoops grinned and said, “I’m buried in here (with UK issues).” Said he’s aware that it’s a news story, but doesn’t know enough about it to comment.
* Good day of practice, Stoops said. He really liked the attitude he saw. “We have a good opportunity this week to really concentrate on ourselves and get a few guys healthy.”
* Staff has looked at a lot of down and distance stuff, tendencies on both sides of the ball, trying to change things up on both sides of the ball.
* Lynn Bowden had the red jersey on today. “He’s in the QB room right now,” Stoops said. He’ll stay in touch with the WR’s work, too, but primarily a QB right now.
* They don’t want to “over-coach” Bowden these next two weeks, Stoops said. He’s a bright guy, but they don’t want his head spinning with a lot of technical stuff/footwork/mechanics that you’d work with most QBs.
* Sawyer will be back, Stoops said. He did not elaborate on that, just to say he’ll be back.
* All the redshirts got some good work today, Stoops said. They’ll do that a little more this week.
* Regarding the criticism that Gran has received, Stoops said “it just goes with the territory.” ... “People are entitled to their opinions, but we can’t let it affect us.” Said his relationship is strong with Eddie. “Just a few months ago, I was fending off some Top 5 programs that wanted him.” Said it’s his job and Gran’s job to find solutions for the issues they are having.
* Inexperience in the secondary “stinks,” Stoops said, “but you know that going in. They have grown, and they are getting better, and I think they’ll keep improving as we go through the season. Missing Jordan Griffin hurt a lot at SC. He was out there today at practice.
* On opponents getting early scores vs. the defense: Stoops said they’ve come out “hot” and gotten things done, but he likes how the D has settled in as the game moves along. “We gotta find a way to start faster... We gotta play better, anticipate the flow.” He added that, if you watched SC-Bama, the Gamecocks did the same thing to the Tide.
* WR Isaiah Epps was running around and making some cuts for the first time today. No timetable on a return, but he is doing more stuff now, testing the foot to see how it responds.
* On the 3rd down issues, sometimes the protection hasn’t been there, sometimes the routes haven’t been there, sometimes there are drops. “I haven’t seen any one area” that has caused them, Stoops said.
* Stoops said he was glad Ruffolo at least got to kick an extra point Saturday to get that feeling of being out there. He’s still the guy at kicker moving forward.
* Stoops was proud of the way OLB Boogie Watson responded with a nice game against SC. Said they had a heart-to-heart before that game, and Boogie responded.
* Asked about the California legislation, Stoops grinned and said, “I’m buried in here (with UK issues).” Said he’s aware that it’s a news story, but doesn’t know enough about it to comment.
