Hello HOB. Good Saturday afternoon to y’all. I’m over at the JCFTC today for Kentucky’s 9th day of spring football practice. It’s a chilly but beautiful day in Lexington, and they invited the media in to watch the first hour of practice today. It was our first chance to see these guys since spring football opened. I’ll share some observations later (when UK clears us to post) but there wasn’t a great deal to see in the first 7 periods. A lot of technique and position group stuff before they ushered us away. But I’ll have a few tidbits to share. Mark Stoops is slated to join us at approx 1:15 ET to talk about the team’s progress. Stay tuned for the latest news and notes…
MARK STOOPS Q&A:
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PRACTICE NOTES & OBSERVATIONS:
* A lot of recruits visiting today. Some good-looking dudes.
* As advertised, there is a TON of eye candy on offense from Bush Hamdan. Crazy amount of motion and misdirection. It was actually a challenge as a photographer to track it. A lot for the defense to digest.
* A lot of missing bodies on D. No Deone Walker, no Josaih Hayes, no Keyshawn Silver, no JJ Weaver, no Zion Childress, a few others. Nothing major that we know of, but they need to get healthy. But opportunities for some younger guys down the depth chart to perform.
* You don’t see the ball hitting the ground much at all with these QBs or WRs. Clean day throwing and catching from BVG, Allen, and Boley.
* We got to see about 5 min of stuff with 11-on-11 format. Here’s what I jotted down for the offense:
1st group: LT Marques Cox, LG Jager Burton, C Eli Cox, RG Gerald Mincey, RT Jalen Farmer, QB Brock Vandagriff, RB Chip Trayanum, TE Khamari Anderson, TE Jordan Dingle, WR Barion Brown, WR Dane Key
2nd group: LT Malachi Wood, LG Aba Selm, C Koby Keenum, RG Austin Ramsey, RT Dylan Ray, QB Beau Allen, RB Jason Patterson/Demie Sumo-Karngbaye, TE Josh Kattus, TE Khamari Anderson, WR Hardley Gilmour, WR Anthony Brown-Stephens
* LB Pops Dumas-Johnson is very active on defense, does a great job of commanding his presence, talking, expressing what he’s seeing to the coaches.
* DB Jantzen Dunn looked really comfortable today and as-advertised with his improvement. I think he was at nickel for most of the snaps I saw, but he’s also been working at corner.
* LB Grant Godfrey passes the look test. I’m intrigued to see more of him.
* A couple other guys on D who look bulked up: LB Tyreese Fearbry and CB Nasir Addison.
* Freshman DT Jarod Smith certainly looks the part, like he’s been around a bit. A year or so in the weight program, and he’s gonna be a beast.
MARK STOOPS Q&A:
- Good day, nice weather. Says he wishes it was a bit cleaner than it was. It was good until the media left for last 30 minutes and then it got a little sloppy. (Ha. Bring us in longer, coach.)
- Stoops says they have 8 DL who aren’t active right now, and because of that they wont be able to do a full-scale traditional spring game. They’ll come up with a format to make it fun for fans, though. “Just don’t have the bodies right now.”
- Defense definitely getting a lot of “eye candy” from Bush Hamdan.
- We have some playmakers on both sides of ball. Technique and fundamentals have to get better.
- Feels good about TE group. If they can get the tempo they are aiming for and move the chains, they will get a lot of those guys involved.
- Second OL needs work. Encouraged, hard working, but need to keep growing and pushing.
- Need more consistency at RT.
- Smith and Robinson have really taken advantage of all those extra reps available on the D-Line.
- Gilmour has earned a lot of respect from his teammates for how he’s come in and worked every day at WR.
- Will re-evaluate next week what they want to do with a couple extra days available to practice after the “spring game” next Saturday.
*****
PRACTICE NOTES & OBSERVATIONS:
* A lot of recruits visiting today. Some good-looking dudes.
* As advertised, there is a TON of eye candy on offense from Bush Hamdan. Crazy amount of motion and misdirection. It was actually a challenge as a photographer to track it. A lot for the defense to digest.
* A lot of missing bodies on D. No Deone Walker, no Josaih Hayes, no Keyshawn Silver, no JJ Weaver, no Zion Childress, a few others. Nothing major that we know of, but they need to get healthy. But opportunities for some younger guys down the depth chart to perform.
* You don’t see the ball hitting the ground much at all with these QBs or WRs. Clean day throwing and catching from BVG, Allen, and Boley.
* We got to see about 5 min of stuff with 11-on-11 format. Here’s what I jotted down for the offense:
1st group: LT Marques Cox, LG Jager Burton, C Eli Cox, RG Gerald Mincey, RT Jalen Farmer, QB Brock Vandagriff, RB Chip Trayanum, TE Khamari Anderson, TE Jordan Dingle, WR Barion Brown, WR Dane Key
2nd group: LT Malachi Wood, LG Aba Selm, C Koby Keenum, RG Austin Ramsey, RT Dylan Ray, QB Beau Allen, RB Jason Patterson/Demie Sumo-Karngbaye, TE Josh Kattus, TE Khamari Anderson, WR Hardley Gilmour, WR Anthony Brown-Stephens
* LB Pops Dumas-Johnson is very active on defense, does a great job of commanding his presence, talking, expressing what he’s seeing to the coaches.
* DB Jantzen Dunn looked really comfortable today and as-advertised with his improvement. I think he was at nickel for most of the snaps I saw, but he’s also been working at corner.
* LB Grant Godfrey passes the look test. I’m intrigued to see more of him.
* A couple other guys on D who look bulked up: LB Tyreese Fearbry and CB Nasir Addison.
* Freshman DT Jarod Smith certainly looks the part, like he’s been around a bit. A year or so in the weight program, and he’s gonna be a beast.
