LEXINGTON – August 2, 2019 – Bradley Charles
With the
season roughly four weeks away, the Kentucky football team held their annual
media day at Kroger Field today. As players and coaches fielded questions about
the upcoming season, optimism and excitement was the recurring theme.
Head Coach Mark
Stoops was particularly excited for the upcoming season and did not back away
from high expectations. When Stoops was asked about his high confidence level
despite losing key players, he responded, “We’re not interested in going back.
We’re not here to take steps back. We’re continuing to grow. We’re here to
improve the program… I know I’m judged on wins and losses. But internally we’re
judged on how we’re building our program, what we’re doing to continue to grow
and put ourselves in a position to be successful. That’s what it’s all about.”
While it will be hard to improve on last year’s historical season, Stoops’
comments and mentality comes as no surprise.
Defensive
Coordinator Brad White spoke highly of his defense. When asked about replacing
Josh Allen, he stated, “You can’t replace Josh. Everybody knows that. Everybody
knows Josh was a special talent, one of those generational-type players. What
we have to do now is find the next one.” White went on to say that with the
talent we have on the interior of our defensive line and with blitzing
linebackers, we can cause all kinds of issues. Obviously, losing Josh Allen will
hurt, but the Wildcats can still have a high-quality defense without him.
Offensive
Coordinator Eddie Gran emphasized the importance of adapting to his players.
Gran stated, “This offensive philosophy is about your personnel.” Gran, in
reference to his run heavy approach last season, answered, “If I go back there
and I want to rip it around, because I want statistics, I wouldn’t be here
right now, because that wouldn’t have been very smart… It’s about team. It’s
about wins. Is it not still about winning the game? It doesn’t matter, the
bottom line is win the game.” Gran is correct. The ultimate goal is to get the
win. You play to win the game and not to achieve certain stats. Sometimes they
come hand in hand, but not all the time.
Lynn Bowden
might be the face of the Kentucky offense this season, but it’s Terry Wilson
that will have the most impact on success. If the Wildcats and Wilson are able
to establish a premier passing game, everything will come much easier to the Kentucky
offense. Although last year was Wilson’s first season as a Wildcat, he showed
what he was capable of and became one of the unquestioned leaders on offense.
Wilson was asked about the team’s mindset after losing key players from last
season, “We’re thinking about us. Those guys played a big role on this team
last year and they’re onto bigger and better things and so we just have to
worry about us and take care of what we need to take care of. That’s really how
the attitude is around here. We’re just worried about us and getting better for
the season.”
Excitement
for the upcoming season is certainly building among the team and coaching staff. The Wildcats will play eight games at Kroger
field this season, starting with the season opener on August 31st
against Toledo.
