By Glenn Osborne
Special to NKyTribune
Facing reporters for the third time as Kentucky’s head football coach at the SEC Media Days Wednesday, Mark Stoops said he knows Wildcat fans expect his team to be better.
And, Stoops said, he expects his team will be.
“Year three, we should be better,” Stoops told the assembled throng of writers and broadcasters. “We are better. I think one of the big things that stands out to me is just the unity of our football team. They’re all in together. They’ve worked hard throughout winter conditioning. They’ve worked hard this summer. They’re anxious and more confident.
“The more work you put in, the more talent you have, the more confident you can be. We know we still have a long way to go. That’s why we have a bunch of practices to go. We have some newcomers coming in and feel very good about the progress of our football team.”
UK was 2-10, 0-8 in SEC games, during Stoops’ first year. The Wildcats roared out to a 5-1 start in Year 2, including SEC wins over Vanderbilt and South Carolina, only to drop their final six games (all the losses were to eventual bowl teams) and miss playing in the postseason for the fourth year in a row.
The Cats’ challenging schedule bit them at the end of the year and they were also hurt when quarterback Patrick Towles’ play leveled off down the stretch, but Stoops firmly believes the pieces are in place for his team to be a factor in the SEC Eastern Division race.
“As we move forward, we’ve worked extremely hard to make Kentucky relevant in the SEC East,” Stoops said. “As we move into this third year, we really feel like we put ourselves in a position to do just that.”
Most preseason polls have the Wildcats picked near the bottom of the conference standings. It will take a couple of surprising wins (think Florida, Louisville and Missouri) to boost Stoops’ team over the .500 mark and into a bowl game. But for the season to be deemed a success, that’s what’s going to have to happen.
Wins over the four non-conference teams on the schedule (including Louisville), plus a road victory at Vanderbilt matches last year’s win total. How about an upset of Tennessee at Commonwealth Stadium? Maybe Kentucky catches lightning in a bottle and upsets Auburn on Thursday night in front of a national television audience on Oct. 15 (the day before Big Blue Madness).
That’s the kind of break through Stoops is looking for.
“We embrace the expectations,” the coach said. “I think most of our fan base knows where we had to come from. They expect to see a blue collar, hard working, fun football team out there. That’s what we intend to deliver. As I said earlier, I think confidence grows with the work that you put in and the players that you become. But our fan base is terrific.”
The Auburn matchup will be the first Thursday night home game in the 45-year history of Commonwealth Stadium and Stoops knows it will be a challenge.
“I haven’t had the opportunity to play Auburn since I’ve been in the league,” he said. “It will be a great challenge for us. I have a ton of respect for them and what they do on both sides of the ball. With Will going there defensively and certainly with Gus and the challenges that they present offensively is very difficult. They recruit at an extremely high level. So we’ll have our hands full. But I am excited about it. A national TV game on a Thursday night, and we’ll be excited. That’s down the road, but I have looked at it, and with all the coach speaking here, we’re worried about tomorrow, but that will be a fun opportunity.”
Of course, it wouldn’t be an official Media Day without questions about the UK quarterback situation. Although Towles was the starter in every game a year ago, he is competing with Drew Barker for the No. 1 spot this fall. Phillip Reese is also in the mix, although he is returning from an Achilles injury.
“We’ll see where Reese is at,” Stoops said. “I saw him in the training room yesterday. He feels very good. He’s out there. He’s throwing. He’s doing some drops on his own. He’s not quite 100 percent. He is behind the other two guys. He missed an awful lot of snaps in the spring with the new offensive coordinator. But absolutely, he’ll have an opportunity.
“Every player on our team has an opportunity. We will do a boatload of snaps certainly early in camp for a couple of week. So he’ll have his opportunity if he’s 100 percent. The other two guys certainly have a leg up just from the reps, and Patrick with his experience a year ago. So we’ll see.”
Lineman Jordan Swindle, one of three players representing the Wildcats at Media Days, said a bowl game is definitely the goal this fall.
“This year, I feel like we’ve gotten so much better in all phases,” he said. “We’ve matured both physically and mentally. The biggest thing, I feel like, is that our team is super explosive right now. Overall we’ve matured mentally. I feel like we had a bunch of people last year that were freshmen or playing young and didn’t really know how to handle themselves. So now that they’ve been through a season they know what to do and how to take care of their bodies and manage their time.
“(L)ast year was definitely a disappointment, but this year Coach Stoops has laid out that we’re going to win six games and go to a bowl game. That’s our team goal and I’m excited for this year, and look forward to getting better.”
Glenn Osborne is sports editor for KyForward.com, where this story was originally published.